Battlin' Bears shut down, shut out Lights

After an exciting season-opening win last week at home, the Montana State University-Northern Lights' party ended abruptly.

In a second straight home game, the Lights (1-1) fell to Frontier Conference rival Rocky Mountain College in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon at Tilleman Field.

The Battlin' Bears toppled the Lights 45-0 on Saturday afternoon in Havre in a rare non-conference game. 

Rocky's defense dominated the Lights. Northern tallied just 49 yards of total offense (56 passing), while the Battlin' Bears accounted for 342 yards, of which 167 yards were on the ground.

Northern quarterback Oakley Kopp went 11 for 16 through the air for 59 yards. Dylan Wampler carried the ball one time for 10 yards. Caymus Thomas had four catches on the afternoon for 20 yards. Wampler added eight solo tackles and 10 tackles overall with one sack. Joel Hadley III added nine tackles.

Rocky Mountain college quarterback Luke Holcomb completed 15 of 26 passes for 142 yards. Zaire Wilcox carried the ball 21 times for 97 yards. Joseph Dwyer had six catches for 73 yards. Cade Lambert had there only touchdown. The Battlin' Bears defense was led by Alberto Faena with five tackles and two sacks. He also added two tackles for loss with 11 yards.

The loss dropped Northern to 1-1 on the season, while RMC improved to 2-0. Northern and Rocky meet in a Frontier Conference game in November in Billings.

The Lights have another non-conference game this weekend when they travel to Pacific Northwest Christian College for a scrimmage on Saturday. MSU-N then opens Frontier Conference play at Arizona Christian Sept. 16.