Bear Bites: Rocky 31, Lights 21

With hopes high, and with a big opening-day crowd packed in the Blue Pony Stadium stands, the Montana State University-Northern Lights opened the 2016 Frontier Conference football season with the same feeling they felt when the fourth quarter ended in the last game of 2015.

And, against the same team.

Saturday afternoon, Northern wasn't able to pull off a fourth-quarter rally, and ultimately, the Lights dropped their season-opener 31-21 to the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears, the same team that handed the Lights a season-ending loss November in Havre. And some of the same mistakes that plagued the Lights last November against RMC reared their ugly head in Saturday's season-opener.

Northern, which fought hard all day to contain what looked like a potent Rocky offense, shot itself in the foot with four costly turnovers and a few untimely penalties.

"Offensively, it came down to execution," senior tailback Zach McKinley said. "I had my share of mistakes today. We missed some throws, we missed some blocking assignments, we had some penalties. We just didn't execute well enough."

MSU-N head coach Aaron Christensen agreed with his star senior's assessment of a day when the Lights were left thinking what might have been.

"I thought our defense played well all day," Christensen said. "Rocky has a very good quarterback, and I thought our defense did a good job of digging us out of some holes and containing what Rocky was trying to do for the most part. But, with the turnovers and mistakes we made offensively, we just gave them (Bears) too many extra opportunities. You can't have those kinds of mistakes and expect to win football games in this conference. So going forward, we have to play better."

Early on, Northern's defense was indeed up to the task against new RMC head coach Jason Petrino's revamped offense, as the Lights forced the Bears into two straight three-and-outs. And offensively, MSU-N showed its ability to move the ball, especially with McKinley in the backfield.

However, on Northern's third trip into RMC territory, junior quarterback Jess Krahn threw the first of three interceptions on the day, and while the Lights got out of the first quarter scoreless, RMC star Chase White opened the second stanza by finding Kalen Reed on a 21-yard fade pass on a gutsy fourth-down call by Petrino, making the score 7-0.

And while the TD pass was deflating, the Lights caught a big break minutes later. Northern punter Dillon Barnes boomed a punt deep into RMC's end of the field, and near their own goal line, the Bears muffed the kick, with MSU-N safety Logan Sprouse pouncing on it. The miscue set up the first of two McKinley scores on the day as he plunged in from five yards out to knot the contest at 7-7.

The good fortune wouldn't last however, as Rocky answered with its best drive of the day, a nearly six-minute march that saw White complete three third-down passes. The drive would culminate with White sneaking in from one yard out to give the Bears a 14-7 lead, and, after Krahn threw his second pick of the half, the Bears scored on a Sam Sparks rush, and went into halftime ahead 21-7.

"Turnovers were big today," Christensen said. "We just gave them (Bears) too many extra opportunities with those turnovers. Protecting the football is something we knew we had to do, and we know going forward we have to do a much better job of that. That really hurt us today."

But Northern didn't protect the ball in the third quarter either. After two good stops by the Lights' defense, including hulking plays by Tyler Craig and Pat Barnett, the Northern defense had found its stride against the Bears' passing attack. Yet, a third INT put the Lights' defense in a huge hole, where they showed their mettle by stuffing the Bears four straight times on the 1-yard-line. The great goal line stand went for not, though, because two plays later Krahn and McKinley had a fumbled exchange, and Rocky finally cashed in when White hit Tyrell McGee on a 13-yard corner strike, upping the score to 28-7.

"Our defense came up with a great stand there on the goal line," Christensen said. "But then we gave it right back to them them (Bears). Those are the plays that really hurt us today. Our guys played hard, they fought hard, but we just had too many mistakes."

The Lights certainly did fight hard. McKinley opened the fourth quarter with his second TD, and a sack by Jordan Brusio stopped the ensuing Rocky drive. Ultimately, those stops, and an interception by Sprouse, wouldn't be enough. Rocky tacked on a late field goal, while Northern answered with a Krahn TD pass to fullback Wyatt McKinlay to make the final margin 10 points.

"Last year, this game probably would have been a much bigger margin," McKinley said. "But, when the heat was on us today, the defense went out and got stops, and the offense was able to put some points on the board. So we're getting better. We're just not there yet."

McKinley paced the Northern offense with 106 yards on 25 carries. He also caught four balls, while Krahn finished 19-of-35 for 195 yards and a TD. Senior Mario Gobbato led the receivers with six grabs for 75 yards, while the MSU-N offense gained 359 yards on the day.

Defensively, Northern did well, holding RMC to 345 total yards, while creating a pair of takeaways. However, White, who led the Frontier in passing a year ago, still threw for 220 yards and accounted for three of RMC's scores. Barnett led the way with nine stops, while Garet Fowler and Wagner combined for 14 more. Brusio had a sack, Barnett added two tackles for loss, as did Craig, and Sprouse finished with six stops and his fourth-career pick.

And while the Lights didn't get what they ultimately were gunning for in their home and season opener, Northern receiver Sam Mix, who made a triumphant return to football Saturday, saw the silver lining.

"I thought my team played awesome today," Mix said. "We made some mistakes as an offense, but we'll get those fixed. We were just a couple of plays away today. We were just a couple of plays away from getting in the win column. And we'll get there."

The Lights' (0-1, 0-1) next chance to get there won't come until a Sept. 10 visit to defending champion Montana Tech. MSU-N has a bye this Saturday, while the Bears travel to Big Sky Conference member Northern Colorado.

Bright Opener

Lights are 0-1 in Frontier, 0-1 overall; Next Up: at Tech, Sept. 10

Lights Notes: Rocky has now beaten Northern three straight times. The Lights will get another shot at the Bears when they play at the remodeled Herb Klindt Field next month in Billings. White, from Shelby, is a former pupil of Havre High great Tommy Reynolds. McKinley has now rushed for over 100 yards in his last five games against RMC. RMC running back Kodee Varner, the younger brother of former Lights' greats Casey and Tanner Varner, was not suited up Saturday.