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News you can use
A pair of Lights battle for a pass during a Montana State University-Northern spring practice Wednesday afternoon in Havre. The Lights will be a young team again this fall, but on Wednesday, many key veteran players made big plays for the Lights on both sides of the ball. Northern continues spring drills with another practice on Friday afternoon.
MSU-N quarterbacks warm up during Wednesday's spring practice.
Defensive backs and receivers run through drills during Northern's Wednesday practice.
The Lights runs through lineman drills Wednesday afternoon at the Northern practice fields.
The Montana State University-Northern football team is into its second week of spring workouts and after getting five practices in, head coach Aaron Christensen said his team is showing progress.
The Lights, who were back on the practice field Wednesday night, also practiced Monday after practicing three times last week at the Northern practice fields.
“It’s going well and it’s competitive,” Christensen said. “There are a lot of guys that are competing for spots. The guys have been working hard and it has been competitive on both sides of the ball, so that makes it a good practice because when you have that much competition guys can’t be comfortable. But that’s what we are trying to figure out, who are going to be the ones who play for us next year.”
One of the most exciting aspects about spring practice for Northern is getting a chance to evaluate the young players, who either played sparingly or redshirted a season ago.
“We got a lot of young guys,” Christensen said. “Part of it is that we have a really large redshirt class, so we have a lot of guys that are coming out here for the spring ball for the first time. That’s the newness to it. But it’s exciting to see new guys out there.”
While the Lights are looking for a lot of new contributors on both sides of the ball, a few veterans have stood out this week, such as senior linebacker Garet Fowler on the defensive side of the ball as well as offensive lineman Clint Willis.
“On the O-line, Clint Willis is a guy that played for us last year and he is doing well right now,” Christensen said. “Kagen Khameneh is another guy that is doing well right now. We have a couple other guys doing well along the offensive line. Then we have four quarterbacks battling and four guys that are fighting for the spot at running back.”
The quarterback competition is very much up in the air as it’s expected to be all the way through fall camp, yet Wednesday, all four quarterbacks had their moments. Tommy Wilson, the junior college transfer tossed a touchdown pass and moved the offense down the field a few different times. However, Holden Maki also led a nice drive and ripped off what would have been around a 20-yard run if it wasn’t blown dead. Bryce Missey also made some nice throws, as did Dylan Cook.
Trey Blanchard had a strong night running the ball and busted out for a couple of nice gains up the middle. Jett Robertson also continued to have a strong spring as did Khameneh, who caught a pass up the middle that also could have went for a touchdown.
The offense managed to make some plays, however, it was the defense that made more Wednesday, as the Lights nabbed three interceptions on that side of the ball. The pass rush was disruptive throughout the night and former Chinook standout Jake Norby did some good things, notching a few tackles near the line of scrimmage and getting what would have been a sack in live action.
The Lights will be back on the practice field Friday. The MSU-N spring game is set for April 15.
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