Game Day Notebook: Northern D was tough to run on

Montana State University-Northern head coach Andrew Rolin doesn't believe in moral victories. So after Saturday's 38-10 Frontier Conference loss to Montana Western in the Lights' home-opener, he wasn't really in the mood to look for them.

However, Northern certainly could find bright spots in the loss to the Bulldogs, and one of the biggest and brightest is Northern's run defense through three games this season.

Against the Bulldogs, Northern allowed just 63 yards on 27 Western carries. To put it into perspective, the Dawgs, who will certainly move up in the new NAIA Coaches Poll, ran for 138 yards on Carroll College last week, and on top of that, Western starting tailback Kylar Prante rushed for over 700 yards a year ago, including 87 and 77 yards in two games against the Lights last season.

But it isn't just the Bulldogs who were stymied by Northern's run defense.

In their season-opener, the Lights held Arizona Christian to just 24 yards on the ground, and while the Lights found themselves in a shoot out at Rocky Mountain College last week, Northern was pretty stout against the Battlin' Bears ground game, too.

Yes, after Saturday's stuffing of the Western ground game, it's obvious Northern has gotten much better against the run.

In 2018, the Lights gave up 248.8 yards per game, but after Saturday's showing against the Dawgs, the Lights are now allowing just 74 yards rushing per outing through three games, and they owe a lot of it to a much-more seasoned defense.

Defensive tackles Justin Pfeifer and Trendae Umi-Tuatoto'o are having strong starts to their second season starting on the inside for the Lights, while middle linebacker Jaren Maki is taking the role of tackling machine for the Lights. And those are just a few of the key players back for Northern who have clearly matured, clearly grown, and clearly gotten better.

So, while the Lights aren't looking for moral victories, Saturday's game did show that it's going to get tougher and tougher to run on these Lights as the season goes on.

Catching Up

Neither the Lights or the Bulldogs had much success on the ground Saturday, but the game was certainly a showcase for wide receivers.

The Bulldogs threw for 355 yards against the Lights, and they have a trio of receivers who showed their skills. On the outside, Nate Simkins and Walker McKitrick made plenty of timely catches up the sidelines. And in the slot, it was freshman Trey Mounts, who played in Blue Pony Stadium when he was a Belgrade Panther, showed his speed with two screen passes for scores and 160 yards on just five catches.

Northern receivers had their moments, too, and gave Lights fans plenty of reason to shine.

While everybody knows about star wide receiver Bryce Bumgardner, who had a couple of key grabs, as well as Marvin Williams Jr., who is in his third year of starting and was spectacular on Saturday, Damari Caul-Davis introduced himself to the MSU-N faithful with five catches, 47 yards and a touchdown, while former Great Falls standout Jake Horner caught his first career TD as a Light. Tight end Jared Eisenbarth also got into the act with tough catches, as well, and Jett Robertson was really good catching balls out of the backfield.

In other words, the Lights and Bulldogs have a lot of explosiveness at wide receiver.

Taking a Look

Did anyone ever think there would be an NFL scout inside Blue Pony Stadium? Probably not.

But, Saturday, it actually happened, and he wasn't just any old NFL scout.

Glenn Schembechler, the son of the late Michigan Hall of Fame Coach Bo Schembechler is a top scout for the Oakland Raiders, and he was stalking the sidelines Saturday.

Word has it Schembechler was scouting two players in Saturday's game. One was star Montana Western linebacker Jason Ferris, who had seven tackles Saturday, and is the reigning Frontier Defensive Player of the Year.

The other player Schembechler was eyeing was MSU-Northern senior center Darius Alexander-Jones. The stout Northern offensive lineman is an outstanding prospect for the NAIA level, and is the heart and soul of the Northern offensive line.

"He's one of the best offensive linemen in the league," Andrew Rolin said of Alexander-Jones earlier this fall. "He's a really good football player and he's going to have a big season."

No matter who Schembechler was eyeing Saturday, and no matter what his notes said at the end of the game, it was pretty cool to see some NFL brass in Blue Pony Stadium.