After Dark: Lights meet Mounties in a rare night game at Blue Pony Stadium

A week off can do wonders for a football team. In the case of the Montana State University-Northern Lights, head coach Aaron Christensen is hoping Northern’s second bye week of the season gave the Lights a chance to put their foot back on the accelerator.

Northern (1-3, 1-3) will find out for sure when it hosts No. 16 Eastern Oregon (2-2, 2-2) in a rare night game Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium, and it’s one the Lights are looking forward to for a myriad of reasons, including the most important — getting back to playing winning football.

After beating Carroll College back on Sept. 17, the Lights took a big step back when they were blown out at UM-Western 50-6 the following Saturday. And Christensen is hoping the week off helped bring back the Lights he last saw in Havre, and not the team he saw in Dillon just a week later.

“I think after we beat Carroll, we took our foot off the gas,” Christensen said. “And that’s human nature a little bit. It was really like watching two completely different teams in those two games. So, we used the bye week to refocus on fundamentals and basic football. Things like hustling to the ball and paying attention to the little details in all three phases of the game. Those are things we did well against Carroll, and didn’t do at all at Western. So the bye week came at the right time for us.”

Christensen also noted that the atmosphere surrounding Saturday’s game against the Mounties, a nationally ranked opponent, a big weekend on campus, and a night game, will certainly be extra motivation for the Lights to play well.

“You always hope that just playing is motivation enough,” he said. “But Saturday night’s going to be cool. It’s Legends for Lights weekend, and all those ex-NFL guys will be there, and playing under the lights is always exciting. We’re expecting a big crowd, and I know our guys are excited. So an atmosphere like we’ll have Saturday night adds a little extra to it for sure.”

Under the lights or not, Saturday’s game is a big challenge for a Northern program trying to fight its way into the Frontier Conference title chase. Eastern Oregon is a powerful team on both sides of the ball, but one that has also had its ups and downs. The Mounties, led by veteran head coach Tim Camp, opened the season with a spectacular win over arch rival Southern Oregon and rose to No. 10 in the country after a 2-0 start. However, they come into Blue pony Stadium reeling a bit after back-to-back losses, and now must contend with a Northern squad as hungry as they are, inside what should be a hostile environment.

Still, none of that means much to Christensen, who says EOU is an explosive team that has his full attention.

“Offensively, they’ve got one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and a really dangerous group of wide receivers,” Christensen said of the Mounties. “The quarterback can hurt you in a variety of ways, and they are very athletic at all of the skill positions. So we have to deal with that. We really need to do our jobs and limit the big plays defensively.

“Defensively, they play a stack 3-3, and they do a lot of different things to confuse you.” They blitz and really bring so many different things at you, that they force you into making mistakes. So we have to be aware of that, know what we’re doing out there and really take care of the football.”

EOU does indeed have one of the top QBs in the Frontier Conference in senior Zach Bartlow, who comes in leading the league with 295 yards passing per game. Bartlow (6-0, 195) has explosive targets, too, none more so than junior wide receiver Calvin Connors (5-9, 175), who averages eight catches per game, is one of the best return men in the NAIA (he had over 200 return yards against the Lights last year) and is one of the fastest players in the Frontier. A veteran offensive line has also helped EOU’s offense churn out 438 yards and 28 points per outing.

Northern will counter with a defense that has been great at times this season. The Lights lead the league in rushing yards allowed and have also been outstanding at pressuring the quarterback. Of course, that comes as no surprise with the likes of Tyler Craig, Pat Barnett and Jordan Brusio up front, and with Garet Fowler having a monster season, too. But linebackers Alec Wagner and David N’Guessa have also been stellar thus far, and if Northern’s secondary, led by Logan Sprouse’ two interceptions, can rise to the occasion, then EOU’s offense will have a big challenge ahead of it Saturday night.

Of course, the Lights also need to find some consistency on offense, too. They had a breakout game against Carroll, but are still averaging just over 16 points per game and are last in the league in every offensive category. EOU’s odd defense, led by linemen Kyle Lanoue (6-1, 270) and Dalton Morgan (6-2, 250), as well as the Frontier’s leading tackler in linebacker Michael Arenas (5-11, 210), will also be keying on stopping MSU-N star Zach McKinley, who has over 4,000 yards rushing in his brilliant career.

So a big challenge will fall on the Lights’ passing game to loosen things up for McKinley and steadily growing sophomore Jett Robertson. Northern lists transfer Caleb McLaren as this week’s starter at quarterback, but whoever’s taking the snaps, the Lights must make sure wide receivers Mario Gobbato, Sam Mix and Mike Cocke get the ball in space, and they must utilize the talents of standout tight end Kagen Khameneh, who is as effective as there is at the position in the Frontier.

But perhaps a bigger factor in Saturday night’s game will be, as Christensen mentioned earlier, the Lights ability to possess and take care of the football. Despite a strong running game, Northern is seventh in the Frontier in time of possession. The Lights have also turned the ball over nine times thus far, and against an explosive EOU offense, that can’t happen Saturday night.

And those are the details Christensen has had his team focused on during the bye week, and they’re the things he believes, if done right, will help them find success against the Mounties.

“We still have to realize we have to do things right every single week, it can’t be back and forth,” Christensen said. “So we’ve worked hard and talked about our focus and our mentality all during the break. We’ve seen it, when we pay attention to detail and we do what we’re supposed to, we have had success in all three phases, and that’s what we’re looking to do Saturday night.”

And there’s no doubt, Saturday night is a big night for the Lights. Not only will be it a rare night game with an enthusiastic crowd, but it’s also a chance for Northern to take another big step forward in the process that has been building for the last two seasons.

“I haven’t played in a night game really in like three years,” Barnett said. “Night games in high school were the best. So I’m excited. Eastern Oregon is a very good team, and we’re a very good team also. So it should be exciting. It should be a great crowd and a great atmosphere.”

Saturday night’s game between Northern and Eastern Oregon kicks off at 6 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium. The Lights go back on the road next Saturday for a rematch with the Rocky Mountain College Battlin Bears in Billings.

MSU-Northern Lights (1-3, 1-3) vs No. 16 Eastern Oregon Mounties (2-2, 2-2)

Saturday, 6 p.m.

Blue Pony Stadium

Streaming: http://www.msun.edu/athletics

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

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