Orediggers blast Lights

By Bill Foley of The Montana Standard - 09/19/2004

Montana Tech's Teague Egan breaks free from Northern defenders and heads downfield during the third quarter of their game Saturday afternoon at Alumni Coliseum in Butte. Tech beat Northern 61-0. Walter Hinick / The Montana Standard

Last Sept. 27, the Montana Tech football team fell to 0-4 and was wondering if it finally hit rock bottom in a 29-22 home loss to MSU-Northern.

Man, how things have changed.

Saturday, the Orediggers opened Frontier Conference play by pounding the Lights, 61-0, at a rainy Alumni Coliseum.

The only question after this one was just how good can this 2004 Oredigger be?

The answer to that question won't be known until Tech plays Carroll College and UM-Western.

But the Orediggers (2-1 overall, 1-0 Frontier) have a spark in their eyes and are walking with a swagger because they know they are contenders once again.

"Everyone is staying a little more positive and keeping their heads up," said sophomore running back Josh Johnson, who rushed for 125 yards and three touchdowns. "We've just got to look forward, and can't let wins like this get in our way. We got to keep focused and keep going at it."

Saturday, the Orediggers got after it from the start.

Sophomore linebacker Nathan Prach recovered a fumble — his first of two — on the second play from scrimmage to open the flood gates.

Tech scored the first two times it touched the ball, with sophomore quarterback Aaron Johnson hooking up with junior receiver Kris Anderson on touchdown passes of 9 and 36 yards.

In the second quarter, it started getting ugly.

As the rain started getting heavy, Northern (0-3, 0-2) had problems holding onto the ball. And Tech didn't miss an opportunity to take advantage.

The Orediggers scored four times off Northern fumbles in the first half en route to a 40-0 halftime lead.

Josh Johnson, fullback Kevin Dighans and

See OREDIGGERS, Page B4

strong safety-running back Adam Cotton ran for TDs in the second quarter, and Northern backup quarterback Neill Crandell — playing briefly for starter Kyle Samson — fell down in the endzone for a safety.

"This is the first conference game and you really make a conscious effort to take up your game," Tech coach Bob Green said. "We took it up for this one."

The Orediggers clicked in all phases.

Tech's defense held the Lights to 190 yards — 36 passing — and the offense gained 494 yards.

Behind the offensive line of Allen Linder, Chad Erwin, Dustin Langford, Wayne Butori and Nate Foster, Tech rushed for 294 yards.

Committed to the run, the Orediggers also used packages that saw tight ends Craig Tippett, Ryan Dunn and Kent Kansala in the game at the same time.

The biggest stat of the day, though, was shutout the Orediggers posted one week after a 56-3 loss at NCAA I-AA North Dakota State.

"For us it meant a lot coming off a game like last week when all these points were scored against us," said senior inside linebacker Lucus Paugh, the league leader in tackles. "For pride and confidence, this is good for us."

The only real offense by Northern, came from Samson, the son of first-year coach Mark Samson. He rushed for 83 yards, 52 of which came on one play in the fourth quarter.

Green said the front seven — led by down linemen Corey Edmundson and Shane Hensleigh —set the tone on defense, while the secondary more than held their own.

Kyle Schindler picked off a pass, and Paugh, free safety Tyler Muzzana and linebacker J.J. Perino led the big hit parade.

As bad as the score was, it could have been much worse.

Tech played nearly every player on the roster and the Orediggers didn't score in the last 20 minutes.

Josh Johnson scored on a 35-yard on Tech's first play from scrimmage. Johnson added a 5-yard run and redshirt freshman Teague Egan, who added 109 yards on the ground, scored on a 1-yard plunge to cap the scoring.

Aaron Johnson completed 13 of 18 passes for 180 yards. He was picked off once.

"It's a good feeling knowing that we have a good offense this year that can sustain a drive and keep us off the field," Paugh said.

Anderson, who is quickly becoming one of the top receivers in the NAIA, hauled in seven passes for 107 yards. Brian Styck caught five for 39 and Dighans pulled in three for 34.

Montana Tech heads to La Grande, Ore., to take on Eastern Oregon next Saturday before jumping back into Frontier action against Montana-Western in Dillon Oct. 2.

Norther, which starts eight freshmen and has been outscored 160-3 this season, plays host to Western.

"We've just got to come out and prove to people that we are as good as the score shows," Josh Johnson said. "We've got to continue executing and show everybody what we're made of."

This year, the Orediggers know what that is.

MSU-Northern 0 0 0 0 — 0

Montana Tech 14 26 21 0 — 61

First Quarter

MT — Kris Anderson 9 pass from Aaron Johnson (Dan Kleckner kick), 11:03

Drive: 7 plays, 33 yards. Key play: Brian Styck 3 pass from A. Johnson on third-and-2 on MSU-N 14.

MT — Anderson 36 pass from A. Johnson (Kleckner kick), 7:39

Drive — 4 plays, 56 yards. Key play — scoring play.

Second Quarter

MT — Kevin Dighans 1 run (Kleckner kick), 12:02

Drive: 6 plays, 37 yards. Key play: Anderson 42 pass from A. Johnson to MSU-N 2.

MT — Josh Johnson 22 run (Kleckner kick), 9:09

Drive: 3 plays, 31 yards. Key play: scoring play.

MT — Adam Cotton 5 run (Kleckner kick) 7:13

Drive: 3 plays, 17 yards. Key play: scoring play.

MT — Safety, Neill Crandell fell down in end zone, 6:16

MT — FG Kleckner 32, 0:00

Drive: 6 plays, 45 yards. Key play: scoring play.

Third Quarter

MT — J. Johnson 35 run (Kleckner kick), 14:35

Drive: 1 play, 35 yards.

MT — J. Johnson 5 run (Kleckner kick), 9:06

Drive: 8 plays, 60 yards. Key play: J. Johnson 22 run to MSU-N 17.

MT — Teague Egan 1 run (Kleckner kick), 5:53

Drive: 4 plays, 29 yards. Key play: Egan 25 run to MSU-N 4.

MSU-N MT

First downs 13 23

Rushes-yards 36-154 53-294

Passing 7-17-1 14-19-1

Passing yards 36 200

Tatal yards 190 494

Punts-Ave. 4-36.5 3-43.7

Penalties-yards 8-50 7-65

Fumbles-lost 5-5 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MSU-N, Kyle Samson 11-83, Don Saisbury 14-66, Cody Nickel 6-19, Todd Nelson 2-4, Crandell 1-(-18). MT, Josh Johnson 21-125, Teague Egan 15-109, Corey Warner 9-51, Kevin Dighans 2-6, Justus Sheets 1-11, Adam Cotton 1-5, Jens Jensen 1-0, Team 3-(minus 13).

PASSING — MSU-N, Samson 5-12-1-26, Crandell 2-5-0-13. MT, A. Johnson 13-18-1-180, Sheets 1-1-0-20.

RECEIVING — MSU-N, Nick Arnold 3-17, Nickel 2-6, Saisbury 1-8, Danny Wirtzberger 1-8. MT, Anderson 5-107, Brian Styck 5-39, Dighans 3-34, Levi Briese 1-20.

Missed field goals — none.