BUTTE — Montana Tech built a big lead, rallied, and then survived overtime to get a 38-31 Frontier Conference football win over No. 23 Southern Oregon on Saturday.
The Orediggers built a 24-7 lead on the strength of two touchdown passes from Jet Campbell. Campbell started the game with a 5-yard scoring strike to Dion Williams, the star receiver who holds numerous Tech career records.
Southern Oregon would tie the game at 7-7 with a Jordan Suell 7-yard TD reception from quarterback Wyatt Hutchinson, but Tech would rattle off 17 unanswered points to take a 24-7 advantage into the fourth quarter. Tyler Padilla booted a 28-yard field goal before Jed Fike scored on a 1-yard run to make it 17-7 at halftime. Campbell’s second touchdown pass — a 27 yarder to Tanner Osborne — gave the Diggers a 24-7 lead early in the third.
The Raiders would dominate the fourth, though, getting a touchdown from Austin May and a defensive touchdown from Chase Cole. The Raiders surged ahead when Hutchinson hit Suell for an 18-yard touchdown with 3:42 to go. SOU added a 47-yard field goal moments later to grow the lead to 31-24.
With just 29 seconds remaining, Campbell threw his third TD pass of the day, connecting with Trevor Hoffman for a 12-yard score to tie the game.
Campbell then hit Hoffman for a 21-yard touchdown to start overtime and give Tech the 38-31 lead. The Digger defense held on SOU’s ensuing possession, recording two sacks — one each from Nic Amestoy and Brock Beede — and keeping the Raiders off the scoreboard.
Campbell finished the game completing 24 of 38 passes for 266 yards and the four touchdowns. Williams caught eight passes for 122 yards and one score, and Hoffman had six catches for 58 yards and two TDs. Fike finished with 165 yards and a score on 26 carries.
The Tech defense racked up seven sacks, including three from Connor Wines.
Montana Tech (4-4 overall, 4-4 conference) hosts Carroll College (4-5, 3-5) on Nov. 3. Southern Oregon (4-4, 4-4) has lost four consecutive games and hosts Montana State-Northern (1-8, 0-8) next week.
