Lights look for more at UM-Western

The Montana State University-Northern Lights had every right to be feeling good about themselves last Saturday night, and even in the days following their triumphant win over Carroll College.

However, if Northern wants to continue the success and momentum it built in its 28-14 win over then No. 21 Carroll last Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium, the Lights must put it behind them.

That's because the Lights (1-2, 1-2) have to get right back on the field this Saturday, and the opponent, the UM-Western Bulldogs (1-2, 2-2), will have no such excitement about the Lights' big win last week.

Instead, the Bulldogs, coming off back-to-back road losses, will be hungry to send Northern home with a loss of its own when MSU-N and Western meet up Saturday at Vigilante Field in Dillon.

"Western is a good football team," said MSU-N head coach Aaron Christensen. "We're going to enjoy this win (Carroll), but we've got to go right back to work, because Western is very good, and it will be a tough road game."

No doubt, the Lights enjoyed their first win in their last 13 games. But, when Monday came, all eyes turned to the Bulldogs. Still, Northern can also use the lessons it learned in its victory over the Fighting Saints as a way to win more football games this season.

Defensively, MSU-N made big plays against the Saints, including forcing key fumbles, as well as Logan Sprouse's second interception of the season. The Lights also hounded quarterback J.T. Linder with constant pressure from the front four, as well as blitzing linebackers and safeties. And then there's the run defense. MSU-N held Carroll to just 60 yards rushing, and is leading the league in rushing defense coming into Saturday's tilt with Western.

So again, defense is a key formula to MSU-N's success, and against Western, a stingy defense will go a long way because the Bulldogs' offense has been streaky thus far.

Western averages nearly 400 yards of offense, and when he's healthy, senior running back Sam Rutherford is a load behind a stout offensive line. However, scoring has been up-and-down for the Dawgs so far this season, as they average just 24 points per game. So a big key for Northern's defense, led by Tyler Craig and the steady play of linebacker Garet Fowler, who is in the Top 10 in the Frontier Conference in tackles, will be to keep Western off schedule – as in, force a lot of long third-down tries. The Lights did that very well against Carroll, and because the Dawgs aren't a major passing threat, as sophomore J.D. Ferris averages just 158 yards per game, a lot of long third-down tries will be very beneficial to keeping Western out of the endzone.

"Our defense is playing well," Christensen said. "We've got a lot of different guys out there, really playing fast and physical right now. They're hustling to the ball and making plays."

And the Lights hope that trend continues, because, when the defense continues to give Northern's offense, led by Zach McKinley, the ball, and the Lights do what they did against Carroll, a second straight win is certainly in the cards.

Last weekend, Northern turned the ball over just once, and quarterback Jess Krahn had one of his most efficient games of his career. The Lights also converted on 4-of-4 scoring chances inside the redzone, and against a stout Western defense, which allows just 21 points and 380 yards of offense per game, the Lights will need that same kind of efficiency.

Of course, it also doesn't hurt to have McKinley leading the way, and, a vastly-improved offensive line in front of him. The Lights' offensive line, led by Pete Morales, opened up some big holes for McKinley, who needs just 27 yards to go over 4,000 for his career, last week against a good Carroll front, and they need more of the same this week, against a Western front led by All-American Reno Ward, as well as the sure tackling of linebacker T.J. Benson.

But above all else, what worked for the Lights last week, and will work going forward is, cutting down on the big offensive mistakes, including turnovers and penalties.

"You see what happens when we just don't give points away," Christensen said after the Carroll game. "When we don't make those mistakes, when we don't turn the ball over, we can make plays, we can be pretty good offensively. We need to continue to do that moving forward, because now we have to go play a very good Western defense."

And moving forward is the objective for the Lights. Certainly, they're still fired up about beating Carroll last Saturday, but they also won't dwell on it. Instead, Northern is hoping to duplicate that performance this Saturday, against a Western team that has suffered difficult, close losses at the hands of Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon, and will be excited to have the Lights in their house Saturday.

So, instead of looking back on the Carroll win, the Lights will use it as the model for trying to win more games, and keeping the mantra of being 1-0 every week. And this week, they want to be 1-0 against Western.

"It feels good to finally get a win," senior defensive end Jordan Brusio said. "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."

Saturday's clash between the Lights and bulldogs, the only meeting between them this season, will kick off at 1 p.m. in Dillon. Both teams have a bye next week, while Northern returns to Blue Pony Stadium for a night game against Eastern Oregon Oct. 8.

Trying for Two

MSU-Northern Lights (1-2, 1-2) at UM-Western

Bulldgos (1-2, 2-2)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

in Dillon

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