Lights open camp with a singular focus

The recent past has not been kind to the Montana State University-Northern football team. But on the second day of the Lights' 2017 fall camp, the Lights clearly have no interest in the past.

"Our focus right to now is to be 1-0," Northern linebacker and senior captain Garet Fowler said after Tuesday morning's practice. "The past is the past, the future is the future. We control the present. So right now, we're out here to compete and we're out here working every day to be 1-0 against Rocky (Mountain College)."

Being 1-0 every week has always been the focus of now third-year head coach Aaron Christensen. He's preached that to his players since the day he stepped foot on Northern's campus. And, with a new fall camp just underway, things haven't changed.

Christensen was excited by the progress his team made toward the end of last season, and was even more excited with what he saw from the Lights during spring ball a little over three months ago. And now, he just wants his young team to stay on that course.

"I think right now, it's just continuing the momentum we built in the spring," Christensen said. "This first week, it's about getting the older guys back into the rhythm, and getting the new guys acclimated and into the swing of things. Especially these first couple days, we're not doing a lot of hitting. So it's really just about getting back into the swing of things and learning how we do things.

"But ultimately, our goal is to be 1-0 every week," he continued. "We want to see these guys progress and get better every day and every week."

Getting better may be hard to judge a mere two days into camp. Monday and Tuesday, the Lights ran through position drills, technique drills and fundamentals for much of the morning practices, followed by walk-throughs in the afternoon. MSU-N will then go into shell drills for much of Wednesday morning, before going full pads for the rest of the week. At that point, the Lights will start mixing in live hitting, 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 as they build toward the end of the first of two weeks of fall two-a-days.

But while drills, scrimmaging and hitting is all part of preparing for their season-opener at RMC Sept. 2, attitude, dedication and work ethic is also a big part of the preparation as well.

The Lights had a big graduating class a year ago, so leaders like Fowler are making sure the mind-set is right each day - and that it doesn't dwindle as the grind of fall camp marches on.

"We have to have the same mind-set as we had on day one," Fowler said. "We can't get any more tired, we have to be as happy as day one, excited as day one. We just have to keep the tempo and the energy high every single day. And we have to keep it that way all the way through two-a-days.

"We also have to come out and compete every single day," he continued. "If we have that great effort every day, and that great attitude every day, and we compete every single day, that will lead us to that 1-0."

And ultimately, that's where the Lights are looking to go. They're not looking ahead to their home-opener Sept. 9 against powerhouse Montana Tech, or where they might be in October, or November. They're also not looking back at where they've been either. Instead, they're focused on being as ready as they can possibly be to play at Herb Klindt Field Sept. 2 in Billings.

The Lights will continue the first week of fall camp with practices at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Northern opens the season Sept. 2 at Rocky Mountain College. For more on the Lights' fall camp, see Thursday's Havre Daily News.