Lights humbled by Rocky Mountain College

The Montana State University-Northern football team hosted No. 20 Rocky Mountain College Saturday, hoping to replicate the success it had over Mayville State.

However, the Battlin' Bears had a much different idea and routed the Lights 51-7 at Blue Pony Stadium, showing once again why everyone sees them as one of the top teams in the Frontier Conference.

The scoring came early and often for the Bears, who grabbed an early 7-0 lead on a Sam Sparks touchdown run. Shortly after, Northern drove the ball deep into Rocky territory, but the drive stalled when it failed to convert a fourth-and-two. It would be the first of four trips to the red zone that yielded zero points.

Following the turnover on downs, Rocky drove 86 yards in 10 plays and got on the board again, on a one-yard touchdown run by former Montana Grizzly Cody McCombs with 2:29 left in the first quarter. Before the end of the opening stanza, Rocky added to its lead, blocking a punt, which led to a safety, making it 16-0 after one.

"I don't want to take anything away from Coach Petrino and his team," Northern head coach Andrew Rolin said. "But we shot ourselves in the foot today. We had chances offensively and we didn't execute. We talk all the time about making the game-changing plays and we didn't today. Rocky did."

In the second quarter, the Lights offense continued to stall and the other side, Rocky drove down the field with machine-like efficiency, putting together two more touchdown drives of 80 and 82 yards to go up 24-0. At that point, things were looking bleak for the Lights but a 28-yard completion from Tommy Wilson to Jared Eisenbarth had them in scoring position again, before a Jett Robertson fumble ended the drive. The Bears converted the turnover into points and two late touchdown passes from Rocky quarterback Andrew Bakken to Lucas Overton made it 38-0 at intermission.

In the second half, Northern again squandered a red-zone opportunity early in the fourth quarter, before finally getting on the board with just a few minutes left as Wilson connected with Marvin Williams on a 21-yard scoring strike. It was the first points scored on Rocky this season, which shutout Carroll College last week and held the Lights scoreless for three quarters Saturday.

Bakken was stellar in the win for the Bears, completing 19-of-25 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Overton also had a big day, catching six passes for 80 yards and two scores, while Sparks contributed with 10 runs for 125 yards and a touchdown.

Jett Robertson was one of the few bright spots for MSU-N, carrying the ball 24 times for 96 yards, in addition to one catch for 17, which gave him 113 yards of total offense for the day. Wilson was 16-of-30 for 125 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked once and threw zero interceptions. Rocky finished the game with 564 yards of total offense compared to just 227 for the Lights.

"We have to be better," Rolin said. "And we will be. I will make sure of it."

For full coverage of the game, check out Tuesday's edition of the Havre Daily News.