BUTTE — For the third time in this 2025 campaign, Montana Tech's football team is tasked with trying to defeat an opponent for a second time in a single season.
The Orediggers topped Rocky Mountain College in both regular-season meetings and last week fended off Carroll College 31-21 in the second round of the NAIA Football Championship Series to earn a second victory over the Saints and punch a ticket to the quarterfinals.
"It was awesome," said sophomore linebacker Tyler Kovick, who delivered the play of the game when he forced a fumble in Carroll's end zone that was recovered by Trey Yates to put the Orediggers up by 10 in the fourth quarter. "It was really fun to go in and play our rival for the second time this year. It's always fun playing Carroll, especially in front of that crowd. That moment was really cool."
HEAR FROM THE OREDIGGERS:
Third-seeded Tech is now set to host No. 8 College of Idaho — which defeated No. 9 Morningside 37-19 in the second round — for a second time this season. The Orediggers outlasted the Yotes 27-24 in their September non-conference game.
It'll be a meeting between the Frontier Conference East champion Orediggers (12-0 overall, 6-0 in league play) and Frontier West champion Yotes (10-1, 6-0).
"Fortunately we have experience doing that because of the Frontier schedule," Tech head coach Kyle Samson said of defeating an opponent twice in one season. "We played Rocky twice, Carroll twice, now we're going to play C of I twice. It's kind of crazy when you're in your 13th game and it's all been Frontier Conference opponents.
"But yeah, it's a challenge to play a team twice. I do think it helps preparation-wise because you know who you're playing, you've got a familiar opponent. And I really think it just comes down to execution."
And knowing that they've already completed the task of defeating the same team twice in a season two times will give the Orediggers a big boost as they look to do it a third time.
"(College of Idaho is) a great football team, so allowing us to have that confidence instilled in us before from last week allows us to roll into this week and know exactly what we can do so that we can go out and play our best brand of football," said senior running back Nate Milanowski.
The Orediggers are looking to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 1996, when Bob Green was head coach and Tech became the first Frontier Conference team to play in the national championship.
The Orediggers will be looking to run their record to 13-0 on Saturday and doing so will come down to the same straightforward attitude that has gotten them to this point.
"It's just about us," said sophomore center Zach Tierney. "Just got to do what we do, get in and get out, and have a great time while doing it."
In the other quarterfinals, top-seeded Grand View (Iowa) will host No. 7 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and No. 4 Friends (Kan.) will host No. 5 Benedictine (Kan.). No. 2 Keiser (Fla.) was set to host No. 6 Marian (Ind.) until Marian's second-round win over No. 10 Dordt was forfeited due a player eligibility issue.
Dordt's petition to play Keiser in the quarterfinals was denied by the NAIA, meaning that Keiser will receive a quarterfinal bye. If both Grand View and Tech win their quarterfinal games, the Orediggers would travel to Keiser for the semifinals.
If Lindsey Wilson upsets Grand View and Tech defeats C of I, Lindsey Wilson would then travel to Tech for the semifinal round.
