Bears do it again: Rocky 31, Lights 28

Through their first three games this season, the Montana State University-Northern Lights lost every game by double digits. On Saturday at Tilleman Field in their homecoming game, the Lights finally had a chance for a win as they led Rocky Mountain College, 28-24, with 3:59 left in the game. However, several MSU-N mistakes allowed the Bears to take a 31-28 lead that they held onto for the victory.

"Our kids fought. They're fighters. Put ourselves in a position to win and didn't finish," MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin said. "I'm proud of these guys. I told them to keep their heads up."

On their game-winning drive, the Bears got the ball at the MSU-N 45-yard line because of a short punt. The drive began with a defensive pass interference that gave the Bears 15 yards. RMC quarterback Nathan Dick then made a couple of throws and a 14-yard run to get to the MSU-N one-yard line. At the goal line, Dick ran it in to give RMC a 31-28 lead with 1:43 left in the game.

With one last chance to win the game, the Lights continued to make mistakes once they got the ball back. The MSU-N offensive line got called for a holding penalty to open the drive. MSU-N quarterback Kaymen Cureton was then intercepted by Kaysan Barnett to end the drive. The Bears then kneeled down to run out the clock and secure the victory.

The loss dropped the Lights to 0-4 on the season. The game was their first at home since their season opener against College of Idaho last month. With the win, RMC improved to 3-1 on the season and are now in a four-way tie for first in the Frontier Conference.

The Bears came out hot on offense to start the game. On the second play of their opening drive, Dick connected with Joseph Dwyer for a 50-yard play down the right sideline to the MSU-N two-yard line. On the next play, Tommy Corcoran ran it in for a 7-0 lead with 13:59 left in the opening quarter.

The Lights quickly responded on their opening drive with explosive plays on the ground. On his first carry of the day, Izayah Boss ran for 48 yards to get the Lights to the RMC 30-yard line. On the next play, Dylan Vongphachanh got the ball on a reverse and ran it all the way for the score to tie the game 7-7 with 13:10 left in the first.

After the Lights defense gave up a big play in the air to start the game, they stiffened up on their next drive. MSU-N defensive back Isaiah Paul ended the drive with an interception off Dick that he returned to the RMC 43-yard line.

"Isaiah Paul's a great player. I don't know a better corner in the league right now," Rolin said.

The MSU-N offense capitalized on the turnover to take the lead. On the third play of the drive, Boss ran it in from 13 yards out to give MSU-N a 14-7 lead with 10:20 left in the first.

Later in the first quarter, the Bears put together a strong drive. After several solid passes and runs to get to the MSU-N 33-yard line, Dick connected with Dwyer deep down the middle for a 30-yard gain. On the next play, Cade Lambert ran it in for the score to tie the game 14-14 with 1:19 left in the first quarter.

The Bears held onto momentum into the second quarter. Halfway through the second, Dick again completed a deep pass, this time to Trae Henry for 50 yards down the left sideline. Dick then ran it in himself from 10 yards for a 21-14 lead with 7:55 left in the half.

Near the end of the half, the Lights looked to score before time expired. However, Cureton fumbled and the RMC defense recovered the ball at the MSU-N 32-yard line. A Joe Fehr sack on third down forced the Bears to attempt a 50-yard field goal but Riley Garrett missed it wide left.

The Lights came out with a strong drive to open the second half.

Thanks to several strong runs, the Lights got all the way to the RMC 19-yard line. But the drive stalled out and Neils Getts' 40-yard field goal attempt fell short.

The Lights defense forced the Bears to punt and their offense got the ball back. The Lights got to the RMC 43-yard line and they attempted to go for it on fourth and one. But disaster struck as a botched snap forced Cureton to just fall on it.

The MSU-N defense again stood strong and forced a punt that pinned the MSU-N offense at their own one-yard line. Several RMC penalties including an encroachment, defensive holding and personal foul helped the Lights get to their own 30-yard line. Cureton then hit Tyrese Rios down the right sideline for a 32-yard gain down to the RMC 38-yard line. Cureton eventually ended the drive with a seven-yard scoring run to tie the game 21-21 with 1:06 left in the third.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Bears got a drive going that reached the MSU-N 17-yard line. However, they had to settle for a 34-yard field goal from Garrett to take a 24-21 lead with 9:59 left in the game.

Later in the fourth quarter, the Lights got the ball looking to tie or retake the lead. The Bears forced the Lights to a third and 10 in MSU-N territory, but Cureton scrambled for 13 yards to pick up a first down and extend a drive. After a couple of strong runs by Boss, Vongphachanh carried the ball 39 yards for the score to give the Lights a 28-24 lead with 3:59 left in the game.

"We ran the ball well," Rolin said. "Izayah Boss played tremendously and Dylan Vongphachanh played tremendously. We're going to need to build off of that. We've got the pieces to the puzzle, we just got to keep learning."

The Northern defense continued to play well as they forced a three-and-out by the Bears. The Lights offense got the ball back with 2:58 left in the game with a chance to run out the clock. However, the Lights failed to pick up a first down on the drive and had to punt. Even worse, their punt only went for 10 yards, which gave the Bears a short field that they used to take the lead. After the game, Rolin reflected on how his offense was not able to pick up the first down to run out the clock.

"We played a complete game for the most part. We made some mistakes but we were right there against a good Rocky team and we should have beat them," Rolin said. "Just needed a first down on that last drive and didn't get it. We just got to be able to finish."

In his fourth start at quarterback for the Lights, Cureton completed 36.9 percent of his passes for 62 yards and an interception. Boss had his second game in a row where he ran for over a hundred yards. Against RMC, Boss ran for 158 yards and a touchdown on 5.9 yards a carry.

Despite the loss, there is a lot that Rolin can take away from this game. It was the second week in a row where the Lights offense scored 28 points. The MSU-N defense only allowed 31 points after giving up 42 in each of the first three weeks. Most importantly, the Lights had a chance to win it at the end.

"Just like any game, you got to learn from it. Win or loss, you got to learn from it and get better next week. All we care about is progress and growth," Rolin said. "I'm proud of our guys because they're competitors, they're fighters. We're good enough to do it and we got to finish. It's just unfortunate the way it ended because I thought we played well enough to win."

The Lights will stay home to host Montana Tech this Saturday at 1 p.m. as they play four of five at home.

Lights are 0-4 in Frontier; Next: vs Tech Saturday

Lights Notes: Sophomore wide receiver Dylan Vongphachanh recorded the first two touchdowns in his MSU-N career, both on the ground.. This is the second game in a row between MSU-N and RMC where the Bears came back from a second-half deficit to win the game. The Lights had a season high with 284 rushing yards as a team against the Bears.