BUTTE, Mont. — The No. 8 seed Montana Tech Orediggers (9-2 overall, 6-2 Frontier) finished the regular season in style, defeating No. 23 Carroll College (7-3, 6-2) to bolster their playoff resume.

The Orediggers overcame a slow start and fell behind 7-0 early on before scoring six of the final seven goals of the competition.

The Saints had an opportunity to take a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, but Payton Gonser’s interception gave the Orediggers all the momentum as they would turn the turnover into points, starting a stretch that saw Tech find the end zone at the five. from six drivers.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been this proud to be a Digger,” Montana Tech head coach Kyle Samson said. “I’m proud of my lads, I’m proud of my whole coaching staff, I’m proud of the whole Digger nation, what a great crowd. We knew what was at stake but we didn’t want to make it any bigger than it already was.”

“We came in and really made them scream ass. Not just a beating, not an ass whoop,” said senior running back Landers Smith, who had one of the best performances of his college career, rushing for 170 yards and four touchdowns.

“I just run behind my fullbacks and offline runs,” Smith said. “They do all the work for me, so I’m in the hole.”

“Landers is the toughest guy I know,” Samson said. “And so he ran. I really mean this. You see how he runs. It takes four men to take him down and he doesn’t get tired.

The converted fullback finished the regular season with 1,289 yards on the ground, 22 rushing touchdowns and a receiving score.

“At the beginning of the year, I had a goal of becoming a 1,000-yard rusher. I overcame it and it makes me proud to have a group of people around me who push me to be the best I can be. I couldn’t have done this without anyone else. This is a really special place at Tech, everyone has your back,” Smith said.

Senior quarterback Blake Thelen held on for an early interception to put together a solid performance, completing 15 of 17 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Samson said Smith suffered a rib injury when he was hit on the play, resulting in an interception, but he never considered sitting out a handful of plays.

“He made a good pitch, but that kid is a senior, there was nothing to keep him out of the game. “He was a little slow for a moment, but he recovered and had a great game,” Samson said.

With the win, the Orediggers will secure a comfortable berth in the NAIA postseason and likely host a second-round playoff game.

“Emotions are high. I think everyone is really excited. We’ve all worked so hard to get to where we are in this program. Tonight we’ll celebrate this win with the whole team, then we’ll see the V burn and we’ll keep laughing,” Smith said.

After last year’s first-round loss to Dickinson State, Samson says the Orediggers are ready to shake things up in the postseason.

“This team is in the playoffs. Now we know what to expect. And now we have to get back to work. We’re going to enjoy tonight, but we know our season isn’t over yet. I truly believe we have a team that can compete for a national title. We’ve got to take it every week,” Samson said. . “But I think playing the way we played today against the top 10 teams in the country. I don’t think Carroll is 23. To be honest, they dropped pretty bad last week and I don’t think they should have. That’s a great team we played today. If we can play like that against that type of team in the country, “I think we can compete with anyone.”

Elsewhere in the Frontier conference:

4 Montana Western 26, Eastern Oregon 19

For the first time since 1994-95, the Montana Western Bulldogs are back-to-back Frontier Conference champions.

The Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1) took a 19-0 lead on the road against Eastern Oregon (5-6, 4-4) and held on for the 26-19 win.

Michael Palandri completed 12 of 17 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns, while senior linebacker Braden Swank also played quarterback and completed all three of his passes for 24 yards and a touchdown.

Pete Gibson added 72 yards on the ground on 15 carries and Dylan Shipley caught five passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.

Keegen Muffich once again led the defense with 10 tackles, a pass breakup and a sack.

Montana Western will be one of the best series in the playoffs, which could mean multiple home games if they continue their winning ways. The election show will be held this Sunday at 17.00