Dawg Bite: Western 44, Montana State-Northern 2

The Montana State University-Northern Lights were fired up for their homecoming game with the UM-Western Bulldogs. But, for four quarters, it was Western which seemed right at home at Blue Pony Stadium.

The No. 19 Bulldogs capitalized on four MSU-N turnovers, and the stingy UM-W defense forced Northern’s offense to be shut out for the second straight week as Western won 44-2 on Northern’s homecoming Saturday afternoon.

The loss dropped the Lights to 0-3 in the Frontier Conference and 0-4 overall, while the Bulldogs moved to 3-0 in the league and now sit alone atop the Frontier standings.

And while Western’s defense bottled up the MSU-N offense all day long, it was miscues by the Lights that led to several of Western’s scores. Included in those miscues was Northern twice mishandling Western squib kicks after scores.

“Turnovers are always going to be something you don’t want to see happen in games,” said Northern head coach Aaron Christensen. “They’ll always hurt you. The interceptions, we were trying to be more aggressive in the passing game today, and I’m alright with those. We can fix those. But the kickoffs, those are things you can’t let happen. You can’t let a team score and then they come right back and get the ball back. That’s one of those situations where that really gets the momentum swinging the wrong way. So those type of mistakes definitely hurt and we have to get those mistakes fixed.”

What also hurt was Western’s defense, one of the best in the NAIA. The Bulldogs held the Lights to just 109 yards of total offense and five first downs the entire day. While Western picked off quarterback Jess Krahn twice, the Bulldogs also contained Northern’s usually-potent running game. Zach McKinley was held to a career low 42 yards on 13 carries, while Western sacked Krahn six times and held the Lights to a mere 47 yards through the air.

“We knew their (Bulldogs) defense was good and they are,” Christensen said. “Against any good defense like that, if you try and line up and run on them it’s going to be tough. So we were a little more pass heavy today. But at the same time, we have to execute better, too. But credit their defense. They are one of the best in the league and they played really well today.”

Northern’s defense did well to keep the Lights close throughout the first half. On Western’s first drive, Sam Rutherford scored from three yards out to put the Bulldogs up a quick 7-0. It was the first of four TDs on the day for the star running back, but the Lights did well to give the ball back to their offense from there. Northern’s defense forced three punts and a missed field goal in the first quarter and the Lights trailed just 7-0.

And things got even better for MSU-N at the start of the second as Logan Sprouse picked off freshman J.D. Ferris, and the Lights started to move the ball on the ensuing possession. Qwaundre Yancy caught a first-down pass for Northern and Mario Gobatto ran up the middle to get the Lights to near midfield on what was their best drive of the half. But it was thwarted when Krahn was intercepted and, less than two minutes later, Rutherford was in the endzone for a second time, giving the Dawgs a 14-0 lead. On Western’s next drive, Rutherford would finish off a strong march with a one-yard score, but from there, the Lights held strong on defense, including turning the Bulldogs over on downs twice, keeping the game manageable at 21-0 at halftime.

“I thought our defense played a lot better than the week before,” Christensen said. “They played hard, they never quit and they got some big stops when we needed them. At halftime we went thinking we’re still right in this thing. So yeah, our defense played a lot better.”

And the defense continued to keep the Lights right in it for much of the third quarter, too. But, Rutherford’s fourth touchdown, a 37-yard screen pass from freshman quarterback Bradley Smith ended up being the back breaker. Immediately following Rutherford’s score, the Lights would fumble a second squib kick and a few plays later, Smith found George Sherwood for a three-yard score, and just like that, it was 35-0.

The Bulldogs would tack on a field goal and a short TD run in the fourth quarter, while the Lights’ lone points over the last eight quarters of football would come on a blocked PAT, which senior Malcolm Manuel returned 85 yards for a two-point conversion.

And while the Lights’ defense played hard and played well, with linebacker Jess Morales leading the way with 19 tackles, a sack and three tackles for loss, the Bulldogs did find a way to break through. Western would finish with 520 total yards on a whopping 94 play. The Bulldogs ran for 226 yards, led by 98 yards from Hunter Thomsen and another 40 from Rutherford. Smith and Ferris combined for 288 yards and two scores, while Matt Fuhrman had seven catches for 92 yards.

Garrett Jericoff also had 15 tackles for the Northern defense, while Sprouse had 10. Manuel, Tucker Dunn and Garet Fowler combined for another 27 stops.

But as good as the Lights’ defense played, it was Western’s defense which proved to be the difference. Krahn was just 15-of-24 for 47 yards, while the Lights were able to rush for 62 yards on the day. Yancy led the receivers with four catches, while Dakota Pineda led the Western defense with seven tackles and an INT.

Still, as rough as things were for the Lights, Christensen saw bright spots, and he knows his team will continue working to improve as they go forward. Next up for the Lights is a long trip to Ashland, Oregon, to take on the defending NAIA champion Southern Oregon Raiders this Saturday.

“I know it sounds strange, but I think we improved from last week,” Christensen said. “Offensively and defensively. I think we played better. Of course, the goal is to win these games, but we’ll look at the film and see that we got better this week. It’s not where we want to be, but I do think we got better, and we’ll take that it and build off it.”

Lights are 0-3 overall and 0-4 in the Frontier; Next up: at Southern Oregon

Lights Notes: The Lights have now lost three straight to the Bulldogs. MSU-N last beat Western n Sept. 28, 2013, a 33-21 win in Dillon. Western split time at quarterback between freshmen J.D. Ferris and Bradley Smith, both throwing for 100 yards or more. Ferris led Dillon to back-to-back Class A titles in 2013-2014. It was an emotional start to the homecoming game as Northern volleyball player Taylor Woolman was at midfield for the coin toss as an honorary captain.