BUTTE — The far-flung Frontier Conference saw two teams separated by 65 miles earn spots in the upcoming NAIA Football Championship Series.
Montana Western and Montana Tech were the lone Frontier programs to earn spots in the 20-team playoff field which is comprised of 13 automatic qualifiers — earned by winning either a conference or a division title — and seven at-large bids.
Western, which sewed up a second straight league championship with a win over Eastern Oregon on Saturday, earned the Frontier's automatic bid, the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye.
The Bulldogs are making consecutive trips to the playoffs after missing the postseason in 2022. Western finished the regular season at 9-1 overall and 7-1 in league play.
The Bulldogs' lone loss was a Sept. 28 road defeat to then-No. 14 Southern Oregon, which the Red Raiders won 28-26. Western then reeled off six straight wins to close out conference play.
Meanwhile, the Orediggers, which routed Carroll College on Saturday, locked up an at-large bid, the No. 7 seed and a bye in the first round. Tech is returning to the playoffs for the second straight year.
Prior to that, Tech hadn't reached the postseason since 2016.
The Orediggers went 9-2 overall and 6-2 in the regular season with their losses at No. 19 College of Idaho on Sept. 28 — a game the Yotes won in overtime 45-37 — and to No. 7 UM Western on Oct. 12. The Bulldogs won that contest 27-21.
Both teams were defeated at home in their playoff openers last season, with Dickinson State toppling Montana Tech 35-28 in the first round and Western falling to the College of Idaho 49-42.
If both the Orediggers and Bulldogs win their second-round games, the proximity of the two programs would make a quarterfinal matchup between Tech and Western likely, though not guaranteed.
