University of Montana student Matthew Brenner wowed a packed stadium Saturday afternoon when he achieved the nearly unachievable, booting a second 45-yard field goal during UM's football game to win $10,000.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do this again," P.A. announcer Peter Christian said at the end of the third quarter, a bulletin that was met by raucous cheers from the fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, who were mindful of the kick's historic import.

Two weeks ago, during UM's game against Weber State, Brenner drilled a 45-yarder, splitting the uprights and presumably winning $10,000 in the "Kick for Cash" promotion held at each Grizzly football game.

Then sponsors discovered the 20-year-old accounting major was ineligible for the prize because he had kicked for Sidney High School's football team two years ago, dashing Brenner's hopes. Among the promotional event's stipulations is a rule barring participants who played competitive football within the last five years.

Crestfallen, Brenner admitted that in the excitement of the moment he had signed the release form without reading its finer points.

But within a week, the public outcry had grown to such a din that the Sidney native was told he would win the money - if he could kick another perfect, long-distance field goal at Saturday's game against Northern Colorado.

And so he did, loping onto the field in a Griz T-shirt and orange throwback hat. He cleared the crossbar by less than a foot, but made it nonetheless.

The crowd went crazy.

And Brenner?

"It felt like deja vu," he said after clutching the oversized check and jogging along the edge of the field, exchanging high-fives with front-row fans along the way.

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Indeed, the lively setting was nearly indistinguishable from the context of Brenner's last triumphant kick. His mom and dad were in the crowd, cheering Brenner on along with the thousands of other fans who shouted: "Come on, Matt, you can do it again."

Brenner goaded the excitable crowd with upraised arms, then charged the ball and toe-punched it through the goalposts.

"I was trying to pump them up before I kicked," he said. "I wanted to go in cold like I did last time, so I was pretty relaxed, and then I did the same exact thing. The ball didn't move at all, so I was just hoping I had put enough leg behind it. I kick with my toe, I have my whole life, so it's the right and left drift rather than the distance that usually has me worried."

Brenner was the first "Kick for Cash" participant to nail the field goal in the two years the promotion has run.

"Nobody's ever really even been close," said Dan Ingram, account executive for Grizzly Sports Properties, a sports marketing company that organizes the promotion. "It's amazing. Matt will be the first."

After news of Brenner's ineligibility, Ingram worked to find a peaceable solution. Then Lithia of Montana, a statewide car dealership, stepped up to sponsor Saturday's re-do.

"Through all of this, Matt has been a class act," Ingram said. "I just think it worked out better for everybody this way. He just went out there and drilled it two weeks in a row."

Ken Wright, regional vice president of Lithia, said he was pulling the Brenner.

"We just thought it was the right thing to do," Wright said after presenting the UM student with his well-deserved spoils. "A 45-yard field goal, I mean, what a great thing, and then to get disappointed that way, it just wasn't right."

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By the end of the third quarter on Saturday, Grizzly fans were already thrilled by UM's substantial lead over UNC, and Brenner's momentous triumph only bolstered their cause for celebration.

"I could tell it was going to be close, but I knew he had it by at least a foot," said John Hinsdale, who had an unfettered view of the field goal from his front-row seats. "He's a big kid so I knew he had the leg."

"What are you kidding me? Of course I knew he was going to make it," said nearby Griz fan Marc Bush. "He cleared it by a mile last week. The kid's unbelievable."

Brenner said he was going to use a lion's share of the money to pay for college tuition, but conceded that he might indulge his frivolous side, too.

"I'll have some fun with it, too," he said.

"It's been a wild couple of weeks and all the support I've had from a bunch of random people and from my family and friends has been so great," Brenner said. "None of this could have been possible without them."

Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com.