No. 15 Montana Tech knocks off No. 7 College of Idaho
No. 15 Montana Tech knocks off No. 7 College of Idaho
Daily Inter Lake
BUTTE — In a battle of nationally ranked teams, Montana Tech came out victorious with a 44-35 win over College of Idaho.
Flathead Braves product Blake Counts ran for the game’s first two touchdowns to put the Orediggers up 14-0 early in the first quarter.
The Orediggers pulled away from the Yotes for a 34-21 halftime lead and a one-yard touchdown run by Landers Smith at the 8:51 mark of the fourth quarter brought the score to the final tally and put College of Idaho away for good.
Counts finished with 72 yards rushing on 7 carries to average 10.3 yards per tote.
Orediggers signal-caller Blake Thelen was 17 of 27 passing for 361 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Thelen and Wyatt Alexander connected three times through the air for 131 yards. Levi Torgerson had four grabs for 81 receiving yards and a score for the Orediggers.
Andy Peters had a huge day under center for the Yotes, completing 28 of 42 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns with an interception in the first quarter.
No. 10 Carroll 35, Arizona Christian 20
HELENA — Carroll running back Duncan Kraft found the end zone twice and piled up 96 yards rushing on 12 carries to lead the Fighting Saints to a home win over the Firestorm Saturday.
The game was tight late in the third quarter as Carroll led 21-20 but from there the Fighting Saints scored 15 unanswered points capped off by a Ben Melhaff pick-6 interception.
Max Lehman tacked on another rushing score for Carroll and finished with 37 yards rushing on eight carries. Fighting Saints quarterback Jack Prka finished 12 of 22 passing for 149 yards and one touchdown.
Firestorm quarterback Tyler Duncan was 31 of 51 passing for 247 yards with one touchdown pass and an interception.
Montana Western 24, Southern Oregon 23
DILLON — Montana Western trailed 23-12 at home entering the fourth quarter at Vigilante Field Saturday when the Bulldogs’ passing game took over as Eli Nourse hauled in a pair of touchdowns from Michael Palandri to steal a win from Southern Oregon.
Palandri was 25 of 38 passing for 269 yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions. The Palandri-Nourse connection was on full display as Nourse finished with 13 catches for 169 yards and the two crucial fourth quarter scores.
Southern Oregon quarterback Matt Struck was 20 of 32 passing for 240 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
Jon Kirkley hauled in the other touchdown from Palandri and finished with three grabs for 38 yards receiving.
Noah Turnbull had a big day for Southern Oregon on defense with two sacks and seven total tackles.