Lights travel to Carroll for likely defensive slugfest

Halfway through their season, the Montana State University-Northern Lights have shown promise in their first five games.

However, that promise has not resulted in a win yet for the Lights. They will get another opportunity for a win this Saturday, but it will be on the road against Carroll College.

"Just like everybody else in our conference, they're well coached and disciplined," MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin said about Carroll College, which is led by former Havre High head coach Troy Purcell.

The Fighting Saints come into the game with a 2-3 record in the Frontier Conference. They are coming off a 28-21 win on the road over College of Idaho. For his performance in that game, freshman quarterback Jack Prka was named Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week after he completed 55.5 percent of his passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns.

Prka has plenty of receivers to throw to. Camron Rothie leads the Saints with 28 receptions and 297 receiving yards this year. Prka also has Kyle Pierce and Tony Collins, who each have two touchdowns this year. Carroll College's rushing attack is led by Duncan Kraft who has 407 yards and six touchdowns on 4.7 yards a carry this fall.

Along with slowing down the Saints' running game, Rolin believes his defense will need to put pressure on the young Prka. The MSU-N defensive line will be led by senior defensive end Joe Fehr, who leads the Lights with 4.5 sacks this fall. The Lights secondary will also try to remain opportunistic as they have picked off opposing quarterbacks in three straight games.

As the MSU-N defense tries to slow down the Saints' offense, the Lights will need to put some points on the board. After back-to-back games scoring 28 points, the Lights only scored 13 points against Montana Tech last week. During that game, Rolin started backup quarterback Devonte Armstrong in the second half. As the Lights head into their game this weekend, Rolin has not decided yet who will start between Armstrong and Kaymen Cureton who had started every game this season.

Whoever starts at quarterback for the Lights will have a solid running game to rely on. After a slow start to the season, running back Izayah Boss has run for over a hundred yards in each of the last three games. He has also scored a touchdown three straight weeks.

"I think we run the ball as well or better than anybody in the conference. We need to continue to do that and in the pass game, we just need to play pitch and catch," Rolin said. "I think we can be pretty good on offense, we just got to pick it up in the pass game, build off our run game and I think it's all there. We just need to go execute."

If the Lights are going to put up points, they will need to overcome Carroll College's best defensive players. Whoever starts at quarterback for the Lights will have to be careful against the Saints' secondary. T.J. Abraham leads the Saints with three interceptions this season while Rex Irby and Micah Ans each have two picks this fall. The MSU-N offensive line will also need to slow down Garrett Worden and Garrett Kocab who have a combined 7.5 sacks this year for the Saints.

Despite their 0-5 record this season, the Lights have shown they can compete when they play at a high level. After a mistake-filled first half against Montana Western, the Lights came back to nearly make it a game. If it were not for mistakes in the final two minutes against Rocky Mountain College, the Lights would have pulled out a win against the Bears. Rolin knows that if the Lights are going to break through, they must never relent.

"We need to play a complete game across the board all four quarters," Rolin said. "We've got the ability. We've got the game plan to go out and let the score take care of itself and execute at a high level."

MSU-N football will play at Carroll College Saturday at 1 p.m. Northern then returns home for three straight games at Tilleman Field.