Lights fall in first game under Jerome Souers

After several months of anticipation, the Montana State University-Northern football team has finally made its debut under new head coach Jerome Souers. The Lights opened this season this past Saturday with a trip to Caldwell, Idaho to face the College of Idaho. While the Yotes got the better of the Lights with a 31-3 victory, Souers liked how his team responded to the adversity during the game.

“There was a feeling through the course of the game that we were getting better at times and we were figuring some things out,” Souers said. “The big challenge of staying together when things are tough, they did a great job. They did not point a finger, and they didn’t fix blame. I thought our guys continued to fight and continued to work to solve problems.”

The game started with both offenses struggling to move the ball. On their opening drive of the game, the Lights went three and out and had to punt. After the Yotes themselves went three and out on their first possession, the Lights again went three and out and had to punt the ball back to the Yotes.

After getting the ball back, the Yotes broke through to pick up a couple of first downs. But they could not move the ball past midfield and had to punt the ball back to the Lights. With the ball back, the Lights finally got a first down with Brenden Medina completing a pass to Levi Keltner on second down. But that was all they could muster as the Lights once again punted the ball away.

The Yotes ended the first quarter with a four-yard run from Hunter Gilbert for a first down on third and one in Yotes territory. Later in the drive, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by the Lights helped the Yotes move the ball down the MSU-N 37-yard line. But the drive ended with Ryan Hibbs throwing an interception to MSU-N linebacker Dylan Wampler.

Even after Wampler returned the pick to Yotes territory, the Lights went three and out and punted it back to the Yotes. The Yotes started their next drive with a 16-yard run by Gilbert and then a facemask penalty to get the Yotes to the MSU-N 37-yard line once again. But this time, the Yotes did not squander their opportunity.

After relieving Hibbs at quarterback, Andy Peters began to find his receivers for gains, including a 12-yard completion to Charlie Maynes to make it first and goal at the one-yard line. Two plays later, Peters completed a pass to Allamar Alexander for the touchdown to give the Yotes a 7-0 lead with 6:17 left in the half.

After another three and out by the Lights, the Yotes put together another strong drive to end the half. After some runs to start the drive, Hibbs came back in at quarterback and found Jake Nadley for a 16-yard gain to the MSU-N 15-yard line. A couple of strong runs then gave the Yotes a first and goal at the 10 with 33 seconds left in the half.

With their backs against the wall, the Lights held strong. On first down, Wampler sacked Peters for a 10-yard loss. This forced the Yotes to attempt a field goal, which Spencer Fiske made from 30 yards out for a 10-0 lead to end the half.

The Yotes picked up right where they left off with another good drive to open the second half. The Yotes started the drive with seven straight runs. The Lights were unable to slow down the ground game as the Yotes pushed their way to the MSU-N 13-yard line. Ed Osterberger then carried the ball for a 13-yard score to give the Yotes a 17-0 lead with 10:52 left in the third quarter.

“At this level, they’re going to find your weaknesses and they started catching us in the running game,” Souers said about the Yotes offensive rhythm.

After another MSU-N three and out, Dorian Hardin returned the punt 21 yards to the MSU-N 45-yard line. Hibbs moved the ball down the field for the Yotes, including a 26-yard touchdown to Nadley to cap off the drive.

In a deep hole, the Lights put together their best drive of the game. On third and seven early on their next possession, Medina connected with Cannan Smith for an eight-yard gain and a first down. Later on a third and four, Medina completed a 13-yard pass to Luke Triplett to get into Yotes territory.

The Lights continued to convert on the drive. On a fourth and three at the Yotes 35-yard line, Medina found Devin Shelton for an 18-yard gain that got the Lights into the red zone. Later on a fourth and one at the eight-yard line, Median ran the ball to make it first and goal.

However, three straight incompletions led to a fourth down. On a 25-yard field goal attempt, freshman Kaden Nelson made it for the Lights’ first score of the season and to cut the deficit to 24-3 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Yotes fumbled the ball on the return and Joel Hadley recovered for the Lights at the Yotes 24-yard line. But the Lights could do little with the scoring opportunity to start the fourth quarter. On fourth and four at the 18-yard line, Medina’s pass to Keltner fell incomplete.

Starting from their own 18-yard line, the Yotes went on a drive to put the game away for good. Early in the drive, Peters connected with Nadley for a 40-yard gain to the MSU-N 30-yard line. After working their way to the MSU-N two-yard line, the Yotes scored with a touchdown run from Gilbert to make it 31-3 with 7:09 left in the game.

Both teams got the ball one more time before the game came to an end. The Lights finished the game with 133 yards. Medina completed 13 of his 28 pass attempts for 109 yards. Mason Dionne led the Lights with 21 rushing yards on eight carries while Triplett caught two catches for 30 yards. The biggest positive on offense for the Lights were no turnovers in the first game of the year.

“The discipline of that group was strong but we’re still not in great sync yet,” Souers said. “We’re a little off on our timing, the ball's a little high here, we’re a little too late there but our guys are trying. That’s the important thing so we’ll continue to coach the fundamentals and continue to find better schemes that fit the guys that we have.”

While the Lights allowed 426 yards of offense to the Yotes, there were some positives. Linebacker Dylan Wampler had a strong start to the year with eight tackles, 2.5 sacks and an interception he returned for 21 yards. Johkyreian Shealey and Hunter Riley each recorded eight tackles in the game with Riley also having a forced fumble in the contest.

The Lights are a young team, so they will face much more adversity this season. As the Lights battle through the rest of their fall schedule, Souers hopes to see his players push through this adversity to eventually become a tougher team in the Frontier Conference.

“We need to grow. There’s a lot of development ahead for this outfit,” Souers said. “Our guys are holding their heads high and we’re continuing to work on the goals that we set and that’s to become a strong competitive football team.”

The MSU-N football team will next play in their home opener at Tilleman Field against Southern Oregon University this Saturday at 1 p.m.

MSU-Northern 0 0 3 0 - 3

College of Idaho 0 10 14 7 - 31

2nd Quarter

CofI - Andy Peters 1 pass to Allamar Alexander (Fiske kick)

Drive: 10 plays, 69 yards

CofI - Fiske 30 FG

Drive: 10 plays, 43 yards

3rd Quarter

CofI - Ed Osterberger 13 run (Fiske kick)

Drive: 8 plays, 77 yards

CofI - Ryan Hibbs 26 pass to Jake Nadley (Fiske kick)

Drive: 4 plays, 45 yards

MSU-N - Kaden Nelson 25 FG

Drive: 18 plays, 65 yards

4th Quarter

CofI - Hunter Gilbert 2 run (McKague kick)

Drive: 12 plays, 82 yards

MSU-N CofI

First downs 6 27

Rushing 19-24 46-178

Passing Yards 109 248

Total Offense 133 426

Kick Returns 4-56 1-31

Punts 7/38.0 2/34.5

Penalties 4/39 2/25

Possession 22:52 32:08

Individual

Rushing - MSU-N, Mason Dionne 8-21, Kai Green 5-6, Brenden Medina 3-3, Jamari Johnson 1(-15); CofI, Allamar Alexander 11-74, Hunter Gilbert 14-72, Ed Osterberger 6-40, Caden Cobb 3-8.

Passing - MSU-N, Brenden Medina 13-28-109-0-0; CofI, Andy Peters 10-11-139-1-0, Ryan Hibbs 8-14-109-1-1.

Receiving - MSU-N, Luke Triplett 2-30, Levi Keltner 4-28, Devin Shelton 1-18, Jamari Johnson 3-14; CofI, Jake Nadley 7-136, Charlie Maynes 4-57, Jpn Schofield 4-29, C. McKenzie 1-18.

Tackles - MSU-N, Johkyreian Shealey 8, Hunter Riley 8, Dylan Wampler 8, Devin Carmona 7; CofI, Dylan Martinez 7, Dorian Hardin 6, Tanner Leaf 5, Jacob Batubenga 4.