Orediggers bury the Lights in Butte

The Montana State University-Northern Lights have reached their bye week, but Northern didn’t go into its week off in quite the way it was hoping.

Saturday in Butte, the Lights fell for the fourth straight game, following a 54-9 loss to Montana Tech inside Alumni Coliseum. With the loss, Northern dropped to 0-4 in the Frontier Conference and 1-5 overall.

The No. 24 Orediggers and Lights met for the only time this season Saturday, and Tech jumped on the Lights as backup quarterback Cole Hauptman threw a touchdown to Trevor Hoffman to give Tech a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter. The Lights’ defense stiffened for a couple of drives, but less than two minutes into the second stanza, Hauptman ran for a 17-yard touchdown to put the Diggers ahead 17-0. Hauptman would add a 20-yard strike to star receiver Dion Williams with three minutes left in the half, sending Tech into the locker room leading 24-0.

Northern’s best scoring opportunity came late in the first half with Tech leading 10-0. Oredigger freshman Naoki Harmer, though, busted through to block a 29-yard field goal attempt by Sto preserve the two-score lead. The Lights also turned the ball over four times on the day, after not turning it over at all last week against Carroll College.

And those turnovers, coupled with Tech’s offense rolling behind 130 yards from star running back Jed Fike, just never allowed the Lights to get a handle on the game.

Fike opened the second half with a 24-yard TD run, and Hauptman hit Quade McQueary for a score to give the Diggers a 38-0 lead after three quarters.

Northern opened the fourth with a Tommy Wilson five-yard touchdown run, and the Lights scored a two-point conversion when Caymus Thomas returned a Tech missed extra point for a score.

But it wasn’t enough as the Orediggers scored three more times in the fourth quarter to improve to 3-1 in the Frontier and 3-1 overall.

Tech’s offense rolled up 588 yards with Hauptman throwing for 233. The Diggers also rushed for 355 yards.

Tech’s defense was as predicted, stingy. The Lights had just 258 yards of offense, with Wilson throwing for 206. But he was also sacked four times, including two by Tech standout Connor Wines. Wilson also threw a pair of picks, while Tech bottled up Northern running back Jett Robertson, who finished with a hard-fought 55 yards on 13 carries. Marvin Williams and Keegan Stroop each had seven catches for the Lights, while Bryce Bumgardner had five and Sam Mix added three grabs.

Defensively, Devariej Criss had eight stops for Northern, while Jake Norby added six, and Damien Nelson, Jaren Maki and Chase Gilbert each had five. The MSU-N defense also came up with a fumble recovery as well. Chase Story and Nelson also had sacks.

Now Northern will have a week off before resuming Frontier play when the Lights host Eastern Oregon for a night game Oct. 6 at Blue Pony Stadium. The entire Frontier is off this week.

“I like the bye week,” Northern head coach Andrew Rolin said last week. “It gives us a chance to rest and refocus, focus and work on the fundamentals. So we’ll take advantage of the bye week for sure.”

Montana Tech 54, Lights 9

MT: Tyler Padilla 28 field goal

MT: Trevor Hoffman 29 pass from Cole Hauptman (Padilla kick)

MT: Hauptman 17 run (Padilla kick)

MT: Dion Williams 20 pass from Hauptman (Padilla kick)

MT: Jeff Fike 24 run (Padilla kick)

MT: Quade McQueary 9 pass from Hauptman (Padilla kick)

MSN: Tommy Wilson 5 run (Sam Tapia kick)

MSN: safety

MT: Padilla 32 field goal

MT: Tyler Folkes 59 run (kick fail)

MT: Grant Kingston 70 run (Padilla kick)

MT MSU-N

First Downs 24 21

Rushing 33/355 34/52

Passing Yards 233 206

Total Offense 66/588 78/258

Penalties 8/74 1/15

Possession 22:35 37:20

Individual

RUSHING - MSU-N, Jett Robertson 13/55, Andrez Trahan-Proctor 2/4, Sam Braboy 5/1, Bryce Bumgardner 1/-2, Tommy Wilson 13/-6; MT, Jed Fike 19/127, Grant Kingston 1/70, Cole Hauptman 8/67, Tyler Folkes 2/65, Kiley Caprera 1/36, Jett Campbell 1/-10.

PASSING - MSU-N, Tommy Wilson 24/44/2/206; MT, Cole Hauptman 16/27/0/206, Jett Campbell 3/4/18, Danny Peoples 1/2/0/8.

RECEIVING - MSU-N, Bryce Bumgardner 5/53, Marvin Williams 7/52, Keagan Stroop 7/47, Jordan Pugh 1/24, Sam Mix 3/20, Jett Robertson 1/10; MT, Trevor Hoffman 5/72, Dion Williams 6/57, Kenny LaFayette 1/52, Sam McCamley 2/16, Quade McQueary 1/9, Reid Nelson 1/8, Jed Fike 2/7, Tyler Folkes 1/7, Alec Steele 1/5.

Lights are 0-4 in Frontier, 1-4

overall; Next Up: vs EOU Oct. 6

Frontier Conference Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Southern Oregon 4-0 4-0

UM-Western 3-1 3-1

Montana Tech 3-1 3-1

Rocky Mountain 2-2 3-2

Carroll College 2-2 3-2

Eastern Oregon 2-2 2-2

MSU-Northern 0-4 1-4

College of Idaho 0-4 0-5

Saturday

Montana Tech 54, MSU-Northern 9

Southern Oregon 27, Carroll College 0

Rocky Mountain 42, College of Idaho 41

Eastern Oregon 54, UM-Western 51

Saturday, Oct. 6

MSU-Northern vs Eastern Oregon

Carroll College at College of Idaho

Montana Tech at UM-Western

Southern Oregon at Rocky Mountain