Lights win first game in the Jerome Souers' era

On Saturday at Tilleman Field, the Montana State University-Northern football began its second season under head coach Jerome Souers. After going winless last season, the Lights defeated nonconference opponent Mayville State University, 14-0, for their first win under Souers.

It was a defensive struggle for both teams throughout the game. On the Lights' opening possession of the game, quarterback Oakley Kopp fumbled the ball and Mayville State recovered in Northern territory. But Mayville could do nothing with the turnover and had to punt it away.

The Lights put together a solid drive as Mason Dionne got the ground game going and Kopp completed passes and ran the ball himself. But at the Mayville 35-yard line, Kopp's run could not convert the fourth down.

After forcing another Mayville punt, Joshua Rose returned the punt 35 yards to the Mayville 35-yard line. The Lights found themselves in trouble as a penalty and a passing play that lost yardage backed them up into a 2nd and 26 at their own 49-yard line.

But thanks to a 21-yard pass to Cael White and then a 7-yard pass to Caymus Thomas, the Lights got a first down at the Mayville 23-yard line. Two plays later, Kopp connected with Jeramiah Benson for an 18-yard touchdown pass to give the Lights a 7-0 lead.

But the Lights could not build off that drive as they struggled to move the ball later in the half. At the Mayville 36-yard line, Kopp's pass was intercepted. But the MSU-N defense stayed strong as Mayville failed to convert a pair of fourth downs late in the half.

After both teams punted open the second half, Northern's Spencer Lenherz intercepted a pass and returned it to the Mayville eight-yard line to make it first and goal. Two plays later, Dionne ran it in from three yards for the touchdown to make it 14-0.

Over the rest of the game, the Lights continued to play strong defense. n four more fourth down attempts, Mayville failed to convert and turned it over to the MSU-N offense. On the last drive of the game, time ran out for Mayville as MSU-N secured its first win of the Souers era.

As a team, the Lights finished the game with 191 total yards of offense. However, the Lights also committed 15 penalties for 146 yards. Kopp finished the game going 17 for 24 for 145 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Dionne finished the game with 28 rushing yards and a score on 13 attempts while Devin Shelton caught four passes for 42 yards.

The MSU-N defense played well only allowing 145 yards and forcing Mayville to go 4 for 15 on third down and 0 for 7 on fourth down. Lucas Thacker finished the game with nine total tackles while Devin Carmona recorded two sacks for the Lights.

The MSU-N football team will begin its season in the Frontier Conference when it plays Rocky Mountain College this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tilleman Field.

MSU-N 14, Mayville 0

MVS - 0 0 0 0 - 0

MSU-N - 0 7 7 0 - 14

2nd Quarter

MSU-N - Oakley Kopp 18 pass to Jeramiah Benson (Tate O'Neill kick)

Drive: 5 plays, 35 yards

3rd Quarter

MSU-N - Mason Dionne 3 yd run (O'Neill kick)

Drive: 2 plays, 8 yards

MVU MSU-N

First Downs 12 9

Rushing 24-12 21-46

Passing Yards 145 145

Total Offense 157 191

Kick Returns 1/45 3/151

Punts 3/31.0 6/43.3

Penalties 4/23 15/146

Possession 30:50 29:10

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING - MVU, Ollman 10-15, Nevil 8-15, Carlson 1(-1), Salmon 5(-17); MSU-N, Mason Dionne 13-28, Oakley Kopp 6-16, Andrea Tarzan-Proctor 2-2.

PASSING - MVU, Salmon 15-32-132-0-1, Roundtree 1-1-12-0-0, Nevil 1-1-3-0-0, Marcussen 1-2(-2)-0-0; MSU-N, Oakley Kopp 17-24-145-1-1.

RECEVING - MVU, Carlson 6-45, Nevil 4-31, Azure. 2-30, Roundtree 2-21; MSU-N, Devin Shelton 4-42, Caymus Thomas 4-30, Jeramiah Benson 3-28, Cael White 1-21.

TACKLES - MVU, Shelton 8, Mullenberg 7, Johnson 5, Johnson 4, MSU-N, Lucas Thacker 9, Spencer Lehnerz 8, Joel Hadley II 8, Devin Carmona 7.