Lights blind 'Diggers

By Bill Foley of The Montana Standard

MSU-Northern's Fred Brown tries to catch the ball over Montana Tech defender Tyler Muzzana during Saturday's game at Alumni Coliseum. Brown couldn't control the ball, but Northern beat the Orediggers 29-22. Derek Pruitt / The Montana Standard

The Montana Tech offense finally got things going Saturday afternoon at Alumni Coliseum.

But it was too late.

The Orediggers' fourth-quarter rally came up short and the Montana State University-Northern Lights shocked Tech for a 29-22 Frontier Conference victory.

Tech is now 0-4 in football for the first time in coach Bob Green's 17 seasons in Butte. Actually, a Green team never started 0-3 before.

"These are the times that try men's souls," Green said. "No excuses. We've just got to play better, and I've got to coach better."

A sluggish offensive performance — behind two young quarterbacks filling in for injured Aaron Johnson — frustrated the Oredigger faithful most of the afternoon.

Then, after Northern extended its lead to 29-8 with a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs by Tanner Cochrell, in the fourth quarter the 'Digger offense took off.

Senior Conor Hogan, a Butte Central graduate, hauled in a

67-yard TD pass from redshirt freshman Jake Hill.

Hogan caught the pass over the middle, broke a tackle and sprinted for his first TD of the season.

Dan Kleckner's extra point made it 29-15 with 7:54 to play.

Tech scored again the next time it touched the ball.

Clutch receptions by sophomore Kris Anderson and Hogan set up a 4-yard TD run by sophomore fullback Kevin Dighans, his second of the game, with 3:35 left to play.

Tech made things interesting in the final minute, when Hogan caught a 20-yard pass from Hill on third-and-30 to move the ball to the Northern 25-yard line.

But a bad snap resulted in a fumble and a 10-yard loss on fourth down, and Northern took over with 40 seconds left.

Two knees by redshirt freshman quarterback Neill Crandell clinched Northern's first win of the season.

"We've never won here before. It was a struggle," Northern coach Walt Currie said after his team improved to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in Frontier Conference play. "We almost tried to give it away, but we found a way to suck it up and get the win."

Currie complimented the Orediggers' fourth-quarter effort.

"Butte's tough. They won't

See LIGHTS, Page B4

quit," he said. "You can see how well coached they are. They kept coming back, and they almost took this game away from us."

The Oredigger defense was stingy, but too many short-field situations wore the team down.

The Lights drove down to the Oredigger 24-yard line on their first possession.

But Northern didn't get anything to show for the 10-play drive after Chris Nagel missed a 42-yard field goal attempt.

On Tech's second play from scrimmage, a fumbled hand off gave the Lights the ball at the Tech 39.

Again, the 'Digger ‘D' held, and Nagel missed a 40-yard field goal.

Tech's defense held again after a fumble gave Northern the ball on the Oredigger 38 late in the first quarter.

The Orediggers forced a punt after Senior Matt Stepan, a former Butte Central Maroon, tackled Cochrell for a 5-yard loss on a third-and-six reception.

Sophomore linebacker Tucker Edmundson pressured Crandell on the play.

After Tech held off another Northern scoring opportunity — and Nagel missed a 46-yarder — the Oredigger ‘D' finally broke down.

This time it was after a Tech fake punt attempt was stopped, giving the Lights the ball at Tech's 36.

A 32-yard reception from Crandell to Clint Herrera set up a 4-yard TD run by Crandell for the game's first points with 12:57 showing on the second-quarter clock.

Tech blocked the extra point.

Special teams put the Orediggers on the board with 6:09 to play in the second.

Kent Kahl blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety to make it 6-2.

Both teams scored a TD in the third quarter.

Nick Arnold hauled in a 9-yard pass from Crandell for Northern, and Dighans scored on a 2-yard run for Tech.

Green said, despite the loss, he was encouraged by his team's come-back attempt.

"That's what I'm saying, guys are trying hard," Green said. "This loss is my fault. I took some crazy chances."

Tech faked three punts in the game. One — a 22 yard pass from safety Todd Schlaebitz to defensive back Tyler Muzzana — was successful.

The two that failed led to Northern TDs.

Crandell completed 20 of 34 passes for 189 yards, while Cochrell rushed for 76 yards on 28 carries.

Crandell was intercepted by Muzzana.

Hill completed 16 of 29 passes for 265 yards and an interception. Kegel completed four of 15 passes for 34 yards.

Adam Cotton, playing with a rib injury, rushed for 66 yards on eight carries. His biggest play was a 54-yard run that set up Dighans' first TD.

Josh Johnson rushed for 36 yards on nine carries.

Hogan hauled in four passes for 122 yards — all in the fourth.

Anderson caught four passes for 72 yards, his last a gutsy grab over the middle for 17 yards. He sustained a head injury after a hard hit on the play.

Defensively, Edmundson led the way with 12 tackles, including nine solo stops.

Muzzana, Schlaebitz and Lucas Paugh each tallied nine stops.

Northern, which fell 48-7 to Montana-Western at home last week, is back in action next week when they play host to Carroll College.

Tech, which fell to 0-2 in the Frontier, travels to Eastern Oregon.

The Orediggers are back at home Oct. 11 when they take on Rocky Mountain College.

MSU-Norther 0 6 7 16 — 29

Montana Tech 0 2 6 14 — 22

Second quarter

MSU-N — Neill Crandell 4 run (kick blocked), 12:53

MT — Safety, Kent Kahl blocked punt out of end zone, 6:09

Third quarter

MSU-N — Nick Arnold 9 pass from Crandell (Chris Nagel kick), 10:44

MT — Kevin Dighans 2 run (pass failed), 7:49

Fourth quarter

MSU-N — Tanner Cochrell 1 run (Crandell run), 13:03

MSU-N — Cochrell 1 run (Arnold from Crandell)

MT — Conor Hogan 67 pass from Jake Hill (Dan Kleckner kick), 7:54

MT — Dighans 4 run (Kleckner kick), 3:53

MSU-N MT

First downs 16 19

Rushing-yards 41-139 33-79

Passing 20-34-1 21-46-1

Passing yards 189 321

Fumbles-lost 1-0 6-2

Penalties-yards 6-41 5-26

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Northern, Tanner Cochrell 28-76, Neill Crandell 7-55, Tanner Woodward 1-(-1), Colt High 1-5, Kris Marshall 1-4. Tech, Adam Cotton 8-66, Josh Johnson 9-36, Justin Kegel 5-16, Kevin Dighans 4-9, Todd Schlaebitz 1-6, Jake Hill 6-(-49).

PASSING — Northern, Crandell 20-34-1-189. Tech, Hill 16-29-1-265, Kegel 4-15-0-34, Schlaebitz 1-2-0-22.

RECEIVING — Northern, Marshall 9-75, Clint Herrera 4-71, Nick Arnold 3-25, Cochrell 2-7, Woodward 1-8, High 1-3. Tech, Conor Hogan 2-122, Kris Anderson 4-72, Johnson 3-19, Dighans 2-23, Kyle Kastelitz 2-7, Tyler Muzzana 1-22, Craig Tippett 1-15, Ryan Dunn 1-14, Chris Carter 1-10, Patrick Watson 1-10, Brian Styck 1-7.