Lights open season against Mayville State

It's been a long road for the Montana State University-Northern football team. Now though, it's time for the Lights to start a new journey.

After battling through a winless season in head coach Jerome Souers' debut a year ago, the Lights are ready to start fresh, and they get their first opportunity to show off their new-look team Saturday when they open the 2023 season with a non-conference game against Mayville State. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. at Tilleman Field.

In year two of Souers' tenure at Northern, the Lights should have a much deeper roster, with plenty of returning experience. The list of talent that comes back to Northern this season includes senior quarterback Oakley Kopp, wide receiver Luke Triplett, running back and former Havre Blue Pony Mason Dionne, defensive back Josh Rose, veteran wide receiver Caymus Thomas, linebackers Devin Carmona and Joel Hadley, wide receiver and former Harlem star Andrew Rasmussen, wide receiver Cannan Smith, running back Andrez Trahan-Proctor, offensive lineman Jesus Raygoza,

Of course, Northern's defense also returns two huge pieces in two-time NAIA All-American Dylan Wampler and three-year starting defensive end Colter Szymoniak.

There will also be plenty of new faces on all sides of the ball for the Lights, who are 2-0 in their least two meetings against Mayville State, and who are hoping to start things off with a big win at home.

And a home win would go a long way for Northern, which is playing a tough schedule again this season. MSU-N will host Rocky Mountain College in a non-conference game next Saturday, before traveling to Washington to play Pacific Northwest Christian on Sept. 9.

Frontier Conference play opens with the Lights traveling to Glendale, Arizona Sept. 15 to face new league foe Arizona Christian before a bye week. The Lights return from the bye to host Carroll College Sept. 30, then stay home to play Eastern Oregon Oct. 7. Northern then embarks on a road trip to College of Idaho Oct. 14 before returning home to face Southern Oregon Oct. 21. The Lights finish October at Montana Western before playing their final home game Nov. 4 against Montana Tech. The Lights then close out the regular season Nov. 11 in Billings against Rocky Mountain College.

First thing's first, though. Northern will open the 2023 season at Tilleman Field Saturday at 11 a.m. when the Lights battle Mayville State.

Editor's Note: Due to staffing shortages at the Havre Daily News currently, there will be no MSU-N Game Day editions this season.