RMC offers last chance for a Lights' win

It’s been a trough ride the last three weeks for the Montana State University-Northern football team. A rough ride, in what’s been a rough season.

Now, the Lights have one last chance to right the ship. One last chance to make a statement. One last chance to win a Frontier Conference football game.

Northern (2-8, 1-8) will wrap up the 2014 season when it travels to Billings to face the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears (4-5, 5-5) Saturday afternoon. Kickoff for the season finale for both teams is slated for noon.

The Lights are in the midst of a three-game losing streak, and the streak has produced some difficult results. In games against Eastern Oregon, Carroll College and UM-Western, MSU-N has lost by a combined score of 185-49. Northern is allowing nearly 60 points per game over its last three games, and the offense has sputtered some, after losing senior quarterback Travis Dean to a season-ending leg injury three weeks ago.

However, the Lights haven’t given up at any point in what has been a tumultuous season, and they won’t give up the fight this week either.

“We’ll just have to take a look at the film, and focus on the good things we’re doing,” said Northern interim head coach Jake Eldridge after MSU-N lost its home finale to UM-Western last Saturday. “We have one game left, so we’ll look at what we’re doing wrong and go back to work and try to get those things corrected.”

If Northern can get the things that have gone awry corrected, Saturday’s game at RMC is certainly winnable. The Bears beat the Lights 32-18 in Havre back in September, but they too have slumped lately. In October, RMC was very much in the playoff hunt, and in the thick of the Frontier Conference title race, but since then, the Bears have lost three straight, and now are fighting just to finish at the .500 mark in the Frontier.

And offensively, RMC is certainly capable of getting there, especially against a struggling Northern defense which seems to have lost its way. The Bears are led by senior quarterback Bryce Baker, who’s thrown for nearly 3,000 yards this season, as well as All-American wide receiver Andre McCullouch, who leads the Frontier in receptions and is second in receiving yards and touchdowns.

Defensively, the Bears have struggled in recent weeks however, and they, like Northern, need to right the ship in the final week of the season. Safeties Cory Bummer and Kyle Mai are standouts for the RMC defense, but 454 total yards per game, which is seventh in the Frontier, and they are dead last against the run, allowing 215 yards rushing per contest.

That stat, combined with the fact that Saturday will be cold and snowy in Billings, could favor the Lights. Northern wants to run the ball first, with sophomore Zach McKinley having a record-setting season. But it’s also imperative that the Lights establish the run to take the pressure off of freshman quarterback Jess Krahn, who was thrust into action when Dean went down, and who will be making his third career start Saturday and his first start on the road. So, with McKinley’s talent for breaking off big runs and having big games, combined with a porous RMC run defense, a recipe for success might just be brewing for the Lights.

“We’ve got to do a better job up front,” Eldridge said. “Our offensive line has been really good this season, but the last couple games haven’t been as good. We’ve got to be able to run the football, so that we can put Jess in manageable and comfortable situations. And when we do throw, we’ve got to protect him better. We’ve got to give him time to go through his reads and let him get comfortable back there.”

Of course, Northern needs to be good on offense, but it’s no secret that the Lights have got to find something on defense in order to have a chance against the offensive-minded Bears. The Lights were in the top four in the Frontier in every defensive category but scoring a month ago, but now, they are struggling to get off the field. So, in order to be successful Saturday, it will be up to sophomore Tyler Craig, who has a league-high 10 sacks, as well as seniors Will DeVos, Kami Kanehailua, Butch Hyder and Hunter Chandler to stop the bleeding on the defensive side of the ball. If the Lights can find success on defense, there’s no reason they can’t leave Billings with a win, and end the season on a high note.

Saturday’s season finale between the Lights and Battlin’ Bears will kick off at 12 p.m. at Herb Klindt Field in Billings.

Season Finale

MSU-Northern Lights (2-8, 1-8) at RMC Battlin'

Bears (5-5, 4-5)

Saturday 12 p.m.

in Billings

Streaming: http://www.msun.edu/athletics

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

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