Frontier Notebook: As expected, Frontier offenses a little rusty

How is the 2021 spring football season going thus far? Well, needless to say, the rust is obvious.

Most teams haven't played in 15 months, and after two weeks of Frontier Conference games, it shows on the offensive side of the ball.

Last Saturday saw Eastern Oregon shut out Carroll College 28-0, while College of Idaho beat Rocky Mountain College 10-3. The week prior, C of I scored 26 points against Northern, while Carroll beat Rocky 14-13.

So, with two weeks of games in, the league isn't setting the world on fire offensively, but that should have been expected after offenses hadn't played for over a year and spring camps only opened about three weeks ago.

There are also four weeks left in the spring season, and teams will look to pick up some momentum, especially on the offensive side of the ball, where the league average right now is just 15 points per game, and that's helped by EOU's 28 points.

This weekend's matchups will see Carroll host Northern and EOU travel to RMC.

Two to go

There are just two weeks left in the volleyball regular season, and things are really heating up, especially after Northern upset Carroll last Saturday in Havre, as the Skylights try to gain ground in the league, which is being led by Providence at 14-2 and RMC at 12-3. Carroll is a distant third at 9-7.

Speaking of leaders, with two weeks to go, Montana Tech's Karina Mikkelson leads the league in hitting percentage, while Providence' Sadie Lott is tops with 248 kills. Northern's Rylee Burmester is ninth in the Frontier with 173 kills. UP's Cydney Finberg-Roberts is first in assists with 783, while MSU-N freshman Emily Feller is fifth with 485.

Carroll's Julia Carr leads the league with 21 aces, while Feller tops the Skylights with 14.

Defensively, UP's Sacha Legros leads the league in digs with 483, while Shania Neubauer leads Northern with 247, and Carroll's Taelyr Krantz is first in blocks with 69, while Tammy Maddock leads Northern with 24.

Real Spring is Sprung

Frontier's true spring sports are also getting underway with track and field and golf meets already taking place.

Rodeo will soon heat up, too, as the Big Sky Region spring season starts at Montana State April 8-10. That's where the Northern rodeo teams' season begins, while the MSU-N golf team plays a match at Providence and travels to the Frontier Conference Championships April 19 in Eagle, Idaho.