BUTTE — A perfect regular season record for the first time in program history. Frontier Conference champions for the first time since 2016.
That's all in the past now, and Montana Tech is focused only on the immediate future.
"Yeah all that stuff is cool but once it comes to the playoffs all that stuff gets thrown out the door," said senior receiver Levi Torgerson, who was tabbed as the Frontier East division player of the year. "Everyone is 0-0."
The 11-0 Orediggers were tabbed as the No. 3 seed in the NAIA Football Championship Series and were on a bye last week during the opening round while Carroll College (9-2 overall, 5-1 in Frontier West play) earned a 42-35 victory over St. Thomas University (Fla.).
The Saints are now set to travel to Butte for a second-round meeting in what will be the third time these teams have meet in the playoffs, with the others being in 1996 and 2005. Kickoff is set for Saturday at 1 p.m.
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It'll be the third straight season that the Orediggers have hosted a playoff game after falling to Dickinson State in the first round in 2023 and watching Northwestern (Iowa) kick a game-ending 51-yard field goal in the second round last season.
"We're excited for the opportunity. It's a big game, we know that," said Tech coach Kyle Samson. "We want to prepare like it's every game we've played this year. Do the same preparation, try to keep the same schedule and just go out and have a ton of fun. I think this team plays best when they're having fun."
The Orediggers have won their past four meetings against the Saints with the latest being a 30-19 non-conference victory at Nelson Stadium on Sept. 6. It will be the 135th overall meeting between Carroll and Tech.
"Sometimes it's hard to see through that," said sophomore receiver Nick Michelotti of looking past the Saints/Orediggers rivalry and just zeroing in on Saturday as facing another opponent.
"But the coaches are doing great around here telling us it's just another game. We got to focus on what we do and just keep doing what we're doing."
Sophomore quarterback Jarrett Wilson, who was named the Frontier East offensive player of the year, echoed Michelotti.
"(Carroll's) just the next opponent on the schedule," said Wilson. "That's in the past and we're focused on ourselves. And it's win or go home."
Both the Saints and Orediggers will have the same goal this weekend — survive and advance to the quarterfinals.
"Just trying to go 1-0," said freshman defensive lineman Cole Graham. "We wanna be able to play next week so you just gotta take it one day at a time. Focus on the task at hand."
