Montana Western played the spoiler for Montana Tech's home opener by beating the Diggers 29-22.

The Orediggers started hot on defense causing a quick three and out and forcing the Bulldogs to punt. Tech then capitalized on good field position when quarterback Herman Tapley hit wide receiver Zack Kinney on a 28 yard pass for the first score of the game.

With Tech quarterbacks Herman Tapley and Brian Schwarzkoph splitting series, Schwarzkoph added on to the Diggers lead when he connected with Alec Bray for a 73 yard touchdown before the end of the first quarter.  A missed extra point attempt made the lead 13-0 for Montana Tech at the end of one.

Montana Western came storming back in the second quarter with a pair of Sam Rutherford rushing touchdowns to take the lead 14-13. Montana Western had a field goal attempt right before halftime blocked by lineman Tyler Denny.

The Orediggers scored on the first possession of the second half when Alec Bray caught a 10 yard touchdown pass from Brian Schwarzkoph. Montana Tech was unsuccessful on the two point conversion making the score 19-14.  

Matt Berg added a 33 yard field goal to push the lead to 22-14.

The Dawgs answered back with quarterback Tyler Hulse running it in on a 5 yard scamper bringing the score to 22-21.

Western's game winning drive was capped off by a Sam Rutherford 5 yard run. Rutherford ran for 190 yards on 36 carries for the Bulldogs.

Montana Tech got the ball back with just a minute left in the ballgame. A late interception with Tech driving down the field sealed the loss for Montana Tech.

Wide receiver Alec Bray finished with a career high 168 yards on 7 catches finding the end zone twice.

Quarterback Brian Schwarzkoph totaled 293 yards passing going 27 for 46 with 2 touchdowns and an interception.

Zack Kinney had a career high 13 catches for 94 yards for the Diggers.

Western improves to 3-0 while Montana Tech drops to 1-2 on the season. Tech will host Rocky Mountain College next week on "Bob Green Field" at Alumni Coliseum for Homecoming. The game starts at 1 pm.