BUTTE — BUTTE- Excitement is building as the undefeated Orediggers head to the playoffs with home-field advantage. As Tech faces off against the College of Idaho, the campus and the community cannot contain their excitement.
"I think you just kinda feed off the energy, and you can feel it in the school in general, too. It’s just everybody’s so excited," Peyton Walker, a junior at Montana Tech.
Walker and her brother Jackson are walking to and from class on campus. The siblings are from Kalispell. They have been rooting for the Orediggers since they started school three years ago. The Walkers went to high school with some of the players, so they are excited for the success of their friends.
Montana Tech Orediggers have Butte fired up for playoff action. Who's ready for game day?
"You know these guys growing up, and then to see them out there... It’s exciting that they’re winning and I’m happy for ‘em," says Jackson Walker.
The excitement for the big game also spills over into Uptown Butte. Business owner Jon Wick, of 5518 Designs and Dig City Supply, says the success of the city is interwoven with the success of the university.
"Montana Tech is so interwoven with the community and the history of Butte that we’re all kind of one in the same, and their success is our success, and we couldn’t be more proud," says Wick.
After the Diggers won the NAIA title game on Nov. 29, He immediately created a vintage-style t-shirt commemorating the victory. Tech defeated Carroll College for the NAIA title game, a game that I found to be pretty cold... with a temperature lingering around 20 degrees.
I ask famed football coach Bob Green if the temperature has an impact on the players, noting that last week was chilly.
"Meagan, it wasn’t cold! It was nice. Those guys, hey, they’re ready to play!" says Coach Green.
Coach Green, the namesake of the very field that the Diggers play on, has only missed a handful of Tech games over four decades. He’s looking forward to a good game with the College of Idaho.
"This team does a great job of playing for their brothers. Their Oredigger brothers and they can’t wait to kick it off tomorrow!" says Coach Green.
The game begins at 1 p.m. at the Alumni Colosseum on Bob Green Field.
"Go Diggers! Every man, every time, all day!"
