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By Bruce Sayler
Montana Tech’s touchdown rally lasted longer than the rain at Bob Green Field Saturday.
The Orediggers employed four different quarterbacks, none of whom was regular starter Jett Campbell (with a knee injury), in a 73-0 Frontier Conference football win over Montana State-North. With the Montana Tech defense locked down, the Oredigers combined with the rainy weather to hit the lights as the offense kept hitting home runs.
It takes some time to list and read output plays. The Oredigers’ depth chart went up against new head coach Jerome Sowers, who is trying to rebuild an MSU-North program from scratch, playing little to no regular starters in the second half.
The margin of victory was just one point shy of the historic 93-19 victory over the Lights on the same field five years ago.
STATS
Orediger’s defense held MSU-North to six first downs and 28 yards of total offense. The power play lost 58 yards and the offense committed seven fumbles — five of which were recovered by Montana Tech. Add in Orediger’s Jadin Downs interception and the Lights were guilty of six turnovers.
Montana Tech backup quarterback Blake Thelen played the second game in place of the injured Campbell and responded with a second win. Head coach Kyle Samson said Campbell is expected back next week as the Orediggers go on the road to play league-leading College of Idaho.
On Saturday, Thelen completed 10 of 14 attempts for 256 yards with no interceptions. He threw three aerials for a touchdown.
“I’m really proud of the way we started the game,” Samson said. “We talked about coming out and being ready to play and go. They played well in three rounds on offense, defense and special teams.
“And, it was great today to have a lot of our young guys playing half, who practice hard every night, but don’t get a lot of reps in games. I am proud to see the young men out on the field.
“He didn’t come close to the field in the second half,” said defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby, who is playing in a role this season. Still, he came away with a team-high seven stops and a sack and two tackles for loss.
Samson, a former star defensive back at MSU-North, stopped the scoring after the Orediggers reached the Lightning 3-yard line with more than three minutes left in the game and Montana Tech got another set of downs. The offense ordered the property to its knees. With MSU-North dominating the offense, Souers answered the lights and ran out the clock with a few seconds left.
“Our coaches did a great job of getting everyone ready,” Samson said. We won a big rivalry game last week (at Montana-West) and the coaches are focused and ready for this week. You have to win games like this to be able to play in big games like we will next week.
The implication was to ensure that the Oredigers did not take the lights very well. Samson reiterated that teams can get themselves into trouble by thinking they can get a week off with anyone in the Frontier Conference.
Thelen, Cade Wyant, Jake Standlee and Justus Peterson all saw quarterbacks for Montana Tech, 10 different Oredigers caught the ball and six interceptions.
The resulting plays were as follows.
A six-yard touchdown run by Caleb Winterburn with 13 minutes left in the first quarter.
Thelen’s 34-yard TD pass to Kyle Torgerson with 6:51 to go in the quarter;
Thelen’s 12-yard scoring pass to Trevor Hoffman with 2:34 left in the quarter;
Tyler Little’s fumble recovery in the end zone resulted in James-Newby and Cole Wyant sacking MSU-North QB Kaymen Cureton with 57 seconds left in the quarter.
Blake scored a 1-yard plunge with 14:43 left in the half after Naoki Harmer blocked a punt and Kade Wilcox recovered at the North 2-yard line;
Winterburn’s 1-yard rush with 8:11 left in the half (set up by a 62-yard Thelen pass to Hoffman).
Thelen’s 65-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Alexander with 5:48 to go in the half;
Ryan Lowry’s 31-yard field goal with 12:48 to play in the third quarter;
Wyatt’s 8-yard keeper with 1:58 left in the third quarter;
Christian Vetter’s 7-yard carry with 10:39 left in the game;
And, Standley’s 5-yard keeper with 6:43 to go in the game.
The Lights’ offense crossed the 50-yard line once, reaching the Orediggers’ 38-yard line before settling for a yard loss and forcing a punt. MSU-North scored six times in the game. Montana Tech didn’t need to go to punter Andrew Almos.
“It was basically what we were doing,” James-Newby said of Montana Tech’s defensive play. We were working from blocks using good hand-eye coordination and holding the heel line – instead of pressing the offensive line forward (they make it neutral). It allows the linebackers and other guys to drop back (play behind the defensive line or rotate behind it).
Blake Allred and Cole Wyant each had five tackles for the Orediggers, while Ezra Gulevich, Wilcox and Caleb Novak each had a sack, sharing the statistical lead with James-Newby. Orediger’s fumble recoveries were by Little, James-Newby, Allred, Zach Newton and Wilcox.
Hoffman led Montana Tech receivers with five catches for 124 yards. Reserve running back Ethan Renner led the game with 91 yards on 17 carries. The Orediggers totaled 27 first downs and 467 yards with 258 through the air.
For MSU-North, Tavarus George led the way with 52 yards on five carries and Mason Dion gained 27 yards on 10 carries. Cureton was 7-for-16 passing for 86 yards.
Montana Tech will take its 4-1 season and Frontier Conference record to Caldwell, Idaho next Saturday to take on the College of Idaho. MSU-North falls to 0-5.
“It gave us an opportunity to keep getting better,” Samson said.
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