By Tiffany L. Rehbein
The MSU-Northern Lights are coming off a disappointing home loss. The opponent, the Carroll College Fighting Saints, is coming off a huge one-point upset victory over a nationally-ranked team.
Thursday, none of that matters.
Were going to go out there like we have been, said first-year head coach Walt Currie.
The Lights, 0-2 overall and in NAIA conference play, travel to Helena to take on the Fighting Saints for a live televised Frontier Conference game.
In its home debut Saturday, the Lights dropped a heartbreaker to the Frontier Conference Western Montana College Bulldogs 21-23.
The Lights will again operate behind the arm of freshman quarterback Chris Jackson. Jackson, in two games, has thrown 36-of-68 for 471 yards.
Most of those completions have fallen into the hands of sophomore Havre native Andy Smith. Smith, the Frontier Conference offensive player of the week in his first start this season against Montana Tech, has caught 21 passes for 317 yards. The Lights dropped the season opener at Butte, 44-0.
Dan Yaeger, a sophomore tight end from Choteau, and Travis Hille, a junior running back from Washington, both look to play tough again this week for the Lights.
Yaeger reeled in eight passes for 80 yards last week in the loss to Western Montana College, while Hille scampered for 46 yards on 14 carries.
However, Currie said the turnovers need to be decreased in order to be competitive.
Were only shooting ourselves in the foot with the turnovers, Currie said. The Lights committed seven penalties for 50 yards against the Bulldogs.
The Lights kicking game is also lacking.
Right now, we just dont have a kicker, Currie said. We just have to work around it.
Carroll College is working under first-year head coach Mike Van Diest. The Fighting Saints stunned the Frontier Conference Saturday with a 36-35 win over 1998 Frontier Conference champion Rocky Mountain College.
Theyve got real good receivers and a quarterback who can scramble, Currie said about the Fighting Saints.
Juniors Justin Thomas and Bert King were the two Carroll receivers on the connecting end of sophomore quarterback J.D. Emmert in last weekends win.
Thomas caught an 11-yard touchdown pass and King caught the two-point conversion pass that gave the Saints the first, and game-winning, lead with 2:48 remaining.
Montana Powers Thursday Night Football inaugural game is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. In Havre, cable channel 19 will air the game.
