Orediggers run away from the Lights in the Mining City

The Montana State University-Northern Lights definitely put a scare into the Montana Tech Orediggers and their sellout crowd Saturday inside Alumni Coliseum.

Unfortunately for the Lights, it was only a scare.

Northern battled the Orediggers in a seven-point game for nearly three full quarters, before Tech finally took control and pulled away from the Lights for a 35-10 win Saturday afternoon in Butte, dropping MSU-N to 0-2 on the young season.

The Lights got off to a disastrous start, surrendering 14 points in the first few minutes of the contest, as Tech scored on a Quinn McQueary touchdown pass on its opening drive, then blocked an MSU-N punt, setting up another McQueary to Mitchell Keaton TD strike, making the score 14-0 before most fans had even settled into their seats.

From there, however, Northern showed plenty of moxie.

“We gave away some points right at the beginning of the game, and against good teams, you can’t do that,” said MSU-N head coach Aaron Christensen. “But I thought we responded to that really well. We put together a nice drive, and from that point, we felt like we were right there. We went into halftime feeling like we could hang with that team. So, I thought our guys did a great job of responding to early adversity.”

The Lights did respond well, going on a stellar drive, which included two big runs by Zach McKinley, who had 103 yards rushing in the first half, as well as big third-down conversions from Jess Krahn to Kagen Khameneh. The drive was capped when Krahn hit a wide open Wyatt McKinlay in the endzone, cutting the Tech lead to 14-7.

From there, Northern’s defense stood stall. The Lights held Tech scoreless the rest of the first half, leaving Oredigger fans a little nervous, considering Tech was 0-1 after a loss to Carroll College to open the season.

The Lights continued to battle, especially defensively, as Northern completely bottled up Tech star running back Nolan Saraceni to the tune of just 33 yards on the day. However, some crucial lapses by the Lights helped Tech get rolling in the third quarter.

“I thought our defense played really well, against a very good offensive football team, ” Christensen said. “

Tech forced a punt on Northern's opening drive of the half and was put in prime position when Levi Lynde returned the ensuing punt 51 yards to the Northern 15. Two plays later, McQueary found Zach Bunney over the middle, and he barreled in from 16 yards out to stretch the lead to 21-7. Seven minutes after that score, the Digger defense came up big when a blitz forced Krahn to rush a throw over the middle that went right to Gunnar Kayser, who raced 35 yards untouched for a touchdown and a 28-7 Tech lead.

Northern had a golden scoring opportunity in the fourth quarter stuffed by the Tech defense at the goal line, while McQueary added a TD run. The Lights did tack on a 34-yard Tommy Langley field goal, but gaining just 98 yards of offense in the second, with McKinley being held to just four, was a big reason why the Diggers were able to pull away for their first win of 2016.

“Again, I thought we did a lot of positive things,” Christensen said. “But against really good teams like Tech, you can’t make the mistakes we did and win, especially on the road. We had a punt blocked, we had an interception returned for a touchdown, and we gave up one big punt return. Those three things were the biggest factors in the score turning out the way it did.

“When you look at the stats,” he added. “We were pretty even, there wasn’t much of a difference. But, we felt like we gave away some points, and Tech is a good, experienced football team and they took advantage of those mistakes. So, going forward, we just have to keep working to eliminate those crucial plays that can turn a game around like it did in this game.”

McKinley finished with 107 yards on 22 carries, while Mike Cocke and Khameneh combined for seven catches. Krahn was 19-of-39 for 166 yards and an INT, while Northern’s defense held Tech to just 321 yards of offense, led by McQueary, who threw for 253 yards. Garrett Jericoff also had a pick for MSU-N, while Jordan Brusio and David N’Guessa had sacks, and Dujuwan Jones had a team-high eight stops.

The Lights will return home to host nationally ranked Carroll College this Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium.