By Bruce Sayler
Kyle Samson is building quarterbacks in his own image.
The domination Montana Tech showed in its football season Copper Game debut Thursday night, shellacking Ottawa of Arizona 48-0 on Bob Green Field, lie greatly in the style of the team’s sixth-year head coach. (Game stats are available on the godiggers.com Web site.)
The now 42-year-old Samson was a double-threat QB himself while winning Montana Gatorade Player of The Year and state AA MVP honors and state AA championship honors while playing for his father, Mark. He spent a year as the “running quarterback” at Montana, then transferred to Montana State-Northern, school Hall of Faming his way to Frontier Conference MVP and Northern’s best football season, playing again for his father, Mark.
The successful Mark Samson was one of the thousands celebrating the NAIA fifth-ranked Orediggers’ lopsided victory Thursday night over a non-league opponent that shared the Sooner Conference title last year while going 8-1 for 2025. He took family photos while standing on the Bob Green Field turf and sported a large smile. Retired officially, we have to suspect he advises his son and the development of his legacy, a 12-1 season last year that included an 11-0 regular season.
Kyle Samson passed for 5,303 yards in three years at MSU-Northern and ran for 1,591. He scored 45 touchdowns in a personal career that set 21 school records. His current QBs had to at least peek.
Junior returning starter Jarrett Wilson ran for three touchdowns and passed for another in the victory before turning the controls to redshirt freshman backup Merek Mihelish, who was a Montana Gatorade Player of the Year while winning a state Class AA championship, also at Helena Capital and coached by his father, Kyle. The quarterback Mihelish took over in the fourth quarter and ran for two touchdowns as Montana Tech sealed and delivered the win.
“A couple of runs were quarterback-designed rushes,” coach Kyle Samson let on, “and a couple were Jarrett making a play. They were scrambles, he read them ad did a great job.”
All game long, he did a good job until Mihelish entered — and did a good job.
Ottawa’s offense might have struggled even more than its defense. The offense was missing senior QB Luke Giron. Word on the Spirit’s sideline was that Giron had a sore knee that neither head coach Reilly Murphy nor offensive coordinator Timm Rosenbach wanted to risk further damage in a non-conference tilt. Yes, Rosenbach is the same Rosenbach who recently coached at Montana and had played as a quarterback in the NFL. So, junior Rocco Koch got the call behind center for Ottawa.
The Orediggers’ only touchdown pass was their first, a 22-yarder from Wilson to Helena sophomore Manu Melo at 5 minutes, 29 seconds of the first quarter. Melo leaped between two defenders to pull in the aerial and teetered just inside the end line to touch down.
Wilson’s other QBs were runs of 15, 6 and 26 yards. His 15-yarder and Butte senior kicker Casey Kautzman’s extra point gave Montana Tech a 14-0 lead after one quarter. When scoring drives did fall a little bit short, Kautzman footed the bill with a pair of 32-yard field goals.
The fourth period saw the speedy, spinning and slashing Mihelish click off TD keepers of 9 and 47 yards as he burst onto the scene.
“We were able to see our second and third offenses tonight, which was good,” Kyle Samson said. “I’m really proud of Merek. It was his first real action (as an Oredigger).
“The OL blocked for them.
Yes, it did. Offensive line coach Danny Thatcher confirmed the trench was manned by senior Bret Fullington (6-7, 315, Issaquah, Washington) at left tackle, sophomore Barrett Hageman (6-2, 280, Helena Capital) and sophomore Cole Dawes (6-5, 290, Helena Capial) sharing left guard, junior Zach Tierney (6-3, 300, Butte High) at center, senior Chase Meyer (6-3, 305, Missoula Big Sky) at right guard and junior Shannen O’Brien (6-3, 300, Helena High) at right tackle. O’Brien missed last season with injury.
With their work, Wilson passed for 136 yards and ran for 113. Mihelish ran for 73 and didn’t need to attempt a pass. Six different Orediggers caught passes, led by junior Nick Michelotti (6-4, 215, Helena Capital) with three grabs for 72 yards and senior Levi Torgerson (5-9, 185, Great Falls High) with seven snares for 57 yards.
“All three phases played really well,” Kyle Samson said about his offense, defense and special teams. “The defense was tremendous tonight and against a great team, too. We had some big plays on special teams – in kick coverage and from Casey being perfect.”
The unit held Ottawa to 117 total yards, 66 through the air and 51 on the ground. Koch completed just nine of 28 throws and Jeremiah Ballard caught three of them for 22. He was intercepted twice – by Brett Grange (5-11, 180, sophomore Helena High) and sophomore linebacker Asher Feddes (6-2, 230, Belgrade). Isaiah Dickerson was the Spirit’s top ground-gainer with 20 yards on five carries.
A young man walking through the parking lot and celebrating the night, the first big Montana Tech social event since classes began Monday.
“They’ve got a helluva team,” he offered, identifying himself as Todd Brown. “The upperclassmen are doing a great job of bringing up the underclassmen and it shows.”
No surprise there. The next Surprise for the Ottawa Spirit is home. The campus is located in Surprise, Arizona.
“We really appreciate the fans,” coach Kyle Samson said, scanning the bleachers packed to the bracings earlier in the night with a crowd making sure the new students knew the place wasn’t the library. “The atmosphere was awesome. Butte, America, really turned out.
“We’ll enjoy tonight, then get ready for a big challenge.”
The Orediggers are to be home against fellow Frontier Conference member and longtime rival Carroll next Saturday.
