Just Short: Mountaineers 21, Lights 6

The Montana State University-Northern football team only had one more chance to win a game this season when they hosted Eastern Oregon at Lights Stadium Saturday. Through most of the game, the Lights had a chance and they entered the fourth quarter only trailing 7-0.

The Lights' defense had been solid throughout the game but their offense could not keep a drive going. That put more pressure on the defense and the tension finally snapped when Eastern Oregon scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 21-0. The Lights got a late score but ultimately fell, 21-6.

"We fought and scrapped," MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin said. "Defense played awesome again. They left it all out on the field. Offensively, we just shot ourselves in the foot."

The loss ended the Lights' season with an 0-4 record in this shortened season that was delayed to the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the spring season is over, the Lights now head into a short offseason as they play another season this fall.

"It was a season like no other," Rolin said. "We're better off for playing in the spring than not playing. We're a better football team because we played those four games."

Eastern Oregon got the opening possession of the game Saturday and had a strong drive that saw them get to the Lights' 13-yard line. However, they could not convert on third down and Zachary Cahill missed the 30-yard field goal wide left on a windy day.

Early in the second quarter, the Lights got a good drive going and advanced to the Mountaineers' 28-yard line. On fourth-and-12, the Lights forwent a long field goal attempt to go for it. However, they failed to convert when Brenden Medina's deep pass to Tyrese Rio went incomplete.

The Lights could not get much else in the first half. Even after they recovered an EOU muffed punt, they immediately went three-and-out. When the Mountaineers got the ball back, quarterback Kai Quinn threw an interception to Isaiah Paul that was returned to the EOU 24-yard line. However, the Lights gave it right back to EOU two plays later when Cannan Smith lost a fumble.

"That's the story of our offense right now," Rolin said. "We need to make plays when plays matter. We've got to be our best selves when our best selves are needed."

The Mountaineers used that turnover to kick-start their best drive of the first half. A key play on the drive came when Quinn completed a pass to Tyler Brown for 24 yards to get to the MSU-N 19-yard line. EOU eventually got to the MSU-N 4-yard line, where on second and goal, John Lesser carried the ball into the end zone to give EOU a 7-0 lead with 41 seconds left in the half.

"They just made a couple of explosive plays and that was the difference as they went down and scored," Rolin said.

The third quarter mostly saw both teams struggle to put a drive together. The best drive for either team came when the Mountaineers drove down to the Lights' 8-yard line. However, Jordan Eggers lost a fumble and the score remained 7-0 heading to the fourth quarter.

The Mountaineers opened up the fourth quarter looking to double their lead on the scoreboard. At the MSU-N 24-yard line, Quinn completed a pass down the field to Saige Wilkerson who took the ball into the endzone to make the score 14-0 with 12:15 left in the game.

After another three-and-out from the Lights, the Mountaineers went on another drive. At the MSU-N 6-yard line, Quin threw a pass to Tanner Zenke at the goal-line. Zenke bobbled the ball and the MSU-N defender had the chance to intercept the ball. However, the defender bobbled the ball himself and tipped it into the air where Zenke grabbed it to score and make the lead 21-0 with 6:36 left in the game. While that mistake resulted in an EOU score, Rolin believes his team made their fair share of mistakes in the fourth quarter.

"You make a mistake sometimes in football and it can be costly," Rolin said. "That's the game, all 11 guys got to do their jobs all the time and sometimes big plays happen if you don't do your job."

With 1:40 left in the game, Medina completed a 16-yard pass down the right sideline to Rios to score a touchdown. However, they failed to recover the onside kick and the Mountaineers ran out the clock to finish their season 3-1.

Medina started the game after only starting the Lights' season opener against the College of Idaho. Saturday, he completed 17 of his 29 pass attempts for 210 yards and one touchdown. The Lights' running game was scarce as their leading rusher, Dylan Vongphachanh, had 11 yards on only one carry. Rio led MSU-N receivers with five catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Quinn finished the game completing 13 of his 20 pass attempts for 129 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Lesser carried the ball for the Mountaineers 29 times for 172 rushing yards and a touchdown.

With the season now over, Rolin and the Lights now look toward the offseason and fall season. While his team did not pick up a win in the spring, Rolin believes that some players showed promise and learned from the adversity they faced this season.

"Certain young guys stepped up and showed us they can play and I think we created a nucleus on the team," Rolin said. "You learn more from failing than you do succeeding sometimes."

However, Rolin believes that it is time for these lessons to produce results.

"Moving forward, if we're going to win in September, you got to win in April, you got to win in May, June, July, August," Rolin said. "That's where it happens. It's that preparation, it's taking that time in the offseason to really improve as a team and come together as a team and learn as a team."

Eastern Oregon 0 7 0 14 - 21

MSU-Northern 0 0 0 6 - 6

2nd Quarter

EOU - John Lesser 4 yd run (Zachary Kahill kick)

Drive: 10 plays, 67 yards

4th Quarter

EOU - Kai Quinn 24 pass to Saige Wilkerson (Cahill kick)

Drive: 7 plays, 67 yards

EOU - Quinn 6 pass to Tanner Zenke (Cahill kick)

Drive: 7 plays, 51 yards

MSU-N - Brenden Medina 16 pass to Tyrese Rio (kick failed)

Drive: 4 plays, 80 yards

EOU MSU-N

First Downs 26 13

Rushing 51-285 28-(-4)

Passing Yards 129 210

Total Offense 414 206

Kick Returns 4-235 2-79

Punts 5/40 7/49

Penalties 5-47 6-62

Possession 35:00 24:57

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING - EOU, John Lesser 29-172, Kai Quinn 12-61, Nathan Reed 5-38, Jordan Eggers 4-10, Carson Bohning 1-4; MSU-N, Cannan Smith 12-17, Dylan Vongphachanh 1-11, Izayah Boss 4-9, Colby Kohlman 1-0, Brenden Medina 10-(-4).

PASSING - EOU, Kai Quinn 13-20-129-2-1, Carson Bohning 0-1-0-0-0; MSU-N, Brenden Medina 17-29-210-1-0.

RECEIVING - EOU, Tyler Brown 2-40, Saige Wilkerson 3-38, Tanner Zenke 4-34, Cade Reed 2-14, Jordan Eggers 1-2, John Lesser 1-1; MSU-N, Tyrese Rio 5-89, Levi Keltner 3-47, Jake Horner 3-35, Dylan Vongphachanh 4-22, Colby Kohlman 1-13, Brenden Medina 1-4.

TACKLES - EOU, Sage Delong 14, Chase Van Wyck 6, Zak Donato 4, Blaine Shaw 3; MSU-N, Joel Hadley 14, Dylan Wampler 13, Damari Cual-Davis 12, Joshua Rose 6.

Final Frontier Conference Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Carroll College 3-1 3-1

College of Idaho 3-1 3-1

Eastern Oregon 3-1 3-1

Rocky Mountain 1-3 1-3

MSU-Northern 0-4 0-4

Saturday

Eastern Oregon 31, MSU-Northern 6

Carroll College 28, College of Idaho 19