--BUTTE, Mont.- Two top 25 teams met on Bob Green Field Thursday night, and the game lived up to every ounce of the hype. Playing their first game on the new turf, the Orediggers knocked off the No. 3 team in the country, Georgetown (Ky.) 29-22.

Entering the first week of the college football season, the Orediggers were ranked No. 21 in the preseason NAIA Coaches poll. The Tigers of Georgetown are coming off an incredibly successful 2023 season that witnessed them pound their way into the semifinals. They return a first-team All-American running back in Darius Neal, and several more weapons. Bluntly, the Tigers are built for another deep run.

Montana Tech enters 2024 in much the same way, returning a locker room of experience. That experience and leadership was on full display Thursday night.

Senior offensive captain Landers Smith rushed for a career-high 201 yards on (another career-high) 34 carries. Defensive back Jadyn Downs also had a career night -and maybe one of the best performances by an Oredigger cornerback in a long time- pulling down three interceptions, and taking one 42 yards for a huge, momentum-changing defensive touchdown.

In Oredigger football history, there have been only five players with three interceptions in a game, the last coming in 2007 when Jeff Braun robbed the Lights of Northern three times.  

There was a lot of excitement around the Oredigger offense this offseason, but the Digger D might have earned themselves an army of fans with some outstanding performances. Not once, but twice, the Orediggers made monster goal-line stands. Keeping the Tigers out of the endzone, and off of the scoreboard.

The Tigers lived on big plays, their longest scoring drive was 6 plays that went 60 yards and netted seven points. They scored their first touchdown on a three-play drive, and their last score came on a 95-yard fumble recovery by Justin Richards who took it the length of the field to give the Tigers a one-point lead with 1:43 left to play.

Senior captain Blake Thelen wasn't done. Over the next 90 seconds, he engineered an eight-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 31-yard touchdown strike to Wyatt Alexander with 12 seconds left in the game.

Montana Tech ran 63 offensive plays for 355 yards, 221 of which came on the ground. They racked up 25 first downs and finished the game making 5.63 yards a play.

Senior quarterback Blake Thelen finished the night completing 13 of his 26 attempts, for 134 yards, and one touchdown. Kyle Torgerson led the Oredigger receiving core with six catches good for 66 yards, and Dylan Snyder had 2 catches for 14 yards.

Defensively, Demario King led the Orediggers with 10 total tackles, he also had one tackle for loss and broke up one pass, an impressive start for the newcomer. Cole Wyant finished with nine tackles and two tackles for loss. Downs wasn't the only defender for the Diggs with an interception, senior Angel Sanchez got his first of the season, to go along with five tackles, and one tackle for loss.

First-Team All-American running back Darius Neal ran for 93 yards on 20 carries, he also pulled down three catches netting 21 yards. Quarterback Gehrig Slunaker completed 10 of his 21 pass attempts for 158 yards, and one score. He was intercepted four times, and sacked three times.

The Orediggers are on the road next Saturday to Helena to take on the Saints of Carroll College. Gametime 6pm at Nelson Stadium.