The Montana State Bobcats advanced to the next round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs on Saturday after a 21-13 win over the Yale Bulldogs.

Bobcats running back Julius Davis had a heated exchange with head coach Brent Vigen and teammate Takhari Carr as they walked off the field.

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The ESPN broadcast showed Davis meeting with a Yale player on the field as Vigen tried to direct him toward the locker room. Davis didn’t appear to appreciate what Vigen was doing, and he was quick to slap the coach’s hands away from his shoulders.

Carr came over to cool down the situation, but Davis eventually pushed him away. Vigen and Davis had more words for each other. The running back appeared to get emotional as he tried to state his case to Vigen.

Davis apologized for the moment in a statement on his social media.

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“ESPN misconstrued a moment in our previous game, I was not smack talking the Yale players. I was actually dapping up a former teammate of mine from Wisconsin. I want to sincerely apologize to my teammates and my coach for my actions. In the heat of the moment, I let my emotions get the best of me and reacted in a way that was unacceptable,” Davis’ statement read. “Arguing the way I did was wrong, and I take full responsibility for it. Coach Vigen and I already talked, no one outside of this team understands our relationship and how much respect I have for him.”

“I also understand that my reaction was seen by many, and I’m truly sorry for the example it set. I hold myself, my team, my coaches, and the game itself to a high standard, and I didn’t reflect that in my behavior. I’m committed to learning from this moment, handling my emotions better, and showing the respect and professionalism that my teammate, my coach, and everyone watching deserves. Thank you for holding me accountable, I will be better moving forward.”

Davis had a touchdown in the third quarter of the win over Yale.

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Montana State will play Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinals.

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BOZEMAN — It’ll be Friday night lights for the Montana State Bobcats in the quarterfinal round of the FCS playoffs.

The No. 2-seeded Bobcats will host seventh-seeded Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 12, inside Bobcat Stadium. Third-seeded Montana will host No. 11-seeded South Dakota on Saturday, Dec. 13. Kickoff between the Grizzlies and Coyotes is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

The quarterfinal schedule was announced during ESPN2’s Saturday night broadcast of the second-round game between No. 8 seed UC Davis and No. 9 seed Rhode Island.

Montana State, seeking its second consecutive trip to the FCS championship game, advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 21-13 win over Yale on Saturday, while Stephen F. Austin — quarterbacked by former Griz QB Sam Vidlak — got past No. 10 Abilene Christian 41-34 in the second round.

Montana cruised to a 50-29 win over No. 14-seeded South Dakota State in the second round. The Grizzlies will meet a South Dakota squad coming off a 47-0 demolition of sixth-seeded Mercer.

The winners of those two quarterfinal games will meet in the semifinal round on Dec. 20. Montana and Montana State have never met in the playoffs.

The other quarterfinal games will both be played Saturday, Dec. 13. Fourth-seeded Tarleton State will host No. 12 seed Villanova at 10 a.m. Mountain Time. The other quarter will pit Illinois State, which stunned top-seeded North Dakota State on Saturday, against the winner of the game between UC Davis and Rhode Island. Kickoff time has yet to be determined.

BUTTE — It was a competitive battle between Frontier Conference rivals, but in the end Montana Tech had too much for Carroll College on Saturday in the second round of the NAIA football playoffs.

Jarrett Wilson threw two touchdown passes to Levi Torgerson, and Torgerson later returned the favor with a TD throw back to Wilson as Montana Tech withstood a Carroll rally to prevail 31-21 at Bob Green Field and advance to the quarterfinal round of the NAIA’s Football Championship Series.

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The most impactful sequence occurred in the fourth quarter, when Montana Tech’s Casey Kautzman pinned Carroll’s offense on the 1-yard line with a well-placed punt. Three plays later Orediggers’ linebacker Tyler Kovick laid a big hit on Saints quarterback Quinn Stamps to force a fumble, which Trey Yates recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.

At that point Carroll had fought back from 17 down to crawl within 24-21, but Kovick and Yates combined on a crucial play to put Montana Tech back ahead by two scores.

Later, a fourth-down pass by Stamps in the red zone went incomplete and Carroll surrendered the ball and, ultimately, the game.

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Stamps came off the bench for Carroll after starting quarterback Kaden Huot was injured in the first half. Stamps threw three touchdown passes to tight end Carson Ochoa, including two in the second half to keep the Saints in it.

But the Orediggers put Carroll in a hole early. Wilson found Togerson with a 15-yard TD score in the opening quarter, then hit Torgerson with a 66-yard bomb for another touchdown to build a 14-0 lead. A Kautzman field goal made it 17-0 and that was the score at halftime.

Carroll’s defense forced a three-and-out on the opening possession of the third quarter, then scored when Stamps hit Ochoa for 14 yards in the end zone. But Tech answered on Torgerson’s trick-play touchdown throw to Wilson off a sweep to keep it a three-possession game.

The Saints got back within 24-21 after consecutive TD connections between Stamps and Ochoa, but they got no closer.

Torgerson, the Frontier Conference East division’s player of the year, finished with 219 all-purpose yards — 124 receiving and 95 on returns. Wilson completed 11 of 16 passes for 197 yards and also rushed for 94 yards, including a 60-yard run to help set up the game’s first touchdown.

Huot threw for 80 yards on 8-of-11 passing before leaving the game. Stamps was solid in relief, throwing for 187 yards.

Defensively, the Orediggers were led by Frontier East defensive MVP Tel Arthur and Kovick, who combined for 22 tackles and three tackles for loss. Braeden Orlandi finished with 11 tackles to lead Carroll’s defense.

With the win, Montana Tech improved to 12-0 and will host another Frontier foe — this time the College of Idaho (10-1) — in the quarterfinals next week. Carroll closed its season with a 9-3 record.