Hungry Bulldogs torch Lights in Dillon

Last week it was a sleeping Bear that woke up against the Montana State University-Northern Lights. On Saturday, it was a sleeping Dawg.

Saturday in Dillon, the Lights saw the No. 24 Montana Western Bulldogs snap their two-game Frontier Conference losing streak with a resounding 59-13 win at Vigilante Field. The defeat in Dillon dropped the Lights to 0-7 in the Frontier and 1-7 overall, while Western improved to 5-2.

The win was also a season sweep for the Bulldogs, and it came via an incredible performance by sophomore quarterback Jon Jund. Jund threw for 330 yards and six touchdowns, and rushed for 88 more and another score in a dominating display of offense.

Jund opened the scoring with two straight touchdown passes in the first quarter, but the Lights answered early in the second when true freshman Tre' Long found Bryce Bumgardner for a four-yard touchdown, the first of Long's career. That cut the Western lead to 15-7, but Jund and the Bulldogs' offense were just getting started. From there, Western scored 44 unanswered points, and the Lights didn't get on the board again until a fourth-quarter kickoff return by freshman Kyle Jacklich, who answered Western's final score of the day with a 93-yard touchdown.

Still, as exciting as Jacklich's return was, the day belonged to the Western offense. The Dawgs rolled up 540 yards of offense and 25 first downs, as opposed to 365 yards for the Lights. Northern did run the ball solidly with Jett Robertson totaling 84 yards. However, Western's defense stymied Long, who threw for 106 yards and four interceptions before full-time starter Brenden Medina came back on in relief.

The Western offense also got 130-yard receiving days from both Walker McKitrick and Nate Simkins, while Jaren Maki led the MSU-N defense with 11 tackles and Japerri Powell had two sacks. Western linebacker Jason Ferris had 17 tackles and a sack for the Bulldogs.

Northern returns home to start a two-game homestand when the Lights host Carroll College Saturday night at 7 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium. The kickoff time was moved to the evening due to Havre High's home playoff game with Lewistown Saturday afternoon.

Western 59, MSU-Northern 13

Montana Western 15 20 21 3 - 59

MSU-Northern 7 0 0 6 - 13

UMW: Nate Simkins 23 pass from Jon Lund (Mark Kharchenko kick)

UMW: Walker McKittrick 6 pass from Lund (Sean Miller run)

MSUN: Bryce Bumgardner 4 pass from Tre' Long (Hunter Riley kick)

UMW: McKittrick 11 pass from Lund (Kharchenko kick)

UMW: Simkins 22 pass from Lund (Kharchenko kick)

UMW: Simkins 5 pass from Lund (run failed)

UMW: Carson Hritsco 45 interception (Kharchenko kick)

UMW: Lund 2 run (Kharchenko kick)

UMW: Kharchenko 26 field goal

MSUN: Kyle Jacklich 58 kick-off return (kick failed)

Individual

Rushing: Northern, Jett Robertson 17-80, Hunter Riley 2-40, Cameron Taylor 8-32, Tre' Long 11-13. Western, Jon Jund 10-88, JD Ferris 8-32, Kylar Prante 6-31, Sean Miller 3-9.

Passing: Northern, Tre' Long 13-28-4-106, Brenden Medina 5-4-0-22. Western, Jon Jund 21-35-0-330, Sean Miller 2-7-0-35.

Receiving: Northern, Bryce Baumgardner 6-28, Jared Eisenbarth 3-28, Jett Robertson 2-32, Marvin Williams Jr. 2-13. Western, Walker McKitrick 7-133, Nate Simkins 7-131, Elijah Benedick 2-37, Blake Sentman 2-27.

Lights are 0-7 in Frontier, 1-7 overall; Next Up: VS Carroll

Saturday 7 p.m.

Frontier Conference Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

College of Idaho 7-0 7-0

Montana Tech 5-2 5-2

Montana Western 5-2 5-2

Carroll College 4-3 4-3

Southern Oregon 3-4 3-5

Rocky Mountain 2-5 3-5

Eastern Oregon 2-5 2-6

MSU-Northern 0-7 1-7

Saturday

Montana Western 59, MSU-Northern13

Montana Tech 23, Eastern Oregon 10

Carroll College 51, Rocky Mountain 14

College of Idaho 42, Southern Oregon 14

Saturday, Nov. 2

MSU-Northern vs Carroll College

Rocky Mountain at Montana Western

College of Idaho at Eastern Oregon

Montana Tech at Southern Oregon