DILLON — Big plays helped lift Rocky Mountain College's football team to its first victory of the season on Saturday afternoon.
The Battlin' Bears piled up nearly 500 yards of offense and Ty Battle produced a pair of big second-half rushing touchdowns as Rocky prevailed 38-32 over No. 21 Montana Western. It was Rocky's first win over Western since the 2022 season and snapped a streak of four straight losses to the Bulldogs.
The Bears improved to 1-2 while the Bulldogs fell to 1-2 and have lost back-to-back games.
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The Bears built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a 5-yard touchdown run by Jae'Sean Pete and then a 32-yard touchdown pass from Jhett Schwahn to Pete. Western cut the lead to 14-9 in the second quarter after a botched Rocky punt in the end zone resulted in a safety and Kaden LaPlaunt then connected with Seth Shook for a 1-yard touchdown.
Schwahn then threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Bergen Mysse to push Rocky's lead to 21-9 before Western's Maclain Burckley kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired in the first half with the Bears leading 21-12.
Rocky's Jordan Legg tacked on a 39-yard field goal early in the third quarter before Battle delivered an 85-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the quarter to push the Bears' lead to 31-12.
Western answered with a pair of touchdown passes from LaPlaunt to Shook and Colton Cornwell to trim the lead to 31-26. Then Battle scored on a 57-yard touchdown run to give his team a 37-26 lead with 4:17 left in the game.
Rocky will next host Carroll College on Sept. 26 while Western will travel to Dickinson State.
