DICKINSON, N.D. – Make it five in a row for the Montana Tech football team.
The No. 13 Orediggers rolled to a 42-6 Frontier Conference victory Saturday on a windy, chilly day at the Badlands Activities Center.
“It was a great win for us,” Montana Tech coach Chuck Morrell said. “I’m very proud of the way we executed in several phases of the game.”
Nick Baker threw three first half touchdowns and the Orediggers blocked two first-half punts as the Orediggers rolled to a 33-6 halftime lead. The Orediggers coasted to the win after the break, scoring just nine points as Tech coach Chuck Morrell emptied his bench.
Baker hit freshman Alec Bray for touchdowns of 28 and 9 yards. He hit James Roberts for a 10-yard TD.
One blocked a punt that went out of the end zone in the first quarter. The other block in the second quarter led to a 1-yard Pat Hansen run 31 seconds before halftime. Craig Halko blocked one. Roberts blocked the other.
Matt Berg added a 32-yard field goal for the Orediggers in the first half. He added a 33-yard kick that was set up by a Dickinson fake punt resulted in an 18-yard loss.
The Orediggers responded with 33 straight points to put the game away.
Tech scored on the game’s final play when Joe Mitzel returned a fumble 55 yards for a touchdown as time expired. The Orediggers didn’t attempt the extra point.
The final play was run because the Blue Hawks called time out to try to run one last play.
Tommy Peterson picked off a pass, and the Oredigger defense racked up seven sacks. Jake Workman was credited with a team-leading one and a half sacks.
The win spoiled homecoming for the Blue Hawks. Tech, which has played in four straight homecoming games, also spoiled the homecoming for Montana Western and Rocky Mountain College. Last week, the Orediggers celebrated homecoming with a double-overtime win over Southern Oregon.
The Orediggers are off next week. They play at Eastern Oregon, which fell 68-22 to Southern Oregon Saturday, in two weeks.
“This sets a good tone going into the bye week, where we can get a number of our guys healthy and back on the field,” Morrell said.
The win is also the first for the Orediggers over Hank Biesiot’s Blue Hawks. Biesiot is in his 37th year at Dickinson State. His team beat Montana Tech in the first round of the 2004 NAIA playoffs. That’s the last time the two teams met.
Note: The game summary on the stats in the link above don’t account for the first quarter safety, which put Tech up 9-0.
