MSU-N Notebook: Lights put together a complete game

When the Montana State University-Northern Lights walked out of Blue pony Stadium with a loss to Rocky Mountain College Aug. 27, and again when they walked out of Montana Tech’s Alumni Coliseum with another defeat last Saturday, they knew it. They knew they were close. They knew that if they could just stop making costly errors, they were a team that could win football games — even games against NAIA and Frontier Conference royalty like Carroll College.

As it turned out, the Lights were right, as in Northern cut way down on miscues, instead forcing Carroll College to make rare mistakes of its own in a historic 28-14 win Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium.

“For us, it’s been all about execution,” second-year head coach Aaron Christensen said. “Today, I thought we executed about as well as we have since I’ve been here. And to do it against Carroll, that says a lot about how hard our team has worked, and how far they’ve come.

“Any time you can beat Carroll, any year, it’s a big deal, because they are a good football team,” he added. “They’re well-coached, and it’s not easy to do.”

And forcing mistakes, instead of making them, was a big part of the equation for Northern’s first win in almost two calendar years. The Lights forced two Carroll turnovers and forced the Saints to put the ball on the ground a total of four times. Meanwhile, Northern committed just one turnover, an early interception. MSU-N’s Sherman Arthur also blocked what was a chip-shot field goal in the second stanza, and, the Lights were efficient on their scoring chances, as they were a perfect 4-for-4 in redzone opportunities.

“We just knew, that if we could put four quarters of good football together, we can be a very good football team,” Northern senior Mario Gobbato said. “Today, I think we definitely put four good quarters together. So to get this first win, it feels great, and to do it against Carroll, makes it extra special.”

While the Lights didn’t make any costly mistakes, including committing just four penalties, Carroll struggled in the same department. While throwing for over 200 yards, senior quarterback J.T. Linder missed a couple of wide-open throws in the first half, and also threw a bad interception to Logan Sprouse on just the third play of the third stanza. The Saints also converted on third down just five times all day, and, they even missed an extra point when they finally scored their first TD of the day early in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve got to do a better job as a leader,” Saints coach Mike Van Diest said. “This is two years in a row. This is a long stretch. This is the worst stretch we’ve been in in 18 years. This is uncharted waters.

“We’re just making too way many mistakes,” Van Diest added. “The troubling part is it’s all over the team. Offense, defense, kicking game again was horrendous again today. With the blocked field goal, missed PAT, short punt into the wind; there’s just things we’re not doing very well.”

At the end of the day, Northern’s historic win, in front of a loud, excited crowd at Blue Pony Stadium, was more about what Northern earned however, than what Carroll might have given away. Being perfect in the redzone, not committing silly penalties, being efficient on third down, and many more things the Lights did right Saturday, is the big reason why they were celebrating at midfield for the first time in a long time, and why they were the team on top on the scoreboard at the end of a memorable afternoon.

“It feels good to finally get a win,” senior defensive end Jordan Brusio said. “The whole team played really well today. I think we finally put a complete game together today, and now we have that winning mindset back, finally. We know what it feels like now, and I think it’s going to carry us a long way the rest of the season.”

Third Down, Big Down

None of Northern’s wide receivers scored touchdowns Saturday, and Jess Krahn threw just one TD of his own. But that doesn’t mean the Lights’ passing game didn’t come up huge against Carroll.

Time and time again, Northern made key first-down plays with the passing game, including key, early one’s to Gobbato, Zach McKinley, who was his usual self running the football, as well as tight end Kagen Khameneh.

Overall, Northern finished the game converting a stellar 8-of-16 on third-down tries, and none were bigger than the ones they got in two fourth-quarter TD drives which salted the game away.

On the first drive, an 11-play march, backup running back Jett Robertson caught a big conversion, and later, so did Mike Cocke. Both plays were key in setting up McKinley’s second TD of the day, while on the final scoring drive, Sam Mix did it twice, and was Northern’s leading receiver on the day.

Of course, all of the conversions were good throws by Krahn, who is really starting to come of age as Northern’s signal caller, and, who certainly helped the Lights to what was the biggest win of his career.

“It’s the best feeling I’ve had in a long time, that’s for sure,” Krahn said. “We were due. It’s indescribable.”

Perfect Kicks

Carroll College isn’t used to having kicking woes. In fact, the Saints have already won a game on a last-second field goal this season. So, it was shocking to see the Saints have one field goal blocked and also miss an extra point.

Northern on the other hand, had no such troubles.

First-year kicker Tommy Langley was itching to get a chance to kick a field goal against the Saints Saturday, but, with Northern punching in touchdowns time and time again, Langley had to settle for a perfect 4-for-4 on PAT’s. And perfect is something Langley has been this season. He’s 2-for-2 on FG attempts this year, and a perfect 8-for-8 on PAT’s, in spite of playing now two windy games in Havre.

Northern senior punter Dillon Barnes was just as good, too. He did his job by averaging 39 yards per punt Saturday, despite dealing with a vicious win blowing nearly 25 miles per hour.

Sounds of Victory

The Lights had every right to be elated after Saturday’s win. Like their head coach said, anytime anyone beats Carroll, it’s big.

But, Northern also snapped a hellacious 12-game losing skid, and did it against the vaunted Saints, a nationally-ranked team.

“It feels so good to get this one,” senior Zach McKinley said. “This one is special for sure.

“We really wanted to get that win, especially against Carroll,” Tyler Craig added. “It’s a damn good feeling. There’s just something about Carroll that everybody wants to beat them.

“This one definitely feels good,” Gobbatosaid. “We knew we could play this well, and at this level, even against a really good team like Carroll.”

“You could see it, that we were getting close,” Christensen added. “And you just wanted it so bad for them, because they work hard every day, and they have bought in to what we’re trying to do, what we ask them to do each and every day. So you just wanted it all to pay off, and I’m happy for them that it did today.”