Game Day Notebook: Plenty of young Lights on the rise

The Montana State University-Northern Lights weren't able to give their seniors the gift they so badly wanted to give them - a win in their final game of their careers. No, Saturday inside Blue Pony Stadium, red-hot College of Idaho denied the Lights that.

So with the 59-28 loss to the Yotes Saturday, Northern said goodbye to a senior class that should be applauded for their courage and their dedication (more on that below).

Still, one thing that also showed through during Saturday's game was just how young the Lights really are and how much bright talent they have coming up.

Leading that bright talent is sophomore wide receiver Bryce Bumgardner, who quietly put together an outstanding season in which he had 65 catches and averaged over 80 yards receiving per game. But Bumgardner was anything but quiet against the Yotes. He tallied 141 yards receiving and had a series of spectacular grabs, including two for touchdowns. Bumgardner's season is easily worthy of All-Conference consideration and, from here, he's only going to get better.

Bumgardner wasn't alone in the Lights' young talent showing off Saturday either. Red-shirt freshman defensive tackle Justin Pfeifer had a breakout game with nine tackles and a tackle for loss, while sophomore safety Caymus Thomas was all over the field for a Northern defense that starts nine freshmen and sophomores. Sophomore linebacker Jaren Maki had seven tackles and a sack Saturday, as well, and he wound up leading the Lights this season in total tackles.

Back on offense, freshman running back Samuel Braboy has been a bigger part of the Northern offense the last few weeks, and he had a couple of really strong runs against the Yotes. The Lights return starter Jett Robertson next season, and he'll lead the way, but Braboy certainly looks the part of the next great Northern running back. Add in Northern starting true freshman David Evans at tight end Saturday, and true freshman Keagan Stroop catching his first career touchdown, and it was clear the Lights have a lot of exciting talent coming back next fall.

"We were going to be a young team from the start this season," Northern head coach Andrew Rolin said. "I knew that right away. And with some of the injuries we've had throughout the year, we got even younger. So a lot of young guys, guys in our first recruiting class, stepped up and played important roles for us this season, and they did a great job. We have a lot of young talent on this roster, and we'll continue to develop those guys and recruit more guys to come in help get this program to where I want it to be."

Howling

The Yotes were picked to finish fourth this season in the Frontier Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. But no one would have thought that possible back on Sept. 22 when a 42-41 loss to Rocky Mountain College was their fifth in a row to start the season.

However, by Saturday's end, the Yotes rode out of Havre with their sixth straight victory, and low and behold, they will finish in a four-way tie for second place in the Frontier. The win over the Lights secured their third straight winning season, as well, and, it was noted before the start of Saturday's finale against the Lights, C of I doesn't have a single starter on either side of the ball listed as a senior.

"That's a really good football team," Rolin said of the Yotes. "They came in here playing really well, and they played very well today."

Moving Forward

The Lights did all they could the last two weeks to secure a Frontier Conference win before the curtains closed on 2018. Last week at Southern Oregon, Northern jumped out to an early lead on the Raiders, and in their home finale Saturday, the Lights outscored the Yotes 21-17 in the final 30 minutes.

But in the end, it wasn't to be, and now, Northern will go into the offseason still determined to snap a streak that's been building for some time. With Saturday's loss to C of I, the Lights have now lost 27 straight Frontier Conference games. Northern's last conference win came Sept. 17, 2016, when the Lights toppled Carroll College in Havre.

So with a bevy of young talent returning, and now one full year into Rolin's tenure at Northern, the Lights will certainly work hard to put that streak to rest next season.

"Effort, heart and character are not this team's issues right now," Rolin said. "This team fought every step of the way this season. They never quit, they never gave in. You saw that in the second half today. Right now, it's still about execution for us, and it's about growing, getting better and learning how to win. We need to get bigger, faster, stronger, we need to get deeper at every position. We need to have a great winter conditioning, we're going to have a great recruiting class, and then we need to have a great spring. It's all of the above. And we will get there. This program will get to where we want to be. I believe that. I know it."