Lights press on with first scrimmage of 2010

The Montana State University- Northern football team has already been in the weight room and on the field in preparation for the 2010 season. But there was something about the crashing of full pads that seemed to really set the season off right.

Saturday morning the Lights ran their first live scrimmage of the season at the MSU-N practice field in Havre.

The Northern offense and defense faced off in competition and both sides had their pluses and minuses.

"We still need work," Lights' quarterback Derek Lear said. "You could see out here that people were missing assignments and everyone wasn't perfect today. We still need some practice, but I like the way our team is going. Our defense showed up today and played well and our offense did the same thing."

The No. 1 offense and defense took the field and squared off for just a few series before backups were integrated into the mix on both sides of the ball.

But to start the scrimmage, the No.

1 offense looked strong. They lost yards on two attempted plays in the "wildcat" offense, but marched down the field and scored a touchdown on only eight total plays. Lear was 3-for-3 passing including a 40-yard bomb to transfer wide receiver Brandon O'Brien. Stephen Silva scored the touchdown on a one-yard run.

"That's our focus," Lear said.

"Coach tells us that every game we want to score on our first series. We started executing right off the bat and I think it was nice for our offense to come together in our first scrimmage and our first series. It gives us a lot of confidence going into the season." On the second offensive drive, the Lights' defense stepped up their game.

Silva and Justin Montelius marched the ball nearly 40 yards down field on five combined carries, but the defense forced a third-and-long situation on an offensive penalty and an incomplete pass. Kyle Kercher did, however, convert a 20-yard field goal.

"There were some good things on both sides of the ball," Lights' head coach Mark Samson said. "We have to get more consistent on offense. In certain situations we would get a play for nine yards and then lose 10 on a penalty.

There are some things we need to clean up and I think that will happen." The scrimmage held several series starting at different yardages and simulating several different game-time situations.

And, overall, the offense scored three touchdowns and two field goals.

The defense looked good as well, forcing the offense into several long field situations and earning four sacks.

The defense also handled the passing game fairly well, knocking down a handful of passes and forcing a solid number of incomplete passes. Veterans like Landry See look ready for the season.

"It was a double edged sword from my position," Samson said. "I wanted both sides of the ball to play well." Samson liked what he saw from both running backs, Silva and Montelius, on offense. He also liked what he saw from the linebacker position all they way down the depth chart.

Returning wide receiver Matt Stuart also looked good and even scored on a five-yard reception. Stuart also recorded a 25-yard reception during the scrimmage.

"I thought a lot of kids did a lot of really nice things," Samson said. "Now it just comes down to consistency." Saturday's scrimmage brought a good mixture of both run and pass plays. And as the No. 1's weren't on the field for long, the coaching staff got a very good look at the rest of the depth chart.

Havre High product C.J. Evans got quite a few snaps under center, completing 7-of-15 pass attempts.

"This scrimmage wasn't about who was going to become a starter," Samson said. "It was more to see if our number two's and three's could play for us." All the practices and game film leading up to Saturday's scrimmage was focused on Northern versus Northern. But now, with the season opener at Western rapidly approaching, the focus has now shifted to each week's opponent.

And after seeing what the starters are capable of, the outlook is positive.

"This whole week we've been playing everybody," Samson said. "But now it's going to be here's our starting 11, here's our two running backs, here's our receivers and here's a few backups. That's who's going to play and that's what we are going to focus on and I think things will start to polish up." The Lights will hold another scrum on Thursday. MSU-N opens the season at UM-Western on Aug. 28.