Carroll exacts revenge on Northern

The Carroll College Fighting Saints showed a month can make all the difference.

After losing to the Montana State University-Northern Lights last month at Blue Pony Stadium, the resurgent Saints exacted some revenge Saturday inside Nelson Stadium in Helena as Carroll beat up on the Lights, 49-14.

The loss dropped Northern to 1-7 in the Frontier Conference, while Carroll is now 4-4, having rebounded to win three of its last four games.

And a big difference for Carroll’s turnaround, and in Saturday’s game, is the stellar play of freshman quarterback Tanner Gustavsen, who threw for 243 yards, including a first-quarter strike to Troy Arnston, putting the Saints up 14-0 after the first 15 minutes.

Gustavsen, who is a true dual-threat quarterback, went on to throw three more TDs on the day, including three in the second period. He hit star wide receiver Connor Fohn with passes of 28 and 18 yards, and added a 30-yarder to Arnston, lifting Carroll to a commanding 35-0 lead at halftime.

“We got our butts kicked,” Northern senior running back Zach McKinley told the Helena Independent Record. “We knew Carroll was at home. We knew they were pretty sore about that loss up in Havre. They just came out and out-physicaled us on both sides of the football.”

McKinley rushed for 119 yards on 20 carries, including several long ones. But his effectiveness was limited as the Lights had to play catch-up in the passing game with such a huge deficit.

Northern did score twice on touchdown connections from Caleb McLaren to Ethan Snow in the fourth quarter. The first came on a 43-yard bomb and the second covered 30 yards. But, it was way too late for the Lights to pull off a comeback against the Saints, who also got rushing TDs from Major Ali and Henry Hill.

Offensively, Carroll also flipped the script on the Lights, out-gaining Northern 427-266. Carroll also had 24 first downs to just 15 for the Lights, while the Saints rushed for 184 yards. Northern held Carroll to under 70 yards in the first meeting. The Lights did get eight tackles and a sack from David N’Guessa, while Alec Wagner and Tyler Craig added eight stops each. Garret Fowler finished the game with a team-high nine tackles.

On the other side of the ball, McKinley led the way on 20 carries, while Snow piled up 73 yards receiving, and scored a touchdown for the second straight week. Jett Robertson also had two grabs, while McLaren threw for just 115 yards on just 10 completions, against what is returning to a dominant Saints’ defense.

“They’ve got a good D-line — one of the best in the conference,” McKinley said of Carroll. “Maybe a little underrated. They were doing a good job filling their gaps. When I’d hit one, they’d hit me right at the line or a few yards after. They’re just a sound defense.”

Northern, which has really struggled to hold teams down in three of its last four games, will have another tall task ahead of it when the Lights travel to offensive powerhouse Southern Oregon this Saturday. MSU-N then comes home to wrap up the season against College of Idaho Nov. 14.

Carroll 49, Lights 14

MSU-N 0 0 0 14 - 14

Carroll 14 21 0 14 - 49

First quarter

CC - Major Ali 1 run (Colter Hamel kick), 9:10

CC - Troy Arntson 23 pass from Tanner Gustavsen (Hamel kick), 1:51

Second quarter

CC - Connor Fohn 28 pass from Gustavsen (Hamel kick), 12:55

CC - Fohn 18 pass from Gustavsen (Hamel kick), 2:14

CC - Arntson 30 pass from Gustavsen (Hamel kick), 1:13

Fourth quarter

MSU-N - Ethan Snow 43 pass from Caleb McLaren (Tommy Langley kick), 7:50

CC - Henry Hill 3 run (Hamel kick), 2:16

MSU-N - Snow 30 pass from McLaren (Langley kick), :10

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: MSUN, Zach McKinley 20-119, Jett Robertson 3-14, Kagen Khameneh 1-10, Ethan Snow 1-6, BJ Peters 1-2, Caleb McLaren 8-0. Carroll, Major Ali 17-92, Ryan Walsh 11-51, Tanner Gustavsen 5-13, Henry Hill 4-12, Connor Fohn 2-12, Troy Arntson 1-2, Conner Poulson 1-2.

PASSING: MSUN, Caleb McLaren 10-23-1 -- 115. Carroll, Tanner Gustavsen 17-22-0 -- 243.

RECEIVING: MSUN, Snow, 2-73, Robertson 2-15, Wyatt McKinlay 2-11, Mike Cocke 2-6, McKinley 1-6, Dylan Rychtarik 1-4. Carroll, Arntson 6-106, Fohn 5-60, Walsh 2-36, Sam Stratton 2-22, Cameron Nelson 1-15, Poulson 1-4.

Frontier Conference Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Montana Tech 7-1 7-1

Eastern Oregon 6-2 6-2

UM-Western 4-4 5-4

Carroll College 4-4 4-4

Rocky Mountain 4-4 4-5

Southern Oregon 4-4 4-5

College of Idaho 2-6 3-6

MSU-Northern 1-7 1-7

Saturday

Carroll College 49, MSU-Northern 10

Eastern Oregon 48, College of Idaho 14

UM-Western 43, Southern Oregon 24

Montana Tech 62, Rocky Mountain 10

Saturday, Nov. 5

MSU-Northern at Southern Oregon

College of Idaho at Montana Tech

Rocky Mountain at Eastern Oregon

Carroll College at UM-Western