Sioux City, Iowa – The No. 14 Montana Tech season came to an end Saturday afternoon after a hard fought battle against No. 3 Morningside in the 2012 NAIA Football Championship Series First Round. No. 14 Montana Tech fell 40-35.

Montana Tech (8-3) got on the board first scoring the first 13 points of the game.

Morningside stuck back scoring four unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 27-13 lead.

Pat Hansen, who had four touchdowns on the day, found the end zone with 57 seconds to go in the half to make the score 27-20. But the Mustangs returned the kickoff to take a 34-20 lead into the break.

The Oredigger defense held the Mustangs to only one score in the second half.

Tech scored on a safety and touchdowns by Pat Hansen and a Baker to James Roberts pass.

Only down by five, the opportunity presented itself for the Orediggers to have one last shot at a drive towards the end zone with 2:30 to play in the game from the Morningside 10-yard line. A sack causing a fumble ended the season for the Orediggers on the first play of the drive.

Hansen had 133 yards rushing and three touchdowns on the ground and one through the air.

Nick Baker had 300 yards through the air and two touchdowns.

Trent Thomas caught 10 balls for 81 yards.

Nate Kobold had 9 tackles on the day.

Joe Semansky had the lone sack in the game. He had seven tackles.