By Tiffany L. Rehbein
The MSU-Northern Lights football team heads to Dillon for the final matchup of its three-game road run Saturday.
The Lights, 0-4 in the Frontier Conference and 2-4 overall, face the Western Montana College Bulldogs, 1-3 in the conference, 1-4 overall.
The two met five games ago, with the Bulldogs edging the Lights 23-21. That was the last win for the Bulldogs, while the Lights have notched two wins since the last matchup.
The Lights downed Minot State, N.D., 27-21 in an overtime victory at Havre and opened this three-game run with a 42-19 victory over South Dakota Tech two weeks ago.
Id like to come out of this with two wins, head coach Walt Currie said about opening the month of October on the road. The Lights fell to Ricks College (Idaho) 69-21 last weekend.
Lights quarterback Chris Jackson is second in the Frontier Conference in total offense. Jackson has notched 1,322 passing yards and 85 rushing yards, averaging 234.5 yards per game.
Bulldog quarterback Sean Kittel averages 124.0 total yards offensively.
In the air, wide receiver Andy Smith has tallied 830 total all-purpose yards, third in the conference. Smith leads all receivers, averaging 135.3 yards per game. He notched 108 yards on eight completions in the last matchup.
Travis Crawford averages 103.2 all-purpose yards for the Lights. For Western, Jason Smith has collected 584 all-purpose yards.
Offensively, Travis Hille, Havre native Richard Jarvis and Crawford will each look to get carries on the ground for the Lights. T Artis at receiver and Dan Yaeger at tight end are other looks for Jackson in the air.
Defensive backs Troy Martin and Joel Onsager are a threat to the opposing quarterback. Each have intercepted two balls for 50 yards this season.
Josh Fike, Darren Fike and Kino Detrick on the defensive line are tough up front for the Lights.
Detrick leads the league in forced fumbles with four. He has managed four tackles for 15 yards lost on the season for Northern.
On paper, the Bulldog offense averages 15.6 points per game while the Northern offense averages 15.0 points. Defensively, the numbers are in the Lights favor, as Northern has held its opponents to 39.7 points per game, while Western has allowed 41.2 points per game.
Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Dillon.
