MSU-N Game Day Notebook

Carroll College senior quarterback Gary Wagner has thrown a lot of passes to a lot of different people on the turf at Blue Pony Stadium over the years.

The list includes former Northern Lights like Coda Tchida, current Tennessee Titans like Marc Mariani, former college baseball players like Daine Solomon and a host of great and talented Carroll wide receivers.

But on Saturday afternoon, Wagner got to make one last day at his old stadium that much more special when he completed a pass to his younger brother Billy Wagner in Carroll's 65-13 romp over MSU-Northern.

When Wagner was a two-time Class A All-State QB at Havre High, his younger brother Billy was on the junior varsity team and also played a year on the HHS golf team before returning to football in his latter high school years. The younger Wagner walked on at Carroll last season, and on Saturday, the duo finally hooked up for their first brother-to-brother completion. And no place to do it was more special than Blue Pony Stadium.

"It was really cool," Billy Wagner, a Carroll sophomore said. "I've been wanting it to happen all season, and we really tried to do it today. In the third quarter, it was like they were trying to force-feed me the ball. But it was definitely a cool moment.

"He (Billy) ran a great route and was able to beat his man," the elder Wagner said of his 13-yard completion to his little brother. "He made a great move and made a great catch. It's something I'll always remember."

And playing one memorable season of college football together is not the only thing the Wagner brothers are doing these days. The duo is part of a band they formed with two Helena friends. The band known as Intermission has been together now for about two years and they've performed all over Montana in recent months, including several times in Havre.

And while the Wagner combo didn't get to play football together until college, they did spend two years playing tennis together at Havre High. Combined, the tandem has three state doubles championships and they were also part of a pair of Class A state team titles together. The older Wagner won back-to-back titles with Mariani, while Billy captured a doubles title in 2006.

In all, the younger Wagner caught three balls in his first collegiate game at Blue Pony Stadium, while the older Wagner had a great day in his Havre swan song. He threw three touchdown passes and completed 89 percent of his passes while rushing for 22 yards.

"This was my last game here ever," Gary Wagner said. "So to play as well as I did today, and for the team to come in here and play this well, it's really special. It's sad to know I'm not going to have any more games in this stadium. There's a lot of great memories for me here and it has always been special for me to play here in front of my family and my home town, both in high school and college. This was a great win for us but it's kind of sad for me to know this was my last game here."

Moving forward

MSU-Northern sophomore Stephen Silva continues to make big strides in the Lights' running game. Silva may have had just 35 yards on 11 carries Saturday, but they were a hard-earned 35 yards, especially considering Carroll was yielding just 53 yards per game on the ground. Silva is nearing the 400-yard mark on the season, and he still stands third in the Frontier in rushing.

Silva was also playing against his dad's old team Saturday. Like many Lights and Saints, there are certainly strong ties between the two schools, which dates back to when Northern played football three and four decades ago. Silva's father played for the Saints in college, while his son is now a sophomore at MSU-N.

Injury plague

The Lights, like many football teams are dealing with injury problems. But Northern's just seem to keep getting in the way of success.

The Lights were without three key components of their offense on Saturday. Travis Dean, a freshman quarterback from Arizona, made his first start after Derek Lear suffered a concussion in last weekend's game against Rocky Mountain College. Northern was also without freshman wide receiver Brandon O'Brien, who missed the contest with a foot injury. The game against Carroll was also the second straight game in which the Lights were without starting left tackle Zeb Olson, who suffered a leg injury at Eastern Oregon.

MSU-N is trying to build some depth however. Alex Cummings has stepped in at left guard and is doing a good job on the offensive line. Cummings is a freshman from Missoula. In relief of Lear, Dean has thrown two TD passes in the last two weeks, while receivers like Cut Bank's Orin Johnson, Superior's Tyson Lucier and Fairfield's Mick Miller are making strides.

Former HHS standout Jordan Van Voast has also filled in nicely as a starting linebacker after senior Anthony Tate suffered a season-ending injury in the Lights' opener Aug. 28 at UM-Western. In the last four games, Van Voast has averaged seven tackles per outing, he has a touchdown on a blocked punt and now a sack. Van Voast had a team-high nine tackles Saturday against the Saints.

Interesting play

The Lights first score Saturday came via an interesting choice.

On only Carroll's second punt of the day, with the Saints pinned deep in their own territory, an errant snap forced Carroll punter David Kries to chase the ball into his own end zone where he promptly kicked it out of the back of the endzone. Normally, the choice to send a ball through the back of a team's own goal results in a safety. However, because the punter was flagged for illegal kicking of the ball, the rulebook stated that Northern had the choice to take the two points and a free kick, or take the penalty and the ball on the Carroll 10-yard-line. The Lights took the penalty and two plays later, Silva was in the end zone for one of only two MSU-N TD's.