Rested Lights headed to Montana Tech

When the Montana State University-Northern Lights hit the turf inside Butte’s Alumni Coliseum, they’ll know exactly what they need to do better, and they’ll know the game plan well. That’s what a bye week does for a team.

However, there’s a flip side to that coin. The Lights are also walking right into what will be a very hostile environment to play a team with a lot to be fired up about.

Saturday’s game between the Lights (0-1, 0-1) and the No. 7 Montana Tech Orediggers (0-1, 0-1), which kicks off at 1 p.m. in Butte, is Tech’s home-opener. But, more importantly for the Diggers, it’s a chance to rebound from last weekend’s stunning loss at Carroll College.

“They’re the defending conference champs,” Christensen said of the Orediggers. “They’re really well-coached, and it’s their home opener. So they’ll be ready for us. We know that.”

Northern hopes it’s ready, too. MSU-N had last week off after suffering a season-opening, 31-21 loss to Rocky Mountain College back on Aug. 27 at Blue Pony Stadium. And during the bye week, Christensen got to evaluate what went right, and work on exactly what went wrong in the opener — something that was good for his team.

“When we went back and broke down the Rocky film, we saw a lot of good things. I thought we showed a lot of improvement on defense and special teams, from where we were at the end of last season. We did a lot of things really well in that game.

“Even offensively, I thought we showed some good improvements,” he continued. “But the turnovers were the big thing. We have to protect the football. And we talked a lot about that during the bye week.”

Northern’s four turnovers against the Battlin’ Bears were certainly the determining factor. RMC scored 17 points directly off those Lights’ miscues. And against an Oredigger defense that will be fired up after watching Carroll kick a game-winning field goal last Saturday, the Lights just can’t have those kinds of mistakes.

“Tech has a good defense,” Christensen said. “Coach Morrell does a really good job there. They’ll be physical and fundamentally sound. So we have got to execute well against them.”

Tech’s defense is led by Drew Scheelman up front, but its secondary is high-class with safeties Gunnar Kayser and Rial Gunlickson leading the way. So, it will fall to Northern’s veteran offensive players, like Zach McKinley, Mario Gobbato and quarterback Jess Krahn to make sure the Lights are executing well and putting points on the board when opportunities arise.

Of course, putting points on the board against a stingy Tech defense, playing in its first home game, in front of what’s expected to be a sellout crowd, is only half of a daunting equation for the Lights. Northern’s defense must also deal with a scary Montana Tech offense.

“”They’re (Orediggers) explosive,” Christensen said. “They have a really good running back and an athletic quarterback back there with him. So you have to play sound, fundamental defense against them. You have to make sure all 11 guys are going to the football. That’s what our defense has to do, they have to be very fundamentally sound.”

Northern’s defense was pretty sound in its opener two weeks ago, with Logan Sprouse picking off a pass, Jordan Brusio registering a sack, and Tyler Craig and Pat Barnett wreaking havoc in the RMC backfield. However, the Orediggers, who swept the Lights a year ago, present a whole different challenge.

The focus of Tech’s offense is bruising running back Nolan Saraceni, the 2015 Frontier Conference Player of the Year, who rushed for 1,600 yards a year ago. He picked up right where he left off, too, going for 116 at Carroll last Saturday. But, Tech is anything but one-dimensional. With a healthy Quinn McQueary at quarterback, who is a threat with both his arm and his legs, Tech’s offense is extremely dynamic, and it will be a handful for the Lights come Saturday.

“You have to try and slow Saraceni down,” Christensen said. “He’s a very good running back. But, they also have a quarterback who is very athletic and can hurt you in a number of different ways. So again, you’ve got to be very fundamentally sound defensively against them. You really have to limit the big plays.”

And the Orediggers will be looking to make plenty of big plays. Chuck Morrell’s squad’s hopes of repeating as Frontier champions, and making a run at a national title, hit an early speed bump with last week’s, last-second loss at Carroll. So, there’s no way Tech will not be focused on the Lights.

Still, as powerful and dangerous as the Orediggers are, and, as tough as Tech’s home field advantage is, the Lights see Saturday as another opportunity to build, another opportunity to move their program forward.

“Tech is a very good football team,” Christensen said. “They know how to win. They’ve proven that. I think our guys though, are excited for this game. We’ve had an extra week to prepare, and if we can go down there and play mistake-free football, play fundamentally good football, we’ll be in good shape.”

The Lights and Orediggers will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday inside Alumni Coliseum in Butte. Northern will return home to face Carroll College Sept. 17.

Tough Task

MSU-Northern Lights (0-1, 0-1) at No. 7 Montana Tech (0-1, 0-1)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

in Butte

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

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

Twitter: Twitter/Havredaily