Frontier Notebook: Jett Robertson named Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week

The Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears and Montana State University-Northern Lights opened the 2018 season with thrilling victories on their home fields. So it's only fitting that the Bears and Lights next play each other.

Rocky will come to Blue Pony Stadium Saturday as the 20th-ranked team in the NAIA and fresh off a 19-0 shutout win over Carroll College last Thursday.

A first look at the Bears would suggest they are every bit as good as their ranking says. A loaded defense led by Ryder Rice, four returning starting linebackers and defensive back Keenan Fagan, who led the Frontier Conference in interceptions last season, and he's already got one in one game this season.

Rocky also comes to Havre with not one, not two, but three capable quarterbacks. Senior Jacob Bakken, sophomore Drew Korf and transfer Nate Dick all played in last week's win over Carroll, and that fact makes the Bears even harder to defend.

Meanwhile the Lights are shining after racking up 600 yards of offense in their 49-20 victory over Mayville State last Saturday. Northern's win gave Andrew Rolin a victory in his very first game as a Light, while running back Jett Robertson tied a school record for most touchdowns in a game with four.

It was certainly a great debut for the Lights, and it also makes Saturday's game with Rocky a big one. The Lights haven't beaten Rocky since a 2014 win in Billings, and it's been even longer since they've beaten the Bears in Havre. Last season, in the Frontier's opening weekend, Northern twice had leads on the Bears in the fourth quarter, but Sam Sparks rescued Rocky with a late, 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

So there's no denying how big Saturday's game will be because both Rocky and Northern are confident and have a lot of buzz surrounding their programs right now. Expect an exciting game, and a capacity crowd at Blue Pony Stadium.

Surprise

The Lights and Bears aren't the only 1-0 teams in the Frontier right now. Last Saturday night in LaGrande, Ore., Eastern Oregon opened the Frontier slate with a 24-21 win over College Of Idaho. The Yotes came into the season-opener picked third in the Frontier and were receiving votes in the NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll. But their defense had no answer for EOU sophomore QB Kai Quinn who threw for 327 yards, while the Mounties picked off two passes and got a key fourth-down stop on defense with just under two minutes left in the game.

The biggest shocker of the game wasn't EOU's win on its brand new turf at Community Stadium, though, it was how the EOU defense stymied the Yotes on the ground. The top rushing team in the Frontier the last two seasons, the Yotes were held to just 78 yards rushing for the contest.

Full Week

This Labor Day Weekend marks the start of the Frontier season in its entirety.

And with EOU off to a 1-0 start, the Game of the Week might just be in LaGrande, where the Mounties will look to make it 2-0 when they host arch rival Southern Oregon. It's the season debut for the Raiders, and they're breaking in a new quarterback, so it, will be interesting to see if the EOU defense can be as stingy against the Raider passing attack, as it was against the C of I running game.

Montana Tech and UM-Western also make their season debuts this weekend. The Orediggers travel to C of I, where they ended the season a year ago with a horrific loss to the Yotes. UM-Western goes to Helena to face a reeling Carroll squad that will try and rebound from its dismal offensive performance at Rocky last Thursday night. Both Tech and Western are also breaking in new starting quarterbacks, and doing that on the road in the Frontier is never easy.

Frontier Honors

Jett Robertson's huge season debut earned him Northern's first Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor in several years.

Robertson is a 5-foot-11, 195-pound junior running back from Glendale, Ariz. In Northern's opening season non-conference win over Mayville State (N.D.). Robertson rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries. He also caught five passes for 82 yards and one touchdown. Also nominated, and listed in alphabetical order, are Victor Dias of Eastern Oregon and Lucas Overton of Rocky Mountain College.

Rocky's Ryder Rice was named Defensive Player of the Week. Rice had four sacks in RMC's win over Carroll College last Thursday. MSU-N's Joe Fehr was also nominated.

EOU's Nathan Harden was named Special Team's Player of the Week. In the Mounties' 24-21 win over C of I last Saturday, Harden made a field goal, was perfect on PATs and had five punts for 291 yards. Northern's Diego Morales was also nominated.