Frontier Notebook: High stakes in SOU/Carroll rematch

There’s already been some big, big games in the Frontier Conference. And though there’s still a ways to go in the season, another big game is on the horizon.

In fact, this game, the one that will be played in Nelson Stadium in Helena Saturday, is easily the game of the year in the Frontier.

When No. 3 Carroll College and No. 4 Southern Oregon meet Saturday afternoon, pretty much everything there is in the Frontier will be on the line. The visiting Raiders can all but wrap up the league title with a second win over the Saints Saturday, while Carroll can catch the Raiders in the league standings after dropping the season-opening game at SOU, 38-35 in Ashland, Oregon back on Sept. 6.

In that game, SOU scored an early fourth-quarter touchdown, then held Carroll out of the endzone on three straight possessions to preserve the win. The victory gave SOU a leg up on the Saints in the conference standings and the Raiders haven’t let it go. However, the Saints have rebounded nicely, winning four straight games, including last weekend’s crushing win over then No. 15 Eastern Oregon.

Carroll and SOU have developed quite the rivalry since the Raiders joined the league in 2012. And one reason why is the contrasting styles of play. The Saints are a team geared on physical, smash-mouth football. Carroll plays hard-nosed defense and lets its big offensive line pave the way for powerful running backs like senior Dustin Rinker, while new starting quarterback Mac Roache is quickly becoming a top dual threat. Carroll wants to control the clock, chew up yards and grind the tempo of the game to a pace where the Saints feel like they have full control.

On the other hand, SOU scores fast, and wants to go even faster. Austin Dodge has a host of talented receivers and backs to distribute the ball too, and in most cases, the Raiders don’t give a whole lot of thought to time of possession. They’ll score and score and keep scoring if they can, they’ll throw deep, they’ll turn short runs and screens into 50-yard gains, and they keep going no matter the time, the down and distance, the score or the opponent.

And now the two teams meet again with a Frontier title hanging in the balance. With a win, SOU will likely go on to win its first outright Frontier championship ever, and its second league title in just three seasons in the conference. If Carroll prevails, the Saints will have a chance to win outright, or at least share their 16th conference championship in the last 17 seasons. Playoff implications are also on the line Saturday.

Both the Saints and Raiders are likely headed to the NAIA playoffs regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game, but the victor could lock up home field advantage come November.

So again, when the Saints and Raiders meet Saturday afternoon, games in the Frontier Conference don’t get any bigger. Saturday’s game pits the two highest nationally ranked teams in the Frontier to go head-to-head in more than a decade.

Awards Watch

The Frontier season is half over and it’s worth taking a look at some players and coaches who are in the hunt for the postseason accolades.

As for the Frontier Conference Offensive MVP, it’s no secret the front-runner is SOU senior quarterback Austin Dodge. He is the reigning league MVP and is having another incredible season. To date, Dodge has thrown for 2,077 yards, 20 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He leads the NAIA in passing and total offense, and through the first six games of 2014, he’s broken three different NAIA career passing records with many more to come.

But as good as Dodge is, there’s some other worthy candidates, too. Northern running back Zach McKinley and wide receiver Trevor Baum are among those candidates. McKinley has rushed for 715 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. He leads the Frontier and is second in the NAIA in total rushing, while averaging nearly 130 yards per game. Baum, in his only season at receiver, has racked up 898 yards on 58 catches to go along with seven touchdowns. Baum averages an amazing 152 yards receiving per game, and all of those numbers are tops in the NAIA.

Two other rushers have to be in the conversation for the offensive MVP. After a slow start, Carroll’s Dustin Rinker is coming on strong, and has averaged over 150 yards per game in his last three. College of Idaho quarterback Teejay Gordon is also one to watch. He has close to 700 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground this season, and is second in the Frontier in total offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, the front runners for Defensive Player of the Year reside in Havre and Helena. Northern’s Tyler Craig is having a huge sophomore season, registering eight sacks so far, while also totaling five tackles for loss. Carroll linebacker Sean Blomquist, the 2013 Frontier Defensive MVP is also having another big season. He’s tallied 32 tackles, six tackles for loss and two sacks through five games. SOU linebacker Laurence Calcagno and EOU linebacker Ryan Watson are also in the discussion when it comes to the MVP talk on defense.

As for the coach of the year, SOU’s Craig Howard has to lead the pack. The Raiders have dominated the first half of the Frontier season, and Howard seems to be pushing all the right buttons. However, what coach Mike Moroski has done with the College of Idaho has been nothing short of remarkable. In their first year of football of any kind, the Yotes are hanging around the top half of the Frontier standings, and are by no means out of the playoff picture right now. Given the fact that C of I hadn’t played a game in nearly 40 years, that’s a coaching job very well done.

Time for Payback

The MSU-Northern Lights need a win. They probably don’t care who it’s against, they just need a win badly. But there’s no questions there will be some extra motivation for the Lights when the Montana Tech Orediggers take the field at Blue Pony Stadium Saturday.

The Lights lost their season-opener at Tech, 38-24 back on Aug. 30. Since that time, Northern has put up some of the top offensive and defensive numbers in the NAIA, but have come up short in four of the last five games. So ending a four-game losing streak should be motivation enough.

But, the Orediggers, who have had their own struggles, as the win over Northern is their only one thus far, also represent another painful memory for the Lights. Under the Lights of Blue Pony last November, the Diggers completed a miraculous 46-yard hail mary pass from then quarterback Herman Tapley to Zach Kinney, lifting Tech to a 32-21 win over Northern. The loss kept the Lights from having a chance at a winning season, and to make matters worse, Northern stumbled again against Tech to start what has been a tough 2014 campaign.

Normally, revenge isn’t on the mind of football players, that stuff is more for the fans. And Tapley, who completed the game-winning pass last fall, isn’t even an Oredigger anymore. But there’s no questions, given what happened to the Lights on that night last fall, and everything that’s happened since, that Saturday is a day when MSU-N wants and needs to beat Tech. And they want it and need it badly.