Frontier Notebook: A week of rest for Lights, Frontier

Most of the Frontier Conference will get a well-deserved rest this week. But one team that will be back in action is the team nobody probably wants to play right now, including its opponent, the College of Idaho Yotes.

After losing their first two games, and losing their starting quarterback to an injury, it would have seemed like the Southern Oregon Raiders might be in for their first down season since joining the Frontier five years ago.

But in the immortal words of Lee Corso “Not so fast my friends.”

The Raiders, behind the passing of backup quarterback Jack Singler, and the emergence of Ray Vega, the league’s leading rusher, have won two straight, including a victory inside Carroll College’s vaunted Nelson Stadium last Saturday. That win pushed SOU to 2-1 in league play, which is just a half game out of first place.

Of course, the offense is again the focal point for SOU, as the Raiders are averaging 34 points and their usual 550 yards per game. Singler, stepping in for Tanner Trosin, has thrown for nine touchdowns in his last two games, and Vega has back-to-back 100-yard games to his credit.

So, in what is still a wide-open Frontier title race, with Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain College tied atop the standings at 3-1, there’s no doubt, SOU, despite a rough start, is right back in the thick of things, and is arguably the most dangerous team in the league yet again.

Needed Bye

The Montana State University-Northern Lights had a bye in what was the first week of the season for most of the Frontier. Now, the Lights get another one, and the timing might be ideal.

After beating Carroll two weeks ago, the Lights experienced a big letdown in a 50-6 bludgeoning at the hands of UM-Western last Saturday in Dillon. On both sides of the ball, the Lights struggled. They didn’t score a touchdown offensively for the first time this season, and a defense that was allowing less than 90 yards rushing, gave up 226 yards to a Western team that was missing star senior running back Sam Rutherford.

In other words, a lot went wrong for the Lights last Saturday, and head coach Aaron Christensen said he’ll use the bye week to correct those things ahead of Northern’s exciting night game with Eastern Oregon Oct. 8 at Blue Pony Stadium.

“We’ll use the bye week to work on the mistakes we made in the last game,” Christensen said. “Those are all things that are fixable.”

Northern’s second bye week will also be treated as a regular week as much as possible. Christensen said the Lights will practice through Friday, then get Saturday off, before returning to work on Sunday to prepare for their homecoming game against the national-ranked Mounties.

Poll Presence

Speaking of being nationally ranked, the Frontier once again has a strong presence in this week’s NAIA Coaches Poll. Four teams are inside the Top 25, and three are off this week.

SOU is ranked No. 9, followed by Montana Tech at No. 10. EOU is ranked No. 17 and Western jumped back into the poll for the second time this season, coming in at No. 24. Rocky Mountain College also garnered votes this week, while Carroll College, with its third straight loss, fell all the way out of the poll.

SOU and C of I are the only two Frontier teams in action Saturday, as the Raiders and Yotes meet in Ashland, Oregon. Tech returns next week to face Western, while RMC hosts SOU and EOU pays a visit to Northern.

Frontier Honors

SOU running back Ray Vega was named the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. In No. 9 Southern Oregon’s 34-14 conference win over Carroll College, Vega rushed for 154 yards and one touchdown (94-yards) on 14 carries. He also caught three passes for 77 yards.

Also nominated was, Zach Bartlow of Eastern Oregon, J.D. Ferris of Montana Western, Quinn McQueary of Montana Tech and Kodee Varner of Rocky Mountain College.

Montana Tech DL Luke Benz was named the Defensive Player of the Week. In No. 10 Montana Tech’s 37-24 road conference win over No. 15 Eastern Oregon, Benz had four solo tackles, one assisted tackle, 3.5 tackles of loss, one pass deflection and a career high 3.5 quarterback sacks.

Also nominated was, T.J. Benson of Montana Western, Keegan Lawrence of Southern Oregon, Tucker Stanley of Eastern Oregon and J.J. Taele of Rocky Mountain College.

Tech running back Zach Bunny was named Special Teams Player of the Week. In addition to his conference honors, he was also selected the NAIA's Special Team Player of the Week

In No. 10 Montana Tech’s 37-24 road conference win over No. 15 Eastern Oregon, Bunney set a school record and tied an NAIA record with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown.

Also nominated was, Griff Amies of Rocky Mountain College, Nathan Harden of Eastern Oregon, Seth Mason of Montana Western and Marcus Montano of Southern Oregon.