BUTTE— No. 5 Montana Tech (10-1) trounced Dickinson State 44-10 in the first round of the NAIA FCS Playoffs on Bob Green Field.

In their first playoff game since 1997, the Orediggers used a variety of weapons to total 514 yards of offense in the win.

The Orediggers finished the contest with 307 rushing yards behind another big day from Nolan Saraceni. Saraceni rushed 23 times for 163 yards and three scores for the Diggers.

It was Dickinson State who put the first points on the board with a 27 yard field goal from Joshua Perry-Kruse giving the Blue Hawks a 3-0 advantage with 11:11 left in the first quarter.

The Blue Hawk lead was short lived as Montana Tech's Clay Cavender found pay dirt from 26 yards out on the ensuing possession giving the Diggers a 7-3 advantage. Montana Tech wasn't done scoring in the first quarter though, as the NAIA's leading rusher Nolan Saraceni scored from three yards out with 4:13 on the clock to give Tech a 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Montana Tech's Matt Berg connected on a 19 yard field goal early in the second to extend the Oredigger advantage, 16-3.

Later in the second, Saraceni rushed for another touchdown this time from four yards out. The Diggers would take a 23-3 lead into the halftime.

Dickinson State scored first in the second half on a Kaler Ray touchdown pass to Austin Brown shrinking Tech's lead to 23-10 early in the third quarter.

Montana Tech stormed right back as Andrew Loudenback hit Kolby Kansala across the middle and the tight end raced 51 yards for a score, 30-10.

The Diggers would two more rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Nolan Saraceni scored his third touchdown of the game from 3 yards out with 14:04 on the clock and Clay Cavender added his second of the day from two yards out with 9:18 left in the game.

The playoff win is the first for Montana Tech since they defeated Azusa Pacific in the first round of the 2005 NAIA playoffs.

Clay Cavender rushed 10 times for 67 yards and two touchdowns. Cavender also caught one pass for 20 yards.

Andrew Loudenback was 8-for-17 passing for 163 yards and a score.

David Meis led the Digger defense with 10 tackles and one forced fumble. The Diggers held Dickinson State to just 296 total yards of offense.

The Orediggers advance into the second round of the NAIA FCS Playoffs. Matchups for next week's game will be released tomorrow.