Frontier Notebook: New year, same Fighting Saints

There's a saying in sports, numbers never lie. Well, that's not always the case. And in the case of Zach McKinley, the superstar running back for the Montana State University-Northern Lights, the numbers were a little off.

Following McKinley's 151-yard performance in last Saturday's game against Montana Tech at Blue Pony Stadium, it appeared as though the stats on the Frontier Conference website had McKinley with enough yards this season to have surpassed former Northern great Stephen Silva as MSU-N's all-time leading rusher.

However, a closer look at the numbers revealed the stats for 2015 were incorrect, specifically, they had McKinley playing in three games, and having rushed for 331 yards. Of course, the Lights have played just two games this season, and in those two outings, McKinley has totaled 247 yards on 51 carries. That gives the former Great Falls great 2,772 rushing yards in his illustrious Northern career. It also leaves him 85 yards shy of passing Silva as Northern's all-time leading rusher. So, apologies for the confusion in Monday's Havre Daily News.

Still, barring any unforeseen circumstances, McKinley will indeed become Northern's greatest rusher in history. At the rate he's been running for the Lights in just two seasons and two games, McKinley will not only break Silva's impressive record, he will likely leave Northern with a rushing record that will never be matched.

In fact, Saturday's visit to Rocky Mountain College could be the day the record falls for real. McKinley is averaging 123 yards per game, which is tops in the Frontier Conference so far. And he's had plenty of success against the Battlin' Bears. Last November in Billings, McKinley rushed for 222 yards in Northern's thrilling, season-ending win over Rocky, and if he has anything close to that type of game Saturday at Herb Klindt Field, he will officially hold every Northern rushing record there is.

But, as has always been the case, McKinley is much more about winning than he is records. And he desperately wants to help his Lights get on track Saturday.

Last November's win in Billings snapped a five-game losing streak to RMC, and the Lights are now looking to break an 0-2 streak to start the 2015 season. The Bears are somewhat of an unknown, though. They have a lot of new faces on offense, and they didn't click in their Frontier opener last weekend against UM-Western, as the Bulldogs thrashed them 49-6. RMC gained just 253 yards of offense and had a meager 14 first downs the entire game. Rocky rushed for just 100 yards the entire day, while the RMC defense struggled to stop Western from taking advantage of five interceptions, including four by Jacob Bakken, who came on in relief of starter Chase White.

Still, with all the struggles the Bears had against the Bulldogs last Saturday, they'll be pumped up for this Saturday's visit by Northern. After all, the Lights handed the Bears a stunning last-second loss to end last season.

Same ol' Same ol'

Things never seem to change much at Carroll College. The Saints just are always good and they stick to what they do best. And that was the case last Saturday in Helena, as Carroll opened the season with a 26-20 win over defending NAIA national champion Southern Oregon in front of a sold-out Nelson Stadium crowd.

And while Carroll debuted some more modern, all purple uniforms Saturday, it was the same old Fighting Saints on the field. A new-look, but still stingy Carroll defense held SOU to just one offensive touchdown and held an offense used to shattering NAIA records to just 358 total yards.

On the flip side, Carroll literally wore down the Raider defense with their huge offensive line, and the steady quarterback play of senior Mac Roche, who threw for 266 yards and three scores.

But again, it was the Carroll defense that made all the difference. Despite graduating almost all of its interior from a year ago, the Saints were stellar. They forced new SOU starter Kamerun Smith into two picks and they allowed just 134 yards on the ground.

Of course, the Raiders were playing their first game in four years without record-setting Austin Dodge at QB, and they did hang tough in an absolutely hostile environment. But still, if Saturday was any indication, it looks as though the Frontier title is once again going through Helena.

New QB']s

So far this season, a host of Frontier Conference teams have debuted new starting quarterbacks, including Northern. Though Jess Krahn started the last three games of last season, 2015 is his first as MSU-N's official starter.

Elsewhere, the list of new signal callers is extensive. In Western's win over Rocky last Saturday, J.D. Ferris started for the Bulldogs as a freshman, while Bakken and White were both playing in just their second game ever as RMC starters. In Helena, Smith made his debut as SOU's new starter, with a huge shadow left by Dodge, who was the Raiders' starter for four years, and in that time, he broke every passing record there is in NAIA football.

But no one was better in his first start than Montana Tech's Quinn McQueary. Against Northern, McQueary was a sparkling 20-of-22 for 255 yards and two touchdowns. The former Montana State Bobcat finished the game with a passer rating of 218.3, which is through the rough, especially for someone starting for the first time in his career.

On the other side of the coin, only Roche at Carroll, TeeJay Gordon at College of Idaho and Zach Bartlow at EOU have returning starter experience from a season ago.

Stepping Up to the FCS

Two weeks ago, Eastern Oregon was riding high, ranked No. 13 in the NAIA and about to open its season at the College of Idaho. Now however, things are drastically different.

The Mounties were stunned in their season opener at C of I, and now sit at 0-2 on the young season. However, their second loss of 2015 is nothing to hang their heads over.

Last Saturday night, EOU moved up in competition, way up, and took on the Sacramento State Hornets in a non-conference game in Sacramento. The Hornets play in the Big Sky Conference, and usually, when an NAIA school moves up to play an FCS opponent, it's a blood bath.

But that wasn't the case with EOU. The Mounties fell behind 31-0 but rallied in the second half to make a respectable showing for the Frontier.

Of course, the loss won't hurt EOU in the long run, just as it didn't hurt UM-Western to play at Eastern Washington last season. Before the bulldogs' loss to the vaunted Eagles a year ago, Carroll was the last team from the Frontier to play an FCS opponent. The Saints lost a tough game at Portland State back in 2013.

Awards

Carroll QB Mac Roche was named the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. In No. 4 Carroll's 26-20 season opening win over No. 1 Southern Oregon, Roche was 26 of 41 passing for 281 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed four times for 40 yards.

Also nominated and listed in alphabetical order; Jace Billingsley of Eastern Oregon, Teejay Gordon of College of Idaho, Melvin Mason of Southern Oregon and Quinn McQueary of Montana Tech.

Western senior linebacker A.J. Wilson was named Frontier Defensive Player of the Week. In Western's 49-6 season opening conference victory over Rocky Mountain College, Wilson scored three defensive touchdowns. He had two fumble recoveries for touchdowns (51 and 40-yard returns) and a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown. Wilson recorded five unassisted tackles, three assisted tackles, one tackle for loss and an additional interception.

Also nominated and listed in alphabetical order; Adam Bese of Eastern Oregon, James Dowgin of Carroll College, David Meis of Montana Tech and Julius Rucker of Southern Oregon.

SOU receiver Matt Retzlaff was the Special Teams Player of the Week. In No. 1 Southern's 20-26 season opening loss at No. 4 Carroll College, Retzlaff returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. It was the sixth longest kick return for a touchdown in SOU program history. In his wide receiver position, Retzlaff caught four passes for 83 yards.

Also nominated: Matt Berg, Montana Tech, Seth Mason of Montana Western, Kevin McLemore of College of Idaho and Dylan Torgerson of Carroll College.