Frontier Notebook: MSU-N's Craig sacking the Frontier

If we learned anything from last Saturday’s four Frontier Conference football games, we learned that teams from Oregon love to score points.

In LaGrande, Oregon, the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers emphatically snapped a two-game losing skid by hanging 70 points on the Montana State University-Northern Lights. Meanwhile, up the road, in Caldwell, Idaho, the Southern Oregon Raiders handed the College of Idaho Yotes their first home loss of the season, and in doing so, the Raiders put up 66 points in a 66-16 win.

Together, EOU and SOU combined for over 1,100 yards of offense and 700 yards passing, and that’s against MSU-N and C of I defenses that came into their respective games in the top of half of the Frontier in total defense.

EOU and SOU play each other in two weeks.

What else did we learn last Saturday? Well, the Frontier title is still up for grabs, but with just three weeks left in the season, it’s pretty much a two-team race.

While SOU romped in Idaho, holding its share of the Frontier lead, Carroll had a little tougher time in Butte, The Montana Tech Orediggers did all they could to snap their six-game losing streak, but in the end, the Saints prevailed 20-12 and in doing so, they held on to their share of first place in the Frontier standings.

Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain College put itself on the outside of the Frontier title picture with a loss at UM-Western Saturday. The Bears were just a game out of first place, but the loss to the Bulldogs set them back. Still, RMC is completely done. The Bears play at SOU this week, and at Carroll next, so two road wins, and a little help, and the Bears could possibly share the league title. But that picture got a lot more bleak after their setback in Dillon.

No, Carroll and SOU are now in full control of the league title, and if somebody doesn’t step up and knock off the Saints or Raiders in the next three weeks, a share of the conference title is looking more likely.

Northern will take its turn this Saturday when the Saints come to Blue Pony Stadium. And you can bet the Raiders are hoping for a Lights’ upset. SOU needs to get by RMC this Saturday, then win at Montana Tech to make sure its home finale against rival EOU is for all the marbles. If Carroll gets past Northern on Saturday, the Saints will play RMC and College of Idaho in the friendly confines of Nelson Stadium to finish the season.

Fighting Lights

Northern and Carroll have a storied history since the Lights rejoined the Frontier Conference back in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, for MSU-N, the history is pretty one-sided. But while the Lights have only beaten mighty Carroll once in the last 16 seasons, each time Carroll comes back to Havre, Lights’ fans are reminded of that magical October day in 2006 when the Lights knocked off the No. 1 Saints 10-7 in front of a record crowd at Blue Pony Stadium.

However, 2006 was a long time ago, eight years to be exact, and since that time, Carroll has reeled off 15 straight wins against the Lights, including seven straight wins in Havre.

Breaking that streak won’t be easy for the 2-6 Lights Saturday in their latest battle with the Saints, especially considering what just happened to Northern Saturday in Oregon, and with the status of starting quarterback Travis Dean up in the air.

But Carroll is much like the Montana Grizzlies or Alabama Crimson Tide in that, the Saints get everybody’s best, and they always seem to bring out the best in the Lights. And Northern interim head coach Jake Eldridge is hoping that’s the case Saturday.

“We’ve already talked to the guys about that,” Eldridge said. “The bottom line is, we can put the Eastern Oregon game behind us and come out and fight to the death against Carroll. That’s the challenge. That’s the opportunity we have this week.”

Record Runner

The Fighting Saints have a long list of historic running backs. But Carroll senior Dustin Rinker is now at the top of that list.

His 199-yard effort in the Saints' win over Montana Tech Saturday put the Riggins, Idaho native atop the school's all-time rushing yardage rankings.

Rinker is having a terrific senior season, boasting 957 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 184 carries.

NAIA Leaders

Defensively, it’s hard to find a player having a more productive season than MSU-N sophomore Tyler Craig. The former Great Falls standout has 9.5 sacks in eight games, and he’s yet to go a single game without registering at least half a sack.

Craig is third in the NAIA in total sacks, and he;s approaching the MSU-N single-season record of 11.5 sacks, set by Kino Detrick in 2001 and Josh Glahn in 2006.

Rocky Mountain College safety Corey Bummer leads the Frontier with 72 tackles this season, which places him 11th in the NAIA. SOU’s Laurence Calcagno is also in the Top 20 in the NAIA in tackles.

College of Idaho’s Cory Brady has five interdeptions this season, which leads the Frontier and is fifth in the NAIA. Right behind him is EOU’s Byron Benson with four.