Lights face rematch with Orediggers

The Montana State University-Northern Lights have five games left. That's five chances to not only get a much-needed win, but also five more opportunities to keep building the program in the right direction.

The first of those chances will come Saturday when the Lights (0-5, 0-6) travel to Butte to take on 13th-ranked Montana Tech (4-1, 4-1), and that opportunity to get better, let alone win, comes with a price. The price is, the Orediggers are very good.

And Northern knows how good Tech is first hand. The Lights suffered a 58-14 drubbing at the hands of the Orediggers back on Sept. 5 at Blue Pony Stadium. That game started a couple of trends, and both are ones the Lights would like to revers. The most important on being, a struggling MSU-N offense, which is averaging just seven points per game. The other is, the Lights would love nothing more to put a damper on Tech's chances of winning the Frontier title.

However, as has been the case for much of the season, the main goal for the lights to is to be better than they were the week before. And head coach Aaron Christensen felt his young team certainly did that in a 48-17 loss to College of Idaho last Saturday in Havre.

"I think, defensively, we played much better this week, especially in the first half," Christensen said after the game against C of I. "I thought our defensive effort and pursuit was much better than our last game. "Offensively, we played better. Flat out, our protections were better, our run game was better, and our passing game was a little bit better."

But to have success against the powerful Orediggers Saturday, the Lights will have to be even better.

Northern's defense, led by ends Tyler Craig and Jordan Brusio, and run-stopper Pat Barnett, will have its hands full with Tech running back Nolan Saraceni, who leads the Frontier and is fifth in the NAIA in rushing. Tech's passing game is also a concern, though star quarterback Quinn McQueary, who torched the Lights last month, has been injured for Tech's last two games. Still, Dawson Reardon is more than capable as Tech's starter, and Alec Bray is as dangerous a receiver as there is in the Frontier.

On the other side of the ball, Northern will have to contend with a very stingy Montana Tech defense, led by star linebacker David Meis. The Diggers are allowing just 21 points and 322 yards of offense per game. The Orediggers are especially good against the run, and that means it will be tough sledding for Northern running back Zach McKinley, who is averaging 91 yards per game on the ground.

Still, the Lights' passing game showed some good signs last week against the Yotes, and if Jess Krahn can continue to find the likes of Jake Messerly, Qwaundre Yancy and Kagen Kahamaneh, it will soften up the defense and allow McKinley and Mario Gobbato to do more damage on the ground.

But, as much as the Lights will need to play their best game of the season, if they are to have any chance of slowing down the Orediggers, who are tied with Southern Oregon for the top spot in the Frontier right now, again, Christensen just wants to see his team get better, and continue to take the steps that are necessary in a rebuilding process like the Lights are in.

"There's no question we have to learn to execute better," Christensen said. "I thought we did that (against College of Idaho), and we need that to continue. We just have to keep working hard and we'll get to where we want to be."

The Lights and Orediggers will meet Saturday at 1 p.m. at Alumni Coliseum in Butte. Northern returns home to host the Eastern Oregon Mounties next Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium.