Lights want more at Eastern Oregon

Last Saturday was a watershed moment for the Montana State University-Northern Lights. But they certainly don’t want their thrilling 37-34 win over Montana Tech at Blue Pony Stadium to be their last high point of the 2014 season.

Instead, the Lights (1-5, 2-5) will put their latest win, and added confidence to the test when they visit the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (3-3, 4-3) Saturday afternoon inside Community Stadium in LaGrande, Oregon. Kickoff in Oregon is slated for 2 p.m. M.S.T.

Northern should be brimming with confidence after coming back from 11 points down late in the third quarter to beat Tech last Saturday afternoon. In that game, Northern senior quarterback Travis Dean threw a pair of second-half touchdown passes, including the game-winner, covering 32 yards to Jake Messerly in the final two minutes. MSU-N also got a 190-yard performance from sophomore tailback Zach McKinley, as well as a stout defensive effort in the second half, where the Lights shut out the Orediggers for the final 20 minutes of the game.

But as good as last Saturday was, interim head coach Jake Eldridge feels his team can be better. A lot better. And he expects the Lights to be better against the high-powered Mounties, because Community Stadium is a place the Lights haven’t won in seven years.

“We went right back to work on Monday,” Eldridge said. “We have told the kids, we don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. They earned that win and deserved that win, but it’s only one, and I don’t feel like we played our best football in that game. At times, we didn’t play very well at all. We made too many mistakes and several of those mistakes could have cost us that game.

“So our focus this week has been on being consistent,” he continued. “Eastern Oregon is a very solid football team, so we need to be consistently better than we were last week. We need to be much better, and not be satisfied with the win against Tech. Now, the challenge is to go out and get another one. To go out and get a big road win against a very good football team.”

EOU is solid. But veteran head coach Tim Camp’s club is heading in the wrong direction at the wrong time. The Mounties saw their three-game winning streak come to an end in a 55-7 home debacle against Carroll College, then lost their second straight Frontier Conference game when they fell at UM-Western, 34-28 last Saturday.

Never-the-less, EOU has been an explosive offensive team this season. Sophomore quarterback Zach Bartlow has run EOU’s zone-read offense to perfection, as he’s tallied 350 yards with his feet, and has thrown for nearly 1,600 yards. EOU graduated a bevy of talented backs and receivers a year ago, but the Mounties have junior wide receiver Jace Billingsley, who has caught 25 balls for nearly 400 yards and averages a whopping 16 yards per reception. On the other side, slot receiver Justin Hernandez has been stellar this season, and EOU’s spread offense works behind one of the biggest offensive lines in the conference.

“They (Mounties) are a much-improved football team,” Eldridge said. “Their quarterback play has been really good this year. The kid has done a great job with the zone-read, and he can really hurt you with his feet. And Jace Billingsley is a very dynamic player. So they have a lot of weapons.

“The good thing is, they are very similar to what Montana Tech ran against us last week,” he continued. “So I think we’ll be prepared. Still, they have a lot of weapons, and they really can hurt you when they get out in space. They’ll still run the football too, and they have a big, physical offensive line. So they’ll be a handful for our defense.”

All that adds up to the Mounties averaging 32 points and nearly 400 yards of offense per game, and it also adds up to Eldridge knowing his defense, led by sophomore Tyler Craig, who a league-best nine sacks this season, must play a fundamentally sound football game Saturday. Senior linebacker Kami Kanehailua leads the Lights and is second in the league with 58 stops and 9.7 per contest. Butch Hyder has 50 tackles and fellow senior safety Hunter Chandler has 42, while junior corner Malcolm Manuel is second in the Frontier with two interceptions.

“We have to be better up front this week,” Eldridge said. “We did not do a good job of stopping the run last week, and that’s what this defense has done so well this season. So our defensive line has got to do a better job this week. But overall, against a team like Eastern, we have to play fundamental football on defense. We know we have to limit the big plays, because they (Mounties) will take some shots. But most importantly, we’ve got to tackle well this week, and play mistake-free on that end. That’s a must against an offense like theirs.”

Northern’s defense has been good for much of the season, but the Lights have struggled when teams get in the red zone. And the Lights are still allowing a league-worst 38 points per game. But despite giving up 34 points and 260 yards rushing to Montana Tech, the Lights are still second in the Frontier against the run, allowing just 130 yards per game. MSU-N is also second in total defense, giving up just 325 yards of offense per game.

On the other side of the ball, EOU has been stout on defense. The Mounties allow just 27 points and 390 yards of offense per game. They are also second in the league against the pass, while they are fifth against the run.

And MSU-N wants to do both. McKinley and Mario Gobatto will get their carries, and the Lights will ride the hard running of both of them. But Dean is second in the Frontier in passing, having thrown for 2,052 yards and 10 TDs this season. And like EOU will do with theirs, the Lights will look to take advantage of matchups with their dynamic wide receiver duo of Trevor Baum and Messerly.

“They’re (Mounties) pretty basic on defense, with their 30-front,” Eldridge said. “They’re very similar to what Dickinson State did against us on defense. So again, we’ll be prepared for what we’re going to see. But they are very solid on defense, they tackle well and they play very physical up front. So for us, we just have to continue to play smart, continue to make the right decisions and take care of the football. We just need to continue to be consistent on offense.”

The Lights are hoping to be consistent on special teams, too, because the Mounties are. EOU kicker Marc David is one of the best in the NAIA, and if the game rests on his foot, he’s pretty solid. Meanwhile, Northern senior Jordan Rueschhoff is second in the Frontier, going 7-of-9 on field goals this season with a long of 46. And as the Lights saw last week, the game can always come down to a special teams play. Eastern knows it, too, as David has kicked one game-winner already this season.

But at the end of the day, the Lights want another win, and they don’t care how the game shakes out, as long as they’re on top when the game ends. They got a taste of it last Saturday, and they want to taste victory again this Saturday in Oregon.

“We don’t want to be just be happy with beating Montana Tech,” Eldridge said. “So we’ve challenged ourselves, as a team, players and coaches, to go out to Oregon and play better than we did last week. We’ve worked hard on being a better football team this week, and we have put last Saturday behind us. We were excited about the win last Saturday, and we know we earned it. But we want to do more. We want to do it again. We’re not satisfied.”

Saturday’s game between the Lights and Mounties will kick off at 2 p.m. M.S.T. in LaGrande, Ore. Northern returns home to face Carroll College next Saturday, while the Mounties remain home to host Montana Tech.

Momentum

MSU-Northern Lights (2-5, 1-5) at Eastern Oregon Mounties

(4-3, 3-3)

Saturday 2 p.m.

in LaGrande, Ore.

Streaming: http://www.msun.edu/athletics

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

Twitter: Twitter/Havredaily