Northern Football set to start season early

Most of the college football world, including the Frontier Conference, begins the 2015 football season the first Saturday in September. Not the Montana State University-Northern Lights, however.

Instead of playing its originally scheduled season-opener on Sept. 5 against Montana Tech at Blue Pony Stadium, the Lights, and new head coach Aaron Christenson will make their 2015 debut a full two weeks earlier.

The Lights recently were able to work out continuing their non-conference rivalry with Dickinson State University, but playing the Blue Hawks again this season meant an early start. Northern and DSU will kick off the 2015 season on Aug. 22 in Dickinson, N.D. The game had to be scheduled that early because DSU already had its annual game with Rocky Mountain College scheduled for Aug. 29 in Billings, and due to RMC's schedule from there, that game wasn't going to be moved.

So starting early will be a challenge for Christenson's young football team, which beat the Blue Hawks 40-17 last September in Havre. However, it will also give Northern a chance to play 11 games for the second straight season, and the addition of the DSU game didn't force any other alterations to the Lights' schedule.

Northern will have a week off following the DSU game, then make its home and conference debut against the Orediggers Sept. 5 in Havre. From there, the Lights head back on the road to play RMC Sept. 12 in Billings before returning home to play UM-Western Sept. 19. Northern closes out the month of September with a road trip to defending NAIA national champion Southern Oregon University on Sept. 26.

MSU-N will have a second bye week Oct. 3, then welcome in College of Idaho Oct. 10. That will be the Yotes' first-ever visit to Blue Pony Stadium. The Lights then travel to Montana Tech Oct. 17 before coming back to Havre to play Eastern Oregon Oct. 24, then close out the month of October with a Halloween visit to Carroll College.

The month of November starts with Northern's only back-to-back road game. Following their trip to Carroll, the Lights will visit UM-Western Nov. 7. Northern then closes out its regular season with a home game against RMC Nov. 14.

Other Frontier season-openers include Carroll hosting SOU Sept. 5 in what will likely be a matchup of the two top-ranked teams in the NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll. Eastern Oregon will open its season early like Northern, as the Mounties play at Menlo College Aug. 23. Western opens its season Sept. 5 at Rocky Mountain College, while C of I plays at EOU in its season-opener Aug. 29. Montana Tech's season-opener is its trip to Havre to take on the Lights Sept. 5.

In other MSU-N football news, the Lights recently made some additions to their 2015 recruiting class. Shaun Montecino, a 6-3, 315-pound offensive lineman from Santa Rosa JC in California, Jamie Toscano, a 5-8, 210-pound kicker from Citrus College in California and Joseph De La Cruz, a 5-9, 170-pound wide receiver from Santa Rosa JC all have signed NAIA national letters of intent to play for the Lights. The three additions bring Christenson's first recruiting class at Northern to 47 players.

2015 MSU-N Football Schedule

Aug. 22 at Dickinson State

Sept. 5 vs Montana Tech

Sept. 12 at Rocky Mountain

Sept. 19 vs UM-Western

Sept. 25 at Southern Oregon

Oct. 10 vs College of Idaho

Oct. 17 at Montana Tech

Oct. 24 vs Eastern Oregon

Oct. 31 at Carroll College

Nov. 7 at UM-Western

Nov. 14 vs Rocky Mountain