Lights hope lightning does strike twice

The first road trip of the new season sure went well for the Montana State University-Northern Lights. After all, the Lights flew down to Phoenix and came home a day later with a 20-14, season-opening victory.

Needless to say, the Lights were feeling very good about themselves on Sunday morning, and rightfully so.

And yet, by Monday afternoon, Northern (1-0, 0-0) quickly, and abruptly, put everything that happened in the win over Arizona Christian in the past, and the reason why is because the Lights knew they had to turn their attention to the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears, and, 10 weeks of Frontier Conference football ahead.

"We're excited about what we accomplsihed in Phoenix," Northern head coach Andrew Rolin said. "We feel really good about that game. But, we are very aware of who we're facing this week. We have the defending conference champions at their place, so that's our focus now. We know who we're playing this week."

The Lights and the No. 23 Bears (1-0, 0-0) will meet Saturday at Herb Klindt Field in Billings, and it's not just the Lights who are riding high.

No, RMC pulled off a big win of its own last week, when freshman kicker Wyatt Brusven naled a 28-yard, game-winning field goal to life RMC to a 23-21 win over rival Dickinson State.

It was a big win for the Bears, who won the Frontier title a season ago, went to the playoffs, then got picked to finish fourth this season, after graduation hit the team hard, and head coach Jason Petrino left for a job at Southern Illinois. And while it's true RMC lost stars like reigning Frontier MVP and three-year starting QB Jacob Bakken, tight end Darneail Jenkins, offensive linemen Troy Bacon and a slew of stars on defense, Rolin said, he expects nothing less than a stout and talented RMC squad, led by new head coach Chris Strutzreim, on Saturday.

"I know they're (Bears) a very talented football team," Rolin said. "They have good players on both sides of the ball. And they're going to be very well coached. There's a reason they won the league title last year, and why they're ranked right now. They looked very strong against Dickinson State. So, we know going down there, it will be a big challenge for us."

Despite the losses, Rocky is talented. Junior Nate Dick won the starting quarterback job and threw a pair of touchdown passes in last Thursday's win. Junior Sam Sparks made his starting debut by rushing for 98 yards against the Blue Hawks, while Josh Kraft and Lucas Overton are talented wide receivers. Defensively, the Bears allowed DSU less than 300 yards of offense, and cornerback Jimmy Henderson came away with Frontier Player of the Week honors.

"We have to contain Nate Dick," Rolin said. "He's a very talented football player. We know they have an offense that can be explosive, so our defense needs to be well prepared. But more importantly, we have to control the things we can control. We need to move the ball and be explosive on offense, we need to be really good when we get in the redzone, and we need to be gap-sound and very fundamental defensively. In other words, we need to do our jobs, and execute at a high level."

The Lights did that at Arizona Christian.

Red-shirt freshman Brendan Medina was outstanding in his quarterback debut, while wide receivers Bryce Bumgardner and Damari Davis had huge games. Jett Robertson and Andrez Trahan-Proctor were strong in the running game, while Northern's defense did its job, holding the Firestorm to just 25 yards rushing. Add to that a strong debut by kicker Troy Dayak, and Northern's 2019 season couldn't have started much better.

Now however, the Lights are focused on Rocky. They're confident, no doubt, but, the mind-set has shifted, and what they're after this week is, to be 1-0 in the Frontier Conference.

"That's always our mentality," Rolin said. "We try to be 1-0 each week. This week, that's what we're trying to do against a very good Rocky team.

"It's going to be a challenge, we understand that," he continued. "But our guys are confident, and they should be. They believe they can win every week now. I beleive it. It's all a matter of execution, and if we execute like we did in Arizona, we'll be just fine."

Saturday's Frontier opener between the Lights and Battlin' Bears kicks off at 1 p.m. in Billings. The Lights make their home debut Sept. 14 against the Montana Western Bulldogs.

Frontier Opener

MSU-Northern Lights (1-0, 0-0) at No. 23 RMC

Battlin' Bears

(1-0, 0-0)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

in Billings

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