BUTTE—The Montana Tech Orediggers defeated Dickinson State 28-21 in the NAIA Football Championship Series First Round Saturday.
 
The Diggers (10-1) notched their tenth consecutive win in the victory over the Blue Hawks. The ten-win streak is a new Montana Tech football record.
 
The Diggers got on the board early taking the first possession of the game 79 yards on 10 plays. Montana Tech's Andrew Loudenback found the endzone on a nifty shovel pass from quarterback Quinn McQueary from three yards out.
 
McQueary scored again in the first quarter when the QB kept the ball and jogged into the endzone from seven yards out for his sixth rushing touchdown of the season. The Manhattan, Montana native led the Diggers with 257 all-purpose yards in the victory.
 
Montana Tech's lead increased to 21-0 midway through the second quarter when Zach Bunney found pay dirt out of the wildcat formation. Bunney's 13 yard touchdown run gave the Diggers their largest advantage of the afternoon.
 
Dickinson State would answer back with a 43 yard touchdown pass from Kaler Ray to Jed Fike. The touchdown pass put the Blue Hawks behind 21-7 going into the locker room.
 
After the intermission, Jed Fike broke loose for a 67 yard touchdown run cutting the Montana Tech lead to 21-14. Fike finished the day 143 yards on the ground and 43 yards receiving.
 
With pressure mounting, the Diggers engineered a 12-play 85-yard scoring drive to end the third quarter. Mitchell Keeton made back-to-back spectacular grabs on third and fourth down including the touchdown catch in the back of the endzone on 4th and seven.
 
With the Diggers ahead 28-14, Dickinson State's Kaler Ray busted loose for a 54 yard scoring run to put the Blue Hawks down a touchdown with much of the fourth quarter still to be played.
 
Montana Tech's defense stepped up on Dickinson State's final drive laying big hits on the Dickinson State quarterback and forcing the Blue Hawks to turn the ball over on downs near midfield.
 
Braden Feisthamel led Montana Tech in rushing with 128 yards on 22 carries. Feisthamel averaged 5.8 yards per carry taking the majority of the hand offs in the game.

Mitchell Keeton, Kolby Kansala, Zach Bunney, and Dion Williams combined for 17 catches and 220 receiving yards in the victory.
 
Leading the Oredigger defense was Nic Amestoy who registered a game-high 12 tackles. Zach Hulse and Drew Schleeman had eight and six tackles respectively.

Montana Tech's victory marked their 12^th straight win on Bob Green Field.
 
The NAIA will announce the matchups for next week's playoff game tomorrow. Stay tuned to GoDiggers.com for more information on the Diggers' upcoming game and opponent.