BUTTE, Mont. – The No. 16 Dickinson State Bluehawks move on to the next round downing No. 17 Montana Tech in a nail biter 35-28.

The Bluehawks made big plays on defense to change the momentum and running back Braden Zuroff kept the ball moving with 227 yards on the ground.

The Orediggers had an opportunity to tie the game in the fourth quarter. After starting on their own 25-yard line, Blake Thelen completed a 22-yard pass to Wyatt Alexander putting the Orediggers at midfield.

Thelen completed two passes to Levi Torgerson and Landers Smith added 10 yards on the ground, the Orediggers were on the 34-yard line.

Dickinson dug their heels in bringing Tech to a 4^th and 2. Thelen completed his third pass to Torgerson for nine yards taking Tech to the 23-yard line.

Dickinson's Joey DeMarco intercepted two plays later stopping the drive. DeMarco had two interceptions in the game grabbing his first in the second quarter.

Thelen passed for 359 yards in the game completing 22 of 36 and two touchdowns and three interceptions.

The Orediggers took the first lead of the game on a Landers Smith seven-yard touchdown. Smith had a pair of touchdowns and finished with 71 yards rushing.  

Zuroff tied the game next with his first of three touchdowns taking the score to 7-7.

Mark Estes pulled down a 73-yard touchdown in the second quarter giving Tech a 14-7 lead. He finished with four catches and 133 yards receiving.

Dickinson scored the next two touchdowns to move ahead of the Orediggers 21-14. Will Madler completed a 21-yard touchdown to Sickler and Zuroff scored his second touchdown.

The Orediggers marched the field before the end of the half to tie the game before the break. Thelen hit Wyatt Alexander for a 20-yard touchdown capping a nine play 94-yard drive.

 Alexander had six catches for 131 yards in the game.

The second half started off much slower before the scoring started up again. Dickinson scored two touchdowns after the break and the Orediggers just one before missing on their final drive.

Madler completed 9 of 17 for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Cameron caught the second touchdown in the third quarter and finished with four catches and 116 yards receiving.

Cole Wyant led the Orediggers with a game-high 13 tackles and the lone sack in the game.

Cole Stewart, JR Seewald and Kade Wilcox had six tackles each.

Jayuden Heartwell led the Bluehawks with 10 tackles.

DeMarco had seven tackles and Krew Matheron finished with seven.

The Orediggers finished the season with a 7-4 overall record.