By Bruce Sayler
A little bit of a fall chill blew through the air in Butte locales Saturday, still a fine-weather day for college football.
It was a pleasant enough time to watch undefeated Montana Tech add to its 2025 legend with a 51-0 whomping of Mayville State on the Bob Green Field turf, but maybe not so nice for a climb up and over Homestake Pass.
Of course, no official word has been provided that such happened. It only looked like the trip home from Butte might include that possibility for Mayville State’s Comets. A long journey back to North Dakota had gotten longer.
Rocky Larson is the sixth-year head coach of Mayville State and the optimistic Comets entered the stadium with a noteworthy 5-3 record.
They got beat 51-0.
They trailed the Orediggers 41-0 at halftime.
Rocky Larson was not a happy traveler.
After Montana Tech quarterback Jarrett Wilson and receiver Nick Michelotti covered 88 yards on two pass plays, the last 25 crossing the goal line, Larson boiled over quickly. The game was only 3 ½ minutes old.
Reminding the Comets they didn’t come to Montana for a sightseeing tour, he went on to light into the defense before allowing it back on the Mayville State sideline.
“You have a job to do! Do it!” the coach screamed. An assistant coach rushed in to add some obscenities for emphasis and they adjourned to a huddle at the bench.
None of it seemed to matter.
Wilson is good and gets better each game, his unorthodox style with a left-handed flair keeping defenses on their heels while the Oredigger offense moves the pocket horizontally to protect his rollouts, highly effective rollouts.
The Montana Tech offensive line gave up only two tackles for losses Saturday, costing the Orediggers a total of two yards. The star receivers are reliable and many, and the running backs are more physical than a demo derby.
Mykece Johnson, an unusuality in that he has gotten quicker as the season has progressed, apparently healing injuries with which he began the season, showed Mayville State the Oredigger ground game just as the Trojans began thinking they had a handle on the air attack.
The moving pocket sprang Wilson loose on a leftward rollout and the QB appeared to briefly search for receivers, but maybe not so seriously. He found an open field instead and dashed 15 yards for the TD and a 13-0 lead with 4 ½ minutes left in the period.
Rattled, Mayville State fumbled its next possession and Oredigger Cole Graham snared it off the dribble and took it into the end zone from 13 yards away and Montana Tech was in command, 20-0, heading into the second quarter.
The Comets were frustrated.
As Mayville State players headed back to their bench, one must have said something to an official while passing by during dead-ball time.
A whistle blew and a yellow flag came out of a pocket and shot straight up in the air. Larson almost sprinted out onto the field as the official who tossed the flag strolled his way. The official started to explain.
Larson didn’t need it.
“I got it!” he yelled to the ref, then turned toward the offending player, thrust a thumb toward the Mayville State bench and ordered, “You’re benched!”
So it went for the Comets.
Montana Tech’s passing defense allowed the opponent zero passing yards. Zero. Zilch.
Of course, Comet QBs threw only three passes and two of them were caught by Orediggers – Payton Gonser and Daymon Burns. Butte reserve running back Christian Vetter didn’t get a carry until the second half and still finished with 111 yards on seven packs, including an 8-yard TD run, the only touchdown after halftime.
Another Butte High grad, Casey Kautzman, finished the day’s scoring with a 20-yard field goal late in the game.
In between, though, the offense was as potent as the Montana Tech defense was stingy. Before halftime, Oredigger Tyler Kovick got a Mayville State fumble at the Comets’ 18, and Wilson and Co. converted it into a 3-yard touchdown flip to Levi Torgerson. It was 27-0 then.
Gonser’s interception gave Montana Tech possession near midfield and Wilson found Torgersen for a 28-yard gain. The Orediggers ate time and ground to inside the 15 before Johnson followed blocks by Michelotti and Chaise Meyer around right end into the end zone on a 12-yard play.
If having to walk home to North Dakota hadn’t been a thought yet soaked into the heads of the Comets, the looks they were getting from Larson and staff might have made such an idea welcome.
It wasn’t halftime yet and Montana Tech stuck the ball into the end zone one more time. Wilson took off on a 26-yard scramble, then sent a 4-yard scoring pass to tight end Derek Pearse with still 3 minutes, 47 seconds to go to intermission.
The score was 41-0.
Wilson completed 11 of 12 passes for the game.
The math portion of this historical season massed the weekend’s success for coach Kyle Samson’s Montana Tech program. The 8-0 record is the best in Oredigger history. The team has a No. 5 NAIA national ranking and sits atop the Football Performance Indicator, one slot above defending national champion Grand View of Nebraska.
The rest of the NAIA nation is aware, so the rest of the Frontier Conference certainly is, too. The Orediggers can expect a challenge every week from here on out, starting with Saturday’s showdown in Billings against Rocky Mountain. First place in the Frontier Conference Eastern Division is at stake and the Bears have been locked in on this opportunity ever since a 34-23 nonconference loss to Montana Tech last September 13 in Butte. Rocky Mountain is 3-2 since then, all three wins coming against Eastern Division opponents, while owning a 3-4 record for the season.
Mayville State has a home game on Saturday against Dakota State. If Larson calmed at dinner, providing there was dinner, the Comets got on the bus, relaxed and are likely practicing well and united, knowing what the Orediggers exposed, getting better this week.
If not, they might be nearing Three Forks.
