Frontier Notebook: Carroll beats C of I, Frontier sends one team to the playoffs, again

What a triumph for Carroll College and former Havre High head coach Troy Purcell.

With their 21-7 win at College of Idaho Saturday, the Fighting Saints won the Frontier Conference championship for the second time in four years, and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NAIA playoffs. Carroll shared the title with C of I, both finishing 8-2, but the Saints won the bid to the playoffs.

And the road to the playoffs was a long one for the Saints, who were just 3-2 last month, but rattled off five straight wins to get to the league championship.

Unfortunately, Carroll’s win came with a price as once again, the Frontier did not get two teams into the NAIA playoffs.

The field of 16 was announced Sunday, and C of I did not receive an at-large berth to the playoffs.

For yet another season, the Frontier was a blood bath, with Montana Tech, Montana Western and Rocky Mountain College all finishing with winning records, but because of the unbalanced schedule in the league, they all beat each other up to the point that, only the league’s auto champion was going to make the playoffs.

That scenario has happened too often to the Frontier, which clearly has some of the best football teams in all of NAIA. But only expansion will fix that, and it starts next year with the addition of Arizona Christian, which finished 8-2 in the Sooner Conference, but also missed out on the playoffs. But, until the Frontier gets to 10 teams, they will only get on auto bid.

Carroll is the No. 15 seed in the upcoming playoffs and travels to No. 2 seed Grand View this Saturday.

Final Poll

All year, the Frontier did well in the First Down Playbook Top 25 Poll. And the league was well-represented in the final poll, released Sunday.

Carroll jumped up to No. 16 in the last Top 25, while C of I fell from 11 to 18. Montana Tech finished at No. 24, while Western received votes. The aforementioned ACU finished at No. 20, meaning the Firestorm will bring a competitive program to the league next fall.

Stat Leaders

On offense, Montana Western’s Jon June finished with 218 passing yards per game to lead the Frontier, while Western’s Reece Neville had a huge final day to lead the league at 96 yards per game rushing. Neville also was the only back to finish the season with 1,000 yards as he ran for 1,065 yards on the season. C of I’s Brock Richardson led the Frontier with 612 receiving yards and 76.5 yards per game, while Tech’s Trevor Hoffman was first in the Frontier in receptions with 50.

On defense, Southern Oregon’s Jake Regino finished the fall with 113 tackles, and 11.3 per game. Montana Tech’s Keyshawn James-Newby led the league with nine sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss. Rocky’s Kaysan Barnett and Eastern Oregon’s Josh Mendoza tied for the league lead with five interceptions apiece.

Editor's Note: The Frontier Conference Notebook will return in January for basketball and wrestling season.