MSU-Northern football caps off fall camp with second scrimmage of offseason

After a spring season that saw no fans in the stands, Tilleman Field filled up again for the second time this August when the Montana State University-Northern football team held their second scrimmage of the fall camp on Saturday. The scrimmage served as the finale of the Lights' camp that had been ongoing for several weeks. With fall camp finally over, MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin believes his team performed well in their final session before the season.

"Defensively, we did some really good things. Offensively, we did some really good things," Rolin said. "We have things to clean up still and every day, we got to look to get better. We're going to watch this film and realize there's some things that we need to clean up and if we do, we'll be pretty explosive and pretty physical on defense."

The Lights had already competed in a scrimmage the previous weekend. Unlike that one, the Lights' last scrimmage of camp was not a live one. Instead, the Lights went through the operations of the game and incorporated some College of Idaho looks, who will be their first opponent of the season this Saturday. While the scrimmages were different, Rolin believed his team had shown improvement from their first scrimmage.

"I thought we progressed a lot this week," Rolin said. "We've progressed a lot this week and grown tremendously in all three phases of the game."

Kaymen Cureton started the scrimmage at quarterback for the Lights as Rolin plans to go with him as their starter heading into the fall. While Cureton stood out during the camp, he had his rough patches early on as he failed to lead touchdown drives. He eventually got in the groove of things as he began completing passes and using his legs to move the chains. His last three drives of the day resulted in two touchdowns and a field goal for the offense.

"He forced a couple throws which I told him that's something we need to work on," Rolin said. "But he got out of some bad situations with his feet, and made some other good decisions too. He was off and on a little bit today but when he's on, he's on."

While the starting offense had some struggles moving the ball on Saturday, it did not turn the ball over. In their first scrimmage, Cureton threw an interception early on but on Saturday, he kept the ball away from the defense.

"He protected the football which is the most important thing to do as a quarterback," Rolin said. "If we can do that, we can be pretty good on offense."

While Cureton has won the starting quarterback battle already in camp, Rolin still needs to figure out some other positions such as their field-goal kicker. Sawyer Zook and Neils Getts have been competing for this spot but if Saturday was any indication, Getts may have separated himself. On a windy afternoon, Getts made three field goals from at least 30 yards out.

"The kids got ice in his veins. I think he's a competitor and loves to win and that's why he's in the position he's in," Rolin said.

While there were many positives on the day, Rolin knows that the team still has a lot to work on before the season begins. He is not concerned about just one thing but all the small details. However, he believes these little things should not be too difficult to overcome.

"If we just keep building off what we've done and continue to grow and take it one day at a time," Rolin said. "If we fix the things we need to fix and if our kids are coachable, which they are, we can be pretty good. I think we have a shot but we have a lot of work to do."

With the fall camp finally over, Rolin and the Lights now head into their first game week of the season. This weekend, they will host the College of Idaho in the first game at Lights Stadium with fans. Rolin knows that despite all the preparation his team has done in fall camp, their games in the Frontier Conference will be another challenge that they will need to be ready to face.

"We got a lot to prove and we just got to show up and play the way we've been playing and let the score take care of itself," Rolin said.

The MSU-N football team begins their season against College of Idaho this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tilleman Field.