Lights look to finish spring with a win over EOU

After less than a month of play, the Montana State University-Northern football spring season is already coming to an end. While the season had been shortened to four games because of other schools dropping out because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin is happy to have gotten the opportunity to compete this spring.

"This season's been unprecedented and I think everybody knows that," Rolin said. "It's been a blessing really to have the opportunity to compete this spring and have our guys continue to grow and get better as a football team and that's why we did it."

In this shortened season, the Lights have lost their first three games and now only have one more chance for a win when they play Eastern Oregon this Saturday at 1 p.m. at MSU-N's new on-campus stadium. Even though the Lights are winless so far this season, Rolin believes his team can match up with the Mountaineers if they execute.

"There's some things we can take advantage of in both the run and the pass game," Rolin said. "Personnel wise, I think we match up fine. We just got to go out and execute and finish."

The leader of the Lights' offense will not be determined until game time, but it will either be redshirt sophomore Brenden Medina or redshirt freshman Oakley Kopp. Medina started the season opener against the College of Idaho and played relief at Carroll College. He has completed 55.8 percent of his passes for 325 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Kopp started the last two games against Carroll and Rocky Mountain College, where he completed 40.7 percent of his passes for 100 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. He is also a threat to run the ball with 86 rushing yards on 5.4 yards a carry. Whoever is tasked with leading the Light's offense, he will have to be able to finish in the red zone.

"We got to take advantage of our opportunities down at the goal-line," Rolin said. "We moved the ball off of explosive plays but we've got to move the chains on third down and we got to finish."

Eastern Oregon comes into the game with a 2-1 record and are coming off their only loss against College of Idaho. The Mountaineers' offense is led by quarterback Kai Quinn. He leads the Frontier Conference with six passing touchdowns and is second in the conference with 682 passing yards this season. He is also efficient as a thrower as he completes 63.2 percent of his passes and has only thrown one interception.

Quinn is also dynamic on the ground as he is fourth in the conference with 183 rushing yards on 4.5 yards per carry. The Lights will also need to focus on slowing down running back John Lesser, who is fifth in the conference with 168 rushing yards.

"The quarterback is obviously the strength of their offense and their team really," Rolin said. "He makes a lot of plays and they got some good skill players."

If the Lights are going to limit Eastern Oregon's offense, they will need linebacker Dylan Wampler to continue his strong season as he is first in the conference averaging 12.3 tackles a game. Even if MSU-N's defense has a good game Saturday, they will need their offense to overcome the Mountaineers' defense. Eastern Oregon linebacker Zak Donato is third in the conference averaging 8.3 tackles a game. Rolin also mentioned linebacker Chase Van Wyck as a player the Lights will need to look out for Saturday.

"They're pretty good at the linebacking core," Rolin said. "They're a disciplined team and well coached and physical, and so we're going to have to match that physicality, match that discipline and out execute them."

The Lights nearly broke through last week against Rocky Mountain when they led 21-7 at halftime. Unfortunately, they could not hold on and lost 24-21. If they are going to pull through for the win in their last chance this season, the Lights will need to be consistent.

"It's going to come down to us blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, just doing our job and being consistent," Rolin said.

"We play our game and execute our assignments and do our job, then we're going to win the football game. The score will take care of itself," he said.

MSU-N and Eastern Oregon will kick off Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lights Stadium.

ONE MORE TRY

MSU-Northern Lights (0-3) vs #21 Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (2-1)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Lights Stadium

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