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Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears

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Events and Results

Rocky Football Travels to Butte to take on No. 21 Montana Tech

Rocky Football Travels to Butte to take on No. 21 Montana Tech

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Brandon Stinson | Sports Information & Media Coordinator

BILLINGS, Mont., Sept. 16, 2022- Battlin' Bears football comes off their bye with a tough matchup against No. 21 Montana Tech in Butte. 
Battlin' Back: Rocky entered their first bye week dropping their first game at home of the season to College of Idaho, 18-21. The defeat dropped the Battlin' Bears out of the Top-25 rankings. 

Checking in with Coach Stutzriem: "Really looking forward to our matchup with Tech, they are a very physical, athletic and well coached team. It should be a great matchup on Saturday" Coach Chris Stutzriem said. "I thought our guys had a great week of practice this week. We got back to basics during the bye week, had a couple days off to regroup and finished this week strong. I'm very excited to watch us play on Saturday". 

Scouting the Orediggers: Montana Tech is off to a hot start to the 2022 season, winning their first two games 38-3 and 26-10 against Eastern Oregon and Carroll College, respectively. The Orediggers are led by senior quarterback Jet Campbell, who leads the Frontier Conference in passing yards, competition percentage, and quarterback efficiency so far in the 2022 season. Campbell also was named Offensive Player of the Week in the first week of the 2022 season. Campbell has a variety of weapons on the Tech offense to utilize, including 2021 All-Conference Second Team members junior running back Blake Counts (175 rushing yards, 1TD total) and senior wide receiver Trevor Hoffman (191 receiving yards total), along with redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Kyle Torgerson (155 receiving yards total). 

As explosive as the Tech offense has been, the defensive unit may have an even more impressive start to the season, holding their first two opponents to a conference low 6.5 points per game. The Oredigger defense is anchored by 2021 First Team All-Conference defensive back Jordan Washington, along with Tech's leading tackler, redshirt-junior linebacker Ben Windauer. 

Montana Tech was initially picked to finish fifth in the Frontier Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, but have begun the 2022 season playing above that prediction. The Orediggers are led by second year head coach Kyle Samson. 

History: Tech finished the season 5-5 in 2021, but were able to win both games against Rocky, 31-29 and 21-17. Rocky's last victory against Tech was in Butte in 2019, winning 38-23 in the last regular season game of the season. Since 2011, Rocky is only 4-9 against Tech overall. 

Battlin' Bears to Watch: Big Play Potential
  • DeNiro Killian Jr.: The sophomore wide receiver broke out two long receptions, one for 52 yards and the other for 37 yards in the loss against College of Idaho. Killian Jr. will look to be a contributor to an offense who will have a tough test against the conference's leading defense. 
  • Brail Lipford: The sophomore defensive back recorded 9 total tackles in the loss against College of Idaho two weeks ago, including 2 tackles for loss and added on 3 pass break ups. Lipford and the rest of the defensive backfield will look to continue a productive start to the season against a dynamic offense. 
Social Media: Follow @BattlinBears on twitter for live updates as the game goes on.

 
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