BILLINGS – The Orediggers did so many things right Saturday afternoon at Herb Klindt Field.

They just couldn't overcome what they did wrong.

No. 20 Rocky Mountain College turned four Montana Tech turnovers into 24 points, and the Battlin' Bears beat the Orediggers 44-37 in a Frontier Conference football game.

“It's obvious for several weeks now that we're by far our own worst enemy,” Tech coach Chuck Morrell said. “We're constantly crushing ourselves with some big mistakes. It's not allowing us to win.”

The final blow was a 52-yard interception return by J.T. Fitzgerald with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in the game.

The back-breaking play came less than four minutes after a game-tying touchdown and 2-point conversion by the Orediggers, whose defense quickly got ball back for the Offense.

On second-and-five from the from the Tech 48-yard line, Fitzgerald stepped in front of a Brian Schwarzkoph pass and raced untouched for the score that spoiled a day that saw Tech put up 505 yards of total offense.

“There's so many positives today,” Morrell said. “We said during the week that we wanted to give ourselves a chance to win. Rocky is such a good team and we wanted to give ourselves a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. We did. We had an opportunity.”

Those positives included four touchdown passes and 278 yards by Schwarzkoph, three TD catches by Craig Halko and a 143 yards and a touchdown rushing by Pat Hansen.

Halko caught TD passes of 56, 21 and 42 yards. He out jumped a defender to make a spectacular catch on each of his last two scores.

“Our offense came back to life today,” Morrell said. “We really hadn't gotten anything going for the last two weeks.

“Craig Halko was unbelievable,” the coach added of the junior receiver who caught five passes for 137 yards. “Some of his catches were phenomenal.”

Tech led 14-0 after Schwarzkoph hit Leif Knatterud for a 4-yard score before hitting hooking up with Halko on the 56-yard bomb.

Rocky got on the board shortly after Chris Molen recovered a fumble on the Tech 43-yard line.

That turnover set up a 1-yard touchdown run by defensive lineman Jake Scharbrough with 2:52 left in the first quarter.

Tech responded when Halko made a leaping grab in the back corner of the end zone for a 21-yard score.

The Orediggers turned a low snap into a 2-point conversion when holder Trent Thomas, who had a big game as a receiver, rolled out and hit Knatterud with a pass over the middle to make it 22-7.

The Orediggers self-destructed, and Rocky scored twice late in the second quarter to cut the lead to 22-21 at halftime.

A.J. Tolbert out jumped a Tech defender for a 26-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Baker down the right sideline with 2:42 left.

“The kid is a great player,” Morrell said of Tolbert, who caught five passes for 65 yards. “We worked our butts off to try to hold him in check.”

Two plays later, Rocky's Ridge Fuentes picked off Schwarzkoph, who scrambled around before trying to force a pass over the middle, giving Rocky the ball at the Tech 30 after the Bears were called for a personal foul.

Four plays later, on third-and-seven, Baker hit Tolbert over the middle. He broke a tackle and went 17 yards for a touchdown 54 seconds before the break.

“The last four minutes of the first half really stung us,” Morrell said.

Tech built the lead to 29-21 when Halko made another leaping TD catch with 8:45 left in the third.

The Bears answered with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Baker to Jake St. John with 7:17 left in the third. That score came on fourth-and-2.

The two-point conversion failed, and Tech led 29-27. 

The Orediggers, though, coughed up the football on the kickoff.

Cormac Kenan recovered the fumble on the Tech 24, setting up 34-yard Will Mondragon field goal that gave Rocky its first lead at 30-29.

The Bears made it 37-29 when Baker scrambled for a 15-yard touchdown with 2:00 on the third quarter clock.

Tech battled back to tie the game on a 10-play, 81-yard drive that was capped by a Hansen 2-yard touchdown run with 6:09 left in the game.

Schwarzkoph hit Halko for the 2-point conversion to make it 37-all.

“Brian made some big plays down the stretch,” Morrell said.

Tech's defense forced a three-and-out, and the Orediggers were in business.

Schwarzkoph flipped a pass to Hansen, who made a long gain on a spectacular play. The Orediggers were called for a clip on the play, but they still had first-and-10 at their own 43.

Tech moved the ball to the 48 on a 5-yard run by Schwarzkoph.

“The focus at that point was just going to be work it into field goal range, eat up the rest of the clock and then kick it and give ourselves a chance,” Morrell said.

Fitzgerald had other ideas. His big play came on the next snap.

Senior linebacker Connor O'Neill had a big day for the Oredigger defense. O'Neill registered three of Tech's five sacks.

Joe Semansky and Marcus Johnson also recorded sacks for the Orediggers, who played better than the stat sheet showed.

“Defensively we had some monster stops,” Morrell said. “We played really well thought the fourth quarter.”

Nathan Kobold was credited with 13 tackles, seven unassisted. Semansky recorded 11 tackles (six solo), while Jordan Heringer had the hit of the game for the Orediggers, knocking off St. John's after a short reception.

Schwarzkoph scrambled for 76 yards to go along with a 19-for-27 passing performance.

James Roberts caught five passes for 77 yards, while Thomas caught five for 55.

Baker passed for 222 yards. Levi Sutton caught 11 passes for 63 yards, while Sean Coleman ran for 85 yards on nine carries.

“Rocky is a very, very good football team on both sides of the ball,” Morrell said.

The Bears, who are ranked for the first time in 11 years, improved to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

The Orediggers, who dropped their third straight to fall to 1-3 and 0-3, return home next Saturday to play host to defending NAIA national champion Carroll College.