One week away: Lights getting ready for spring season opener

If all goes according to plan, by this time next Friday night, the Montana State University-Northern football team will be less than 24 hours away from opening a special, four-game spring season with that opener at the College of Idaho.

Of course, things don't always go well during the coronavirus pandemic, but the Lights have been practicing on their brand new Lights Stadium Tilleman Field in anticipation of that season-opener in Caldwell, Idaho, March 13.

Northern opened spring camp two weeks ago, and starting Monday, it will be game prep week for the Lights, as head coach Andrew Rolin gets his young team ready for back-to-back road games before playing two games at home to finish the short, but much-needed schedule.

That spring season hasn't been without its challenges either. Dates have been changed, teams have opted out, and the schedule had to be redone yet again after Montana Frontier schools Montana Tech and Montana Western opted out of the season. Northern also paused practices for a few days last week due to COVID protocols. And yet, even with all the obstacles, the Lights are now about to get ready to play a real game for the first time since they played the Yotes on the final weekend of the 2019 regular season.

"We're playing," Northern head coach Andrew Rolin said. "Our kids want to play, I want to play, we want to be a part of this spring season. We're excited about it."

No question the Lights should be excited. It's been far too long since Northern or any other Frontier program for that matter, has played a real football game. Now though, provided everything goes right, that will happen for the Lights over the next five weeks.

Northern's spring schedule starts with a trip to C of I, followed by a trip to Carroll College March 27. The Lights will have a bye March 20. Then, again, if things go to plan, the Lights will get two chances to play inside their brand new stadium.

Lights Stadium had its ribbon cutting ceremony all the way back in August, and before that the stadium came to life in the spring and summer of 2021. Though the 2020 fall season was canceled due to COVID, Northern was able to get some fall practices in on the new turf before winter hit. And for the last two weeks, the Lights have been practicing in the stadium, in anticipation of the upcoming season. Soon though, Northern will get to actually play two scheduled games in Lights Stadium with the first game set for April against Rocky Mountain College, followed by an April 10 game against Eastern Oregon.

For now though, the Lights are getting ready for the Yotes. C of I is the reigning Frontier champion and is ranked fifth in the NAIA Spring Coaches Poll. But, not only are the Lights getting ready for C of I, they're also preparing to just continue building what has been started over the last three years.

"I think the culture is in place," Rolin said as spring drills began. "And we want to continue building what has been put in place. We're building this the right way. I believe that. We're going in the right direction, and we will just continue to preach what we have from the beginning, continuous improvement through continuous effort, and that's what we'll do with this spring season, too."

The Lights will play at C of I next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Caldwell, Idaho. For much more on Northern football, see next week's Havre Daily News.