KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NAIA announced the second-round pairings for the NAIA Football Championship Series on Saturday, revealing Montana Western's and Montana Tech's opponents for next weekend.
The fourth-seeded Bulldogs will host No. 14 Dickinson State, while No. 7 Montana Tech will host No. 11 Northwestern (Iowa). Both games will be Nov. 30.
Western and Tech both had first-round byes in the playoffs, which started Saturday with four first-round games. Dickinson State, Pikeville (Ky.), Southwestern (Kan.) and Friends (Kan.) won the first-round games to advance to the second round.
Dickinson State, which is coached by Baker native Pete Stanton and has a strong Montana flavor on its roster, earned a 27-20 win over Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday in the Blue Hawks' first home playoff game in 20 years. DSU quarterback Will Madler scored two rushing touchdowns — including the go-ahead score with 29 seconds remaining — and Braden Zuroff added another as the team ran for 231 yards on 58 carries.
Dickinson State (10-1) will visit Western (9-1) for a 12 p.m. kickoff in Dillon on Nov. 30. The Blue Hawks are set to join the Frontier Conference next fall.
The Orediggers (9-2), meanwhile, will play Northwestern (8-2), which also had a first-round bye, in Butte at 1 p.m. on Nov. 30.
