BUTTE, Mont.- Two top 25 teams met Thursday night at Bob Green Field and the game lived up to expectations. The Orediggers played their first game on the new grass and defeated the nation’s No. 3 team, Georgetown (Ky.), 29-22.

The Orediggers were ranked No. 21 in the preseason NAIA Coaches poll going into the first week of the college football season. The Georgetown Tigers are coming off an incredibly successful 2023 season, where they made it all the way to the semifinals. They have a first-team All-American running back in Darius Neal, as well as a number of other weapons. In short, the Tigers are built for another deep run.

Montana Tech will enter 2024 in much the same vein, with a locker room full of experience. That experience and leadership were on full display Thursday night.

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

In Oredigger football history, only five players have thrown three interceptions in a single game. The last time was in 2007, when Jeff Braun robbed the Lights of Northern three times.

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

The Tigers thrived on big plays, with their longest scoring drive being six plays that went 60 yards and yielded seven points. They scored their first touchdown on a three-play drive, and their final score came on a 95-yard fumble recovery by Justin Richards that threw the ball the length of the field to give the Tigers a one-point lead with 1:43 left in the game.

Senior Captain Blake Thelen wasn’t done yet. 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 were on the ground. They collected 25 first downs and finished the game with 5.63 yards per 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 for 66 yards, and Dylan Snijder had 2 catches for 14 yards.

Defensive, 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, along with five tackles and one tackle for loss.

First-Team All-American running back Darius Neal ran for 93 yards on 20 carries, also hauling in three catches for 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 travel to Helena next Saturday to take on the Saints of Carroll College. Gametime 6:00 PM at Nelson Stadium.