Lights honored by the Frontier Conference

It was another difficult season for the Montana State University-Northern football team. And still, the Lights were very much a part of the postseason awards.

Northern senior linebacker Dylan Wampler was named All-Conference on defense for the third straight year. This season, Wampler, who was one of the top tacklers in the Frontier, was named Second-Team All-Conference on defense.

Wampler was one of three Lights to earn defensive honors. Freshman Brayden Cline a former Big Sandy star, and linebacker Lucas Thacker were also named Honorable Mention Defense.

The Lights had two players earn Special Teams All-Conference as well.

Nicholas Nunchak, a junior, Second Team at Punter, while corner Joshua Rose was named Honorable Mention at punt return.

Northern's Aiden Perkins also received a 2023 Champions of Character Award.

Montana Western quarterback Michael Palandri was chosen as the Offensive Player of the Year. This is the third consecutive season a Bulldog quarterback has been voted as the Frontier's top offensive player. Palandri leads the conference by passing for 273.1 yards per game and with a 169.0 pass efficiency rating. He has 25 touchdown passes to three interceptions.

Noah Turnbull from Southern Oregon is the Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first SOU player to win the award. Turnbull leads the conference with nine sacks - tied for seventh-most in the NAIA - to go with 36 tackles, 13 tackles-for-loss, and one pass breakup. He had three games this season with multiple sacks.

After guiding Montana Western to a 9-1 record and the conference title, Ryan Nourse was selected as this year's Frontier Conference Coach of the Year. The Bulldogs closed the regular season with eight straight victories to win their first outright conference crown since 1995.

Montana Western leads all conference teams with seven First Team All-Frontier selections. Montana Tech had five named to the first team with Carroll and College of Idaho receiving four each. College of Idaho has a Frontier-best 11 selections to both the first and second team.