Frontier Notebook: Frontier football gets the week off

Every football team in the Frontier Conference gets a break this weekend. And no one could use a bye more than the Montana State University-Northern Lights.

MSU-N is coming off its worst loss in recent program history - an 82-9 thrashing at the hands of defending NAIA national champion Southern Oregon. The loss was the fifth straight for the Lights, who will now use their second bye week of the season to regroup.

And while the young Lights are struggling right now, pretty much in every phase of the game, head coach Aaron Christensen will use this week to help his team make strides, and prepare for the long stretch ahead. Following the bye week, Northern will play six games in six weeks to finish the 2015 campaign, so a week of rest will not only help the Lights, who have their injury issues as well, but it will also give them a chance to get extra prep time for the College of Idaho, which makes its first-ever visit to Havre on Oct. 10.

And when the Yotes do come to Blue Pony Stadium, the Lights will have to be ready for an offense they don't see any other time all season long. C of I runs a spread-option attack that uses quarterback TeeJay Gordon as a primary rusher. And Gordon is very dangerous, as he finished fifth in the Frontier in rushing a season ago. Gordon has cut down on his rushing attempts this season, mainly because the Yotes have two high-powered running backs, including a transfer from the University of Utah. But still, the MSU-N defense will have to be prepared for him to keep the ball, because that's what he, and the C of I offense does best.

After playing the Yotes at home, Northern will have a grinder of a finish to the first season under Christensen. In a five-game stretch to close the fall, the Lights will play five games against teams that are either ranked, or have been ranked in the NAIA Top 25, starting with a return trip to Montana Tech on Oct. 17. The Lights come back home to play Eastern Oregon the following week, then they embark on their toughest stretch of the season, back-to-back road games at Carroll College and UM-Western. Northern then closes out the season with Rocky Mountain College at home on Nov. 14.

Power Rankings

Not only does the Frontier have a stranglehold on the NAIA Coaches Poll right now, but the league standings are a power struggle, too.

In this week's coaches poll, the league has five teams in the rankings, led by Southern Oregon, which moved up to No. 2, as well as Carroll, which moved up one spot to No. 6. UM-Western, which lost a 10-9 heartbreaker to the Saints last Saturday, dropped one spot to No. 17, while Montana Tech moved up three spots to No. 18. Rocky Mountain College is also receiving votes in the new poll.

And those teams that are ranked this week are also part of a jumbled mess atop the league standings. Carroll, SOU, Western and Tech are all tied for first place at 3-1, while RMC is just a game back at 2-2 in conference play.

So, while every game in league play is a dogfight, it looks as though the top half of the conference is much more powerful and balanced this season, and those five teams are going to fight it out over the next six weeks for not only a conference title, but perhaps one or two more playoff berths.

Close Calls

The UM-Western Bulldogs had a great chance to be alone atop the standings, but Carroll had other ideas last Saturday in Dillon.

In a battle of easily the two best defenses in the league, touchdowns were rare, but Western took a 9-3 lead midway into the third quarter on three Seth Mason field goals. And while the bulldog defense played lights out for the entire game, a game in which to gain 256 yards and a mere 30 on the ground, one Fighting Saints' touchdown proved to be the difference. On Carroll's ensuing possession, Mac Roche hit Connor Fohn on a 37-yard touchdown strike, and from there, the Saints' defense held up as the game was scoreless the rest of the way.

The loss was especially crushing for Western because the Dawgs could have been alone in first place and would have held any tiebreaker over the Saints, as the two teams don't play again. Now however, Western has to come out of the loss, and a bye week, having to host Southern Oregon Oct. 10 - which will be no easy task. So, a golden opportunity slipped by the Dawgs last Saturday for sure.

On the other side of the coin, Rocky got back into the Frontier title race via a nail biter of its own.

It seems the Battlin' Bears and Eastern Oregon Mounties always play classic games and last Saturday was no exception. A scoreless fourth quarter sent the game into overtime tied at 21-21, but a gutsy two-point conversion call by Brian Armstrong sent the Bears home with a 36-35 win, and put them right back in the title chase.

Rocky's Chase White, a former Shelby High star, has been outstanding as of late, and he was again Saturday. The win was also good karma for the Bears, who lost on a last-second hail mary at Carroll just two weeks ago.

Frontier Awards

Even in the heartbreaking loss to RMC, EOU quarterback Zach Bartlow was named Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Bartlow is a junior quarterback from Waitsburg, Wash.

In Eastern's 35-36 double overtime conference loss to Rocky Mountain College, Bartlow was 25 of 40 passing for 264 yards and four touchdowns.

Also nominated and listed in alphabetical order; Marcus Lenhardt of College of Idaho, Matt Retzlaff of Southern Oregon, Sam Rutherford of Montana Western, Nolan Saraceni of Montana Tech and Kodee Varner of Rocky Mountain College.

Carroll's James Dowgin was named Defensive Player of the Week. Dowgin is a senior defensive back from Greeley, Colo.

In then No. 6 Carroll's 10-9 conference victory over then No. 16 Montana-Western, Dowgin recorded 13 unassisted tackles, four assisted tackles, one pass break up and an interception.

Also nominated and listed in alphabetical order; Karrington Jones of Southern Oregon, David Meis of Montana Tech, Nate Moore of College of Idaho, Gary Posten of Eastern Oregon, Ryan Soto of Rocky Mountain College and Reno Ward of Montana-Western.

Western's Mason a junior kicker from Hamilton was named Special Teams Player of the Week. Mason was 3-of-4 in field goals, scoring all of UM-W's points.

Also nominated and listed in alphabetical order: Matt Berg of Montana Tech, Evan Connolly of Rocky Mountain College and Dylan Torgeron of Carroll College