Kickoff 2016: Lights battle Bears Saturday

Winter conditioning, recruiting, spring ball, the grind of summer workouts and fall camp two-a-days. For the Montana State University-Northern Lights, it's all been about what's about to happen Saturday.

It's all been about winning their next game.

That game comes in the form of Saturday's 2016 season-opener, where the Lights will face the last team they beat, the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears at 1 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium.

And while Northern's last win came at RMC in November of 2014, the Lights have no intentions of worrying about last fall's 0-11 campaign. Again, all they've been doing is getting ready to go out and try to beat the Battlin' Bears Saturday.

"I say it a lot," said second-year head coach Aaron Christensen said. "But it really is true. All we're worried about is being 1-0. All we ever focus on is winning our next game. We talk about that all the time, and during this fall camp, that's all we've been focused on. We just want to win our next game."

While the Lights aren't dwelling on the past, Christensen does believe his team is much better equipped to win its next game, than it was at any point last season. For starters, the Lights return 13 starters from a year ago, and, they have 17 seniors on the roster compared to just four last season. They also have quite a bit more depth than they did during Christensen's first year at MSU-N, and all that has added up to what he believes is a much more complete team.

"You've seen things really start to click," Christensen said. "You can really see the improvements we've made from the end of last season, again in spring ball, and during this fall camp. We've had to coach a lot less on certain things than we did last year. So it's things like that where you can just see the differences."

Of course, Northern also has difference makers, like senior running back Zach McKinley, senior defensive end Tyler Craig, offensive lineman Pete Morales, defensive tackle Pat Barnett, defensive end Jordan Brusio, running back turned receiver Mario Gobbatto, safety Logan Sprouse, quarterback Jess Krahn, tight end Kagen Kahamaneh and linebacker Garet Fowler among others. There will also be new names to watch Saturday, like receiver Sam Mix, defensive backs Corey Lee and Sherman Arthur, massive offensive tackle Elijah Cox and many others.

So, there's no question, the Lights are talented, deep and much more experienced this season. However, that talent and depth takes a team only so far. On the field and, right away against the Battlin' Bears, the Lights must execute.

"For us, it's about execution," Christensen said. "In football, every kind of offense works. Football is football. So no matter what scheme you run, you have to execute. And with inexperience and injuries and things like that, we just didn't execute well enough last year. So, for us, that's what it's going to come down to, we have to execute better this season, and I think we will."

Executing offensively will be a challenge against a stout RMC defense. While Rocky went just 5-6 last season, new head coach Jason Petrino inherited a defense which was among the Frontier's best in both scoring and total defense. And with Petrino being a defensive guru himself, Rocky should be stingy again.

Along the line, defensive end Austin Chamberlain (6-3, 245) and tackle Brendon Johnson (6-2, 280) will be a handful, while linebacker Cole Jelinek (6-0, 215) is a tackling machine, as is safety Jason Baker (5-11, 205). RMC also has a senior-laden defense, so expect the Bears to be strong in that department.

On the other side, Northern knows it will have its hands full with RMC senior quarterback Chase White (6-3, 210). The former Shelby High star led the league in passing a season ago, and while the rest of the Frontier breathes a sigh of relief now that superstar Rocky receiver Andre McCullouch is gone, the Bears still have weapons for White to distribute the ball too. Among them is WR Tyrell McGee (5-9 180), but also talented senior running back Kodee Varner (6-0, 195).

And while RMC struggled at times offensively last season, the Bears, with changes to both the offense and the defense under Petrino, figure to be very tough offensively, especially with White at the controls. And those aforementioned changes, those might be Northern's biggest Achilles heel heading into Saturday's opener.

"The first game is always a little harder to game plan for your opponent," Christensen said. "But with Rocky having a new head coach, and I know he's made some pretty big changes to what they do, it's been even more difficult. We're not really sure on what to expect from them.

"But really, we're focused more on what we need to do," he continued. "That first game, there's going to be mistakes made. It's how you limit those mistakes that's the biggest difference. So our focus has been on being as fundamentally sound as we can be in all three phases, and being prepared to execute in all three phases."

The focus, has also been on getting excited for the season to begin. For the last three-plus weeks, the Lights have been hitting each other, lining up against each other. It's been a grind, but when they race out onto the turf Saturday, for their season and home opener, it will all have been worth it.

"It's exciting that our first game this year is at home," Christensen said. "It's going to be a lot of fun to start the season in front of our crowd. I know our guys are ready, they're ready to see anything but maroon across from them. And, I know they'll be really excited once game day comes."

The Lights and Battlin' Bears will square off Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium. Rocky will also be on the road next week when it travels to Big Sky Conference member Northern Colorado. The Lights will have a bye next week, followed by a visit to Montana Tech Sept. 10.

Season Opener

MSU-Northern Lights (0-0, 0-0) vs RMC Battlin' Bears (0-0, 0-0)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Blue Pony Stadium

Streaming: www.msun.edu/athletics

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

Twitter: Twitter/Havredaily