Northern looking to Light up Phoenix

With teams like Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho, the Montana State University-Northern Lights are already used to some long road trips when it comes to Frontier Conference football.

But, the Lights have never gone this far away from home before - and especially not for a season-opening game.

With optimism high, the Lights are about to embark on their first-ever season-opener outside of the state of Montana when they play at Arizona Christian University Saturday night in Phoenix. And while it's a long plane ride south, second-year Northern head coach Andrew Rolin couldn't be more excited, and couldn't think of a better way to kick off the 2019 season.

"This is a game we felt we really needed to play," Rolin said. "I think you really have to play these types of games. Our goal is to compete for the Frontier Conference championship. And we know how tough our conference is. So, there's no better way to prepare yourself for that than to go out and play a team like Arizona Christian. It's a big challenge, but it's a great way to test ourselves before conference play. So I'm really looking forward to it."

Rolin has reason to be excited. With the return of so much talent on offense, led by senior running back Jett Robertson, and star wide receivers Bryce Bumgardner and Marvin Williams, among others, and a revamped defense, with stars in the making like Jaren Maki, Joe Fehr and Justin Pfeifer, the Lights already feel like they've improved so much from last year's 1-10 campaign, which saw their one win come in their season-opener against Mayville State.

"We're a different team right now," Rolin said. "It just feels different. You can feel it, you can see it in the way we work and prepare. You're always optimistic at the start of a new season. You're always excited. But I really do think we're a very different football team and that's exciting."

Optimism is a good thing, and the Lights were certainly optimistic after beating Mayville in Rolin's Northern debut last August. But, ACU is a much different opening-game opponent.

The Firestorm, who only started football six years ago, went 8-3 last season, finished 6-3 in the Sooner Athletic Conference and narrowly missed out on an NAIA playoff berth.

"They've really established themselves as a program now," Rolin said. "They're a very good football team. They won eight games last year. They lost some key guys but they also have a lot of key guys back. So we know they're going to be a good first challenge for us."

ACU will challenge Northern, especially MSU-N's, defense. The Firestorm averaged 31 points and 421 yards of offense per game in 2018. They were led by returning starting running back Aiden Quinn, who rushed for 838 yards last fall. They did lose starting quarterback Adam Abbatacola to graduation, so, like Northern with red-shirt freshman QB Brendan Medina, the Firestorm will be debuting a new signal-caller Saturday night.

Defensively, ACU finished in the middle of the pack in the SAC last year, allowing 31 points and 411 total yards of offense. The Firestorm was fourth in the league defending the pass and sixth in rushing defense.

Of course, last year's stats don't mean much, and Rolin said that with a brand new opponent to open the season, it isn't as much about when ACU will do, but more about what the Lights can do.

"There's always a lot of unknowns in the first game," Rolin said. "We know their schemes pretty well because they have an established coaching staff, and they do a great job. So we feel pretty well prepared for what we'll see from them. But personnel-wise, that's a little bit more difficult to know going in.

"So the bottom line is, we need to worry about how we execute," he continued. "We need to be focused on the things we can control in this game, and that's our execution and our effort. We just have to go down there and execute in all three phases and make plays."

Indeed. The Lights are going to Phoenix with the goal of starting 1-0 for the second straight season. That's the only goal Northern is focused on. And, with a full year of the Rolin era now in place, the Lights believe they can do just that.

"We're ready to play a game," Rolin said. "It's been a really good fall camp, a great camp actually. I'm really excited about where this team is at mentally. They've all bought in. They've worked really hard, and they are a tight-knit group right now. So from that standpoint, they're ready to go.

"This is an exciting game for us," he continued. "The guys are excited. It's a challenge, a great test. Arizona Christian is a very good football team. But I know our guys will be ready, and once they settle into the game, I know we're going to play very well. I'm just fired up. I can't wait to get down there and see our guys get after it."

Saturday night's season-opener between the Lights and Arizona Christian will kick off at 7 p.m. The game can be viewed by going to golightsgo.com. Arizona Christian will then come to Havre for the 2020 season-opener. Northern is also on the road next week, opening Frontier play at Rocky Mountain College.

Opener

MSU-Northern Lights (0-0, 0-0) at Arizona Christian Firestorm (0-0, 0-0)

Saturday, 7 p.m.

in Phoenix, AZ

Streaming: golightsgo.com

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

Twitter: Twitter/Havredaily