Kickoff 2014: Lights ready to just play

With everything that has transpired in fall camp, no Montana State University-Northern football team has wanted so badly to start a new season than the current one. That moment is now here for the 2014 Lights.

After a tumultuous month that started with the Lights losing their head coach during the first full week of camp, MSU-N will make its season debut Saturday night when the Lights take on Montana Tech in Butte. Kickoff inside Alumni Coliseum is slated for 6 p.m.

“It has seemed like this week couldn’t get here soon enough,” Northern interim head coach Jake Eldridge said. “These kids have been through a lot of adversity. But through it all, we’ve had great leadership, and these kids have done a great job of staying focused on the task at hand. It hasn’t been easy on them, or anybody here for that matter. But our motto has been ‘WIN’ which stands for ‘whatever is necessary.’ And these guys have bought into it. We talk about it every day. Their mind-set is really good right now, and they’re ready to go down to Butte and get the job done. They want to see where they’re at.”

The loss of 11-year head coach Mark Samson was indeed very hard on the entire MSU-N program. But it’s also served as a heartfelt motivational tool for the Lights and their coaching staff, who are determined to press on and play this season for their embattled head coach. Eldridge says that the team has responded well to the adversity, and has worked extremely hard this week to get ready for the Orediggers (0-1, 0-1), who beat the Lights on a hail-mary pass in the closing seconds of a night game at Blue Pony Stadium last November.

And not only have the Lights been working hard for the rematch against Tech, but to get ready for a season in which Eldridge says the sky is the limit for a team which features eight returning starters on offense and five on defense. The Lights went 4-6 a year ago, and wound up tied fifth in the Frontier Conference.

“I think this team can be whatever it wants to be,” Eldridge said. “The sky is the limit. We have the players and schemes to go out and win every game. We’ve had a great offseason, and all things considered, a very good camp. These kids have worked so hard, they have really done all the things necessary to get themselves ready for this season. They have really come together as a team, they are playing for each other. Now they just have to go out and do it on the field. They have to go out and earn it day after day, game after game, week after week. They know nothing is going to be handed to them. They know they have to go prove themselves. We, as coaches feel this team has the potential to be great. But now they have to go out and earn it, and I think they are very ready to do it.”

The first proving ground for the Lights comes Saturday night in Butte. Over the last decade, the Lights have had good success at Tech’s Alumni Coliseum, winning five times since 2006. And with an offense that features senior quarterback Travis Dean, 1,000-yard rusher Zach McKinley, star wideouts Jake Messerly and Trevor Baum and a big, physical and veteran offensive line, Northern looks poised to give Tech all it can handle. On defense, the Lights are a little more of an unknown quantity, but veteran ends Tyler Phillips and Tyler Craig, linebacker Kaimi Kanehailua and defensive backs Hunter Chandler and Butch Hyder will certainly provide leadership Saturday night.

Still, the task won’t be easy. Tech was stunned 38-6 in its season-opening game at UM-Western last Saturday night. So there’s no doubt the Orediggers will be jacked up for their home opener, and will play like their back is against the wall, even though it’s still August.

“We told the kids right away, the score against Western is not indicative of how good of a football team Tech is,” Eldridge said. “Coach (Chuck) Morrell is an outstanding coach, and I know they just didn’t play how they expected to against Western. But we understand they will be ready. They will be excited to be at home, and they will be hungry for a victory. So we have to go in there and handle our own business. We can’t underestimate our opponent, not for one second.”

The Orediggers may have struggled last Saturday night, but it doesn’t change the fact they have one of the best running backs in the Frontier in senior Pat Hansen. He’s rushed for nearly 4,000 yards in his career and has three times blitzed the Lights for more than 100 yards in a game. At some point this season, Hansen will become Tech’s all-time leading rusher. Meanwhile, quarterback Andrew Loudenback is a strong-armed, tall passer who can also run, and he’s got a homerun target in Alec Bray to throw to. Tech also likes to run an up-tempo offense, so the Northern defense will need to be prepared for that, while defensively, the Diggers have the potential to be stingy, especially with linebacker Mike Touzinsky having recorded over 200 tackles in the last two seasons.

“Offensively, everything starts for them with Pat Hansen,” Eldridge said. “He’s one of the very best in this league. But the quarterback looks very solid. That offense has a lot of weapons, and they want it to be a fast, high-octane offense. So we’re going to have to be exactly what we’ve been striving to be on defense, and that’s a smart, sound, mistake-free defense that plays fast and physical.

“Defensively, they are breaking in some new guys this year, but we know that coach Morrell will have that defense playing very well,” he continued. “He always has his defense playing hard, sound and very smart. So I know their defense will be ready to roll on Saturday night.”

Indeed. A home opener under the Lights will mean Tech and the Oredigger faithful will be ready to rock and roll Saturday night in Butte. But these Lights are anxious and ready to roll as well.

It’s been a challenging time for the entire Northern program, but now, finally, starting with Saturday night’s game, it’s just about football again. It’s still about Samson, too, as the Northern team has dedicated its season to him. But finally, the talk, the two-a-days and everything that has transpired over the last month is over now. And now, the 2014 Lights can go out and play football, which is what they’ve stayed together through the all difficult days, to do.

“These are prideful kids,” Eldridge said. “They want to go out and showcase how hard they’ve worked. They want to go show that they are willing to fight through adversity, and do it together. They want to go out and prove people wrong, too.

“And they also want to go out and play this game, this season for coach Samson,” he continued. “They’ve dedicated the season to him. And starting with this game, they want to go out and show him what he’s done for them. They want him to see that all his hard work and dedication to them has paid off. They just want to go out and play the game we all love so much. And it’s finally time to do that. And I know they can’t wait to get out there.”

Saturday night’s Frontier Conference game between Northern and Tech kicks off at 6 p.m. at Alumni Coliseum in Butte. The Lights make their home debut next Saturday against Dickinson State, while Tech has next week off.