’Diggers win 16th straight over Rocky

BILLINGS — Rocky Mountain College has made some reasonable strides this football season, but the Bears found out Saturday afternoon that there is still a long way to go.

Montana Tech quarterback Matt Komac passed for two touchdowns and ran for another and the Orediggers recorded six sacks in spoiling Rocky’s homecoming festivities with a decisive 36-7 Frontier Conference victory on Herb Klindt Field.

Komac, a redshirt freshman from Helena, passed for a career-high 302 yards as Tech extended its remarkable run against Rocky with its 16th consecutive win over the Bears since the 2000 season.

On defense, the Orediggers also rushed as many as six players and outside linebacker J.J. Perino was in on seven tackles, had two sacks and recovered a fumble.

“That’s what’s great about our defense,” said the 6-foot-4, 207-pound Komac. “They cause turnovers and make big plays and that just gives us more confidence and more drive to go out there and move the ball.”

The Orediggers, ranked 25th nationally in the NAIA, were on the move on both sides of the ball against the Bears while turning in what coach Bob Green called “our most complete game” of the season.

“We’re meshing great now,” added the 6-1, 245-pound Perino, a preseason All-America selection. “We’re all playing hard and playing for each other. It’s getting towards the end of the season and it’s all coming together.”

Tech out-gained Rocky 390 yards to 211, limited the Bears to just 19 yards on the ground by mounting the heavy rush and also received three field goals from ex-Billings

See ’DIGGERS, Page B5

Central star Nolan Lopez covering 44, 39 and 32 yards.

“J.J. (Perino) led the nation last year in sacks,” observed Rocky head coach David Reeves. “Obviously, Tech is a good solid team, year in and year out. Give them credit.”

With their second straight win, the Orediggers raised their conference record to 4-3 and overall mark to 5-3. Rocky, which lost to Tech 14-10 in Butte on Sept. 15, fell to 1-6 in the Frontier and 2-6 overall with its fourth straight loss.

“I know you guys never write it, but Rocky always plays us tough,” said Green afterward. “They played very well early in the game. Boy, they were giving us problems on defense. We had a hard time keeping them blocked.”

The Bears certainly posed an immediate threat to the Orediggers, taking the opening kickoff and driving to the Tech 28 before losing a fumble to another ex-Central player Billy Glennon. On its next possession, Rocky turned right around and moved the football to the Oredigger 20 before Tech’s Kyle McCall intercepted a pass in the end zone.

“I thought a key play was when Kyle McCall picked off a ball in the north end zone,” Green said. “We were struggling a little bit, I’ll be honest with you. They had some rhythm going.”

But Rocky wasn’t able to cash in — and that proved to be crucial in the end.

“On offense, I’m sure Brian (Armstrong, offensive coordinator) will tell you we’ve got to clean up the red zone,” said Reeves. “It hurts when you don’t come away with anything because they did such a good job to get down there.”

Tech used two field goals by Lopez, both following Rocky miscues, and a leaping catch in the end zone by Alex Grevas on a 26-yard fade pass from Komac with 1:20 left in the second quarter to build a 13-0 halftime lead.

“I thought our offense was moving the ball well early and they got a couple of saving graces,” Reeves said of the Orediggers. “When you catch a guy on his heels and all of a sudden he survives and then he survives again, pretty soon he starts gaining a little confidence.”

Tech grabbed the momentum, but Rocky was its own worst enemy in the opening half, throwing the interception in the end zone, losing two fumbles, having a punt blocked and being flagged for eight penalties.

“At the end of the first half we felt we were still in decent shape,” said Reeves. “I think the big blow was obviously a couple of (pass) coverage deals in the third quarter. We’ve just got to make sure we make those plays.”

The Bears never did get a chance to atone for their mistakes as the Orediggers took the second half kickoff and covered 61 yards on just three plays to move in front 19-0 with 14:02 left in the third quarter.

Tech’s big moment — and touchdown — came on a 54-yard pass play over the middle from Komac to elusive wide receiver Casey Kelly, who also escaped a couple of tacklers in reaching the end zone.

The 5-9 Casey finished the afternoon with 11 receptions for 186 yards. He figured prominently in most of the Orediggers’ scoring drives.

“We’ve got to clean that up,” Reeves said of the breakdowns in the Bear secondary. “I think we did better on the front seven on defense, but we got to clean up that (pass) coverage.”

Tech upped its lead to 26-0 on a 3-yard touchdown run by Corey Warner with 6:31 remaining in the third quarter.

Rocky’s lone TD came on a 45-yard pass from Drew Hedrick to Brian Guisti with 3:21 left in the third. Guisti caught the pass on the sideline, delivered a slick move against a defender, and went in for the score. Bjorn Nelson’s point-after kick made it 26-7.

Komac used a strong second effort to score on a quarterback sneak and Lopez added his final field goal as Tech tackled on 10 fourth-quarter points.

“It’s always good in football if your most recent game is your best game,” said Green. “This is our best game overall.”

Tech now will host rival Montana-Western this coming Saturday, while Rocky will remain at home this week and entertain Eastern Oregon University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The Bears beat the Mountaineers 21-9 in La Grande, Ore., on Sept. 22.

Tech 3 10 13 10 — 36

Rocky 0 0 7 0 — 7

First Quarter

MT — Nolan Lopez 44 FG, 1:39

Second Quarter

MT — Lopez 39 FG, 5:33

MT — Alex Grevas 26 pass from Matt Komac (Sean Kelly kick), 1:20

Third Quarter

MT — Casey Kelly 54 pass from Komac (pass failed), 14:02

MT — Corey Warner 3 run (Kelly kick), 6:31

RMC — Brian Guisti 45 pass from Drew Hedrick (Bjorn Nelson kick), 3:21

Fourth Quarter

MT — Komac 1 run (Kelly kick), 12:56

MT — Lopez 32 FG, 10:37

Tech Rocky

First downs 15 14

Rushes-yards 33-88 31-19

Comp-Att-Int 22-39-0 22-38-2

Passing yards 302 192

Total yards 390 211

Punts 4-32 7-33.9

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-2

Penalties-Yards 6-54 9-78

Individual statistics

Rushing — Montana Tech (33-88), Matt Komac 6-(-8), Corey Warner 18-55, Skyler Knuchel 3-7, Levi Briese 2-14, Bud Roberts 4-20. Rocky Mountain (30-17), Mike Thomas 8-36, Cavan Cooney 5-16, Mondrell Lathan 4-(-3), Derek Fraser 1-0, Lance Hansen 2-4, Drew Hedrick 3-(-11), Casey Gregersen 7-(-23), Team 1-(-2).

Passing — Montana Tech, Matt Komac 22-38-0, 302 yards; Hunter Kerkes 0-1-0, 0 yards. Rocky Mountain, Drew Hedrick 20-35-2, 166 yards; Casey Gregersen 2-3-0, 26 yards.

Receiving — Montana Tech, Casey Kelly 11-186, Corey Warner 3-31, Alex Grevas 3-46, Justin Hansen 1-1, Zach Soukup 2-17, Cal McQueary 2-21. Rocky Mountain, Brian Guisti 7-88, Bryce Burton 6-47, Kevin Concienne 3-23, Trevor Daer 3-14, Jason Hagadone 2-14, Derek Fraser 1-6.

Tackles — Montana Tech, J.J. Perino 7, Quincy Bourne 7, Britt Siddoway 6. Rocky Mountain, Jason Rixford 8, Daniel Worley 8, Weston Leritz 8.

Sacks — Montana Tech, J.J. Perino 2, Britt Siddoway 1, Kyle Carter 1, Paul Klaboe 1, Jon Gallatin 1.

Interceptions — Montana Tech, Kyle McCall, Jess Johnson.

Fumble recoveries — Montana Tech, Billy Glennon, J.J. Perino. Rocky Mountain, Daniel Compton.