Frontier Notebook: Lights make good use of rare, early bye week

There’s always the possibility of an early-season shake-up or two when it comes to the Frontier Conference. The league is just that good. But, what happened last Saturday wasn’t just a little jolt. It was a seismic event.

Although the Carroll College Fighting Saints and the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers were starting the season inside the NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll, their season-openers were supposed to be against the heavyweights of the Frontier. Yet, it didn’t matter.

First, Carroll, which suffered through a rare losing season a year ago, took down defending Frontier champion and eighth-ranked Montana Tech on a last-second field goal in Helena. Then, later that evening, the Mounties stunned No. 2 Southern Oregon, the preseason league favorite, and the squad which has played in the last two NAIA title games.

Both results were stunning, and both leave some interesting questions as the Frontier moves forward. Questions like, are Carroll and EOU the team’s to beat now? Or, will Tech and SOU still be top dogs when they play each other in early November? Or, better yet, will the race to the Frontier title be a free-for-all, in a season when everybody might just beat up on each other?

None of those questions, save maybe the fact that Carroll is back to being for real again, were answered on Saturday. But, what we did learn from those two games last Saturday is, the Frontier may just be as deep as ever, if not even deeper than ever before, and that’s going to make this season even that much more exciting.

The Right Time

It’s rare to have a bye week on just the second week of the regular season. But, that’s exactly what the Montana State University-Northern Lights got last week.

After losing their season-opener to Rocky Mountain College back on Aug. 27, the Lights had last week to rest, work and regroup, and, second-year head coach Aaron Christensen said, the bye has seemed to work in his young team’s favor.

“With a bye this early, you’re never quite sure what to do with it,” Christensen said. “But, I think it was really good for us. We got to really work on and fix what we didn’t do well in that first game, and, we got an extra week to prepare for Montana Tech.”

The bye is now behind the Lights, and they are indeed going forward, with an angry Oredigger team waiting for them Saturday in Butte. Tech has high aspirations this season, especially with star running back Nolan Saraceni and quarterback Quinn McQueary leading a potent offense. However, those aspirations took a big hit last Saturday at Nelson Stadium with the loss to the Fighting Saints.

Still, Christensen sees a team that will be very talented and very fired up when the Lights march into Alumni Coliseum on Saturday.

“They’re the defending conference champs,” Christensen said of the Oredeiggers. “They’re really well-coached, and it’s their home opener. So they’ll be ready for us. We know that.”

Moving Up

One week after Rocky beat the Lights 31-21 in Havre, the Battlin’ Bears certainly played up in both quality and atmosphere. Last Saturday, Rocky went to Big Sky Conference member Northern Colorado and put up a very good fight against the host Bears.

RMC, playing its first NCAA Division I opponent in quite some time, fell behind the Bears 28-0 in the first quarter, but, put up a great second-half fight, scoring 27 points in the final 30 minutes, and, against an NCAA defense, RMC quarterback Chase White threw for 343 yards, which was impressive to say the least.

Northern Colorado is expected to be one of the most improved teams in the Big Sky Conference this season, so, RMC's second-half performance in Greely was certainly a good sign for the Battlin' Bears.

RMC isn’t the last Frontier team to step up in competition this season either.

Southern Oregon, which nearly beat Big Sky’s Sacramento State three years ago, will play at Big Sky member UC Davis Saturday night, while the College of Idaho will travel to NCAA Division III Willamette University on Saturday night as well. This will be the second straight season that C of I played a team from the NCAA DIII Northwest Conference, as the Yotes played Pacific University last fall.

Frontier Honors

Eastern Oregon quarterback Zach Bartlow has been named the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. In Eastern Oregon’s 45-40 season opening upset win over No. 2 Southern Oregon, Bartlow was 23 of 31 passing for 292 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 70 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Also nominated; J.T. Linder of Carroll College, Matt Retzlaff of Southern Oregon, Nolan Saraceni of Montana Tech and Chase White of Rocky Mountain College.

Carroll’s Kyle Smith was named the Defensive Player of the Week. In No. 22 Carroll’s 27-24 season opening upset win over No. 7 Montana Tech, Smith recorded five solo tackles, four assisted tackles, three tackles for loss and two quarterback sack. The Saints’ defense held Montana Tech to 89 yards rushing. Also nominated; Michal Arenas of Eastern Oregon, Cole Jelinek of Rocky Mountain College, Gunnar Kayser of Montana Tech and Jay Owens of Montana-Western.

EOU wide receiver Calvin Connors was named the Special Teams Player of the Week. In EOU’s 45-40 season opening upset win over No. 2 Southern Oregon, Connors returned a third quarter punt 65-yards for a touchdown. He also had one kick return for 21 yards. Also nominated; Griff Amies of Rocky Mountain College, Devyn Christian of Montana-Western and Colter Hamel of Carroll College.