Mounties stop the Lights after dark

Community Stadium has been a tough place to play for the Montana State University-Northern Lights over the years. And it continued to be Saturday night.

On Eastern Oregon’s homecoming night in LaGrande, Oregon, the Lights dropped the Frontier Conference road affair 41-12. The loss dropped Northern to 0-5 in conference play, while the Mounties beat the Lights for the fifth straight season, improving to 2-3 in the conference standings.

The game was Northern’s second straight out-of-state road trip, but after beating Mayville State last week, via a 19-point first quarter, the Lights didn’t get off to the same kind of start against the Mounties.

Already leading 7-0, EOU quarterback Kai Quinn broke off a 70-yard touchdown run, which put the Mounties ahead 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Lights showed some moxie in the second, as Tommy Langley booted a 31-yard field goal, and Northern tacked on a safety to make the score 14-5 at the half.

But, that was as close as MSU-N would get as EOU scored on two straight possessions to start the third period, building its lead to 27-5. Northern answered with a Tommy Wilson touchdown pass to Fotios Jordanoglou to make the score 27-12, but, EOU’s rushing attack proved too much for the Lights, and back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth stanza salted the win away for the Mounties.

The Mounties, who had struggled offensively so far this season, rushed for 235 yards, with Quinn leading the way 95 yards on eight carries. Northern’s defense did hold EOU to just 215 yards through the air, and star Calvin Connors was held in check for most of the night. Dylan Kelly had nine tackles for the Lights, while Garet Fowler and Dequincy Bergen each had eight.

Offensively, the Lights moved the ball, but three turnovers proved costly. B.J. Peters led the Lights with 63 yards rushing, while Wilson threw for 152 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Donovan Garner had four catches, while 11 different Lights caught a pass in the contest.

Northern is now 1-5 overall, and will return home to begin the back end of its 2017 schedule. The Lights host Rocky Mountain College this Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium.

Eastern Oregon 41, Lights 12

MSU-Northern 0 5 7 0 - 12

Eastern Oregon 14 0 13 14 - 41

First Quarter

EOU: Victor Dias 13 run (Nathan Harden kick)

EOU: Kai Quinn 70 run (Nathan Harden kick)

Second Quarter

MSU-N: FG Tommy Langley 31

MSU-N: safety

Third Quarter

EOU: Alonso Mendoza 1 run (kick failed)

EOU: John Lesser 3 run (Nathan Harden kick)

MSU-N:  Fotois Jordanoglou 21 pass from Tommy Wilson (Tommy Langley kick)

Fourth Quarter

EOU: John Lesser 1 run (Nathan Harden kick)

EOU: Josh Finley 9 run (Nathan Harden kick)

MSU-N EOU

First Downs 16 17

Rushing 138 235

Passing 21-39-2 19-31-0

Total Offense 290 450

Possession 29:32 30:28

Individual

RUSHING – MSU-N, B.J. Peters 17-63, Jace Koester 5-41, Trey Blanchard 5-22, Tommy Wilson 10-35, Dylan Cook 1-1; EOU, Kai Quinn 8-95, Victor Dias 5-81, John Lesser 14-60, Alonso Mendoza 5-18, Brendan Kelly 1-9, Josh Finley 1-9, Saige Wilkerson 1-6, Calvin Connors 2-0.

PASSING – MSU-N, Tommy Wilson 21-39-152-1-2; EOU, Kai Quinn 19-31-215-0-0.

RECEIVING – MSU-N, Donovan Garner 4-36, Fotios Jordanoglou 1-21, Kitrell Willingham 2-21, Seth Roemmele 1-16, Sam Mix 1-13, Beau Wilhelm 2-13, Jess Krahn 3-8, Bryce Bumgardner 1-6, Kagen Kahmeneh 1-6, Caymus Thomas 2-4, Marvin Williams 1-2; EOU, Calvin Connors 4-47, John Lesser 1-33, Nico Chavez 4-22, Brenden Kelly 1-21, Alec Yangos 1-19, Alonso Mendoza 2-18, Victor Dias 1-14, Connor Falk 2-14, T.J. Hancock 1-13, Gabe Giacci 1-8, Phoenix Millhollen 1-6.

TACKLES – MSU-N, Dylan Kelly 9, Garet Fowler 8, Dequincy Bergen 8, Steven Fernandez 8, Devariej Criss 6, Josh Wright 6; EOU, Michael Arenas 11, Colin Deymarin 11, Zach Jacobs 11, Zach Lacey 6.

Lights are 0-5 in Frontier, 1-5 overall; Next Up: vs RMC

Saturday

Frontier Conference Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Southern Oregon 5-0 5-0

Montana Tech 4-1 4-1

UM-Western 3-2 3-3

Rocky Mountain 3-2 3-3

Eastern Oregon 2-3 2-3

College of Idaho 2-3 2-4

Carroll College 1-4 1-4

MSU-Northern 0-5 1-5

Saturday

Eastern Oregon 41, MSU-Northern 12

UM-Western 42, Montana Tech 35

College of Idaho 21, Carroll College 6

Oct. 14

MSU-Northern vs Rocky Mountain

Montana Tech at Carroll College

UM-Western at College of Idaho

Southern Oregon at Eastern Oregon

Oct. 21

MSU-Northern at Montana Tech

College of Idaho at Southern Oregon

Carroll College at Rocky Mountain

Eastern Oregon at UM-Western