Lights show bright spots in scrimmage

The Montana State University-Northern football team is less than a week away from its opening game against Dickinson State University. That meant, this past weekend, when the Lights took to the MSU-N practice field for a scrimmage Saturday, it was the first and last time they will do so in fall camp.

In the team’s final dress rehearsal before the real bullets start flying, the defense owned the day during a scrimmage that lasted over an hour, on a blustery day on the Northern campus.

In 15 possessions, the Lights offense managed to score just twice, while turning the ball over three times. The MSU-N defense, led by defensive coordinator Jake Eldridge, was so dominant in fact, that it only allowed the offense to cross midfield three times.

“Obviously we have some work to do on offense,” Northern head coach Aaron Christensen said. “We came out and threw the ball a lot today and part of that was because I wanted to see how the guys would handle it. The weather definitely didn’t help, but we need to play better. But, we will improve on things and be better next week.”

Despite the conditions, Jess Krahn, who took the first-team snaps, was efficient, completing 7-of-10 passes for 37 yards. He also ran for a pair of first downs, but did throw an early interception to safety Alex Rodriguez and failed to get the Lights into the end zone on a red zone opportunity midway through the scrimmage.

It may not have been a perfect performance, but it was likely enough to make Krahn the opening-game starter against DSU. Backups Holden Maki and Herman Smith both struggled in stints with the second and third string offenses, and while Nate Loustsenhizer did connect with Jake Messerly on a 55-yard touchdown pass, it came against the third-string defense.

However, Christensen was still not ready to commit to a starter and said it would be a game-time decision.

“I think we are going to take it right up to Saturday,” Christensen said. “That’s kind of the way we are looking at it right now.”

While there may be some doubt about who is throwing the ball against DSU for the Lights, there is no question about who will be running the ball. Yet, as talented as Northern running backs Zach McKinley and Mario Gobbato are, even they struggled against a stout Northern front.

McKinley, who rushed for more than 1,400 yards a season ago, was held to just five yards on five carries. He also caught one pass for four yards. Gobbato didn’t fare much better, carrying the ball nine times for 18 yards. Neither runner was able to break out for a run longer than 10 yards, something they will need to do consistently during the season for the Lights offense to succeed.

“I thought, assignmentwise, we did some good things on offense,” Christensen said. “But, we need to do a better job opening up holes and we will. We didn’t run the ball as much today as we normally will.”

As much concern as there might be surrounding the offense, Christensen is feeling the exact opposite way about his defense. Led by Tyler Craig and Jordan Brusio up front, the Lights stymied the run game, while also applying pressure on the quarterback and sacking Krahn on three separate occasions, including twice in the red zone to force the offense to kick a field goal after driving the ball to the two-yard line.

The secondary also had a solid day at the office. First, Rodriguez intercepted a Krahn pass and later broke up another on a third down. Then, later in the scrimmage, Sherman Arthur got in on the action with an impressive interception of his own.

“That’s the thing I keep coming back to is that our defense is playing well,” Christensen said. “We had some guys make plays in the secondary and we also got pressure on the quarterback, so that was good to see.”

The Lights and Blue Hawks will kick off their respective 2015 campaigns on Saturday in Dickinson, North Dakota.

Countdown to Dickinson State

The MSU-Northern Lights are just five days from the start of the 2015 season. And fans can get all the Lights' coverage they need this week with the Havre Daily News. On Tuesday, there will be a complete look at the MSU-N offense, followed by defense and special team's on Wednesday. Thursday, we'll have a full season preview of the Lights and Friday's HDN will feature a preview of their season-opening game at Dickinson State University. Look for online and Twitter coverage of the game over the weekend, and a complete wrapup of Northern's season-opener in Monday's HDN.