HOUGHTON — Two schools with rather similar traditions — education in the mining industry — locked up in an epic battle on the football field on Thursday evening.

Michigan Tech quarterback Alex Fries threw for a school-record 471 yards as the Huskies sweated out a 52-50 four-overtime victory over visiting South Dakota Mines.

The longest game in MTU history, Fries also threw five touchdown passes at Kearly Field. Receiver Ethan Champney almost set a school record, too, totaling 227 yards in 10 receptions.

Tech (1-1) fell behind 21-0 in the second quarter before Fries help jump-start the comeback with a 27-yard TD throw to Darius Willis with 3:44 left in the first half.

While the visiting Hardrockers interecepted Willis on the first play of the second half and converted it into a touchdown drive, the Huskies hung in until they could score three TDs in a row from around the midpoint of the third quarter to a little under five minutes remained in regulation to knot the score 35-35.

The biggest play was Champney’s 59-yard TD reception in the first minute of the final period.

The score remained 35-35 to end regulation after South Dakota missed a 55-yard field goal as the horn blew.

Both teams scored a touchdown and kicked an extra point in the first overtime, then both had another TD and this time a 2-point conversion to leave it at 50-50 after two OTs.

At that point, rules call for effectively 2-point tries in each OT after that. Both teams failed in OT No. 3, but after the Huskies scored to start the fourth OT on a Fries-to-Champney pass, Tech’s Hunter Buechel deflected the Hardrockers’ pass to end that threat and the game.