Close: Lights just miss on win at RMC

The Montana State University-Northern defense might have been reeling after two rough games back-to-back.

But, on the road, against a very good offense, the Lights' defense stood tall, and as a result Northern found itself in one of its closest games in years, and in a dogfight with the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears.

Unfortunately, three truly huge plays by the Bears kept the Lights from getting over the hump Saturday at Herb Klindt Field in Billings, in what was a 21-13 RMC win. The loss was Northern's third straight, and the Lights dipped to 1-5 in the Frontier Conference ahead of Saturday's homecoming game with first-place Montana Tech.

"The game went our way in a lot of ways," Northern head coach Aaron Christensen said. "Offensively, we played pretty well and moved the ball at times, and our defense played great for most of the game. But, we didn't do it in all three phases. We had some breakdowns in special teams, and that hurt us.

"Hats off to Rocky," Christensen added. "They're a good football team. But on our side, when you look at how the game went, we feel like we let one get away."

The first big blow to the Lights' chances of upsetting the Bears, who also beat Northern back on Aug. 27 in Havre, came when Rocky freshman running back Sam Sparks answered Northern's 13-7 lead with 6:37 left in the game. MSU-N's Tommy Langley had just booted a 23-yard field goal to put the Lights ahead, but on the ensuing kickoff, Sparks raced 93 yards for the go-ahead score.

Still, even with Sparks' shocking kick return, the Lights trailed by just one point with plenty of time left.

On Northern's ensuing possession, the Lights drove into Rocky territory again. But a holding penalty pushed it back. On the next play, Xerxes Savali hit Lights quarterback Caleb McLaren, forcing the pass to flutter. J.J. Taele came down with the interception, which turned away a huge chance for Northern to retake the lead.

And it was a chance that Rocky backup quarterback Jacob Bakken wouldn't give the Lights again, because with 1:21 left, and the Bears leading 14-13, Bakken sprinted through a hole in the Lights' defensive line and raced 56 yards to the house to put the Bears ahead by eight, and when Northern couldn't get anything going on offense after, the TD put the game on ice. Bakken was in the game due to an injury to Rocky star quarterback Chase White.

"You can always look at different things and say they were the difference," Christensen said. "We played well offensively, but if we finish a couple more drives the outcome is probably different. We played well defensively, but we had a huge special teams breakdown. So we didn't put a complete game together in all three phases, and you have to do that to win games in this conference."

And while three big plays cost the Lights a chance to steal a Frontier road win, Northern performed admirably from start to finish, especially defensively where the Lights allowed just 240 total yards, held the RMC passing attack to just 102 yards and the normally potent Bears to just 11 total first downs by RMC, three of which came on Rocky's second possession when they took an early 7-0 lead on a White TD pass.

Northern closed the first quarter with Langley's first of two field goals, and the Lights took a 10-7 lead into halftime after McLaren threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to budding freshman star Dylan Rychtarik with 6:06 left in the half.

From there, Northern's defense kept the Bears in check. Alec Wagner finished the game with six tackles and a sack, while Logan Sprouse and Dujuawan Jones had interceptions. David N'Guessa also had a sack and Garet Fowler had eight stops for a stingy MSU-N defense.

Offensively, Northern was paced by Zach McKinley, who torched the Bears for 132 yards on 22 carries with a long of 38, as the Lights nearly doubled the Bears with 407 yards and 17 first downs. McLaren was also solid, throwing for 260 yards and a score with two picks. He completed passes to 10 different receivers with Sam Mix catching five for 65 yards, Rychtarik grabbing four balls for 86 yards and Mike Cocke catching three passes for 39 yards.

"The kids played hard, and they played pretty well for much of the game," Christensen said. "It was a close game against a good football team and we just came up short at the end."

Northern will now turn its attention to its homecoming showdown with Montana Tech, a team that's won five straight games and is sitting in first place in the Frontier standings. The Lights and Orediggers kick off at 1 p.m. this Saturday inside Blue Pony Stadium.

Rocky Mountain 21, Lights 13

MSU Northern 3 7 0 3 - 13

Rocky Mountain 7 0 0 14 - 21

RMC: Prince Shonola 5 pass from Chase White (Griff Amies kick)

MSUN: Tommy Langley 24 FG

MSUN: Dylan Rychtarik 63 pass from Caleb McLaren Langley kick)

MSUN: Langley 23 FG

RMC: Sam Sparks 93 kickoff return (Amies kick)

RMC: Jacob Bakken 56 run (Amies kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Northern, Zach McKinley 22-132, Jett Robertson 5-24, Caleb McLaren 13-(-9). Rocky, Jacob Bakken 4-71, Kodee Varner 15-48, Sam Sparks 4-13, Chase White 6-6.

PASSING: Northern, Caleb McLaren 22-37-2--260. Rocky, Chase White 8-16-2--91, Jacob Bakken 2-4-0--11.

RECEIVING: Northern, Sam Mix 5-65, Dylan Rychtarik 4-86, Mike Cocke 3-39, Zach McKinley 2-2. Rocky, Taylor Schwartz 4-25, Prince Shonola 3-58, Brandon Mosely 3-19.

Frontier Conference Football Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Montana Tech 5-1 5-1

Rocky Mountain 4-2 4-3

Southern Oregon 4-2 4-3

Eastern Oregon 3-2 4-2

UM-Western 3-3 4-3

Carroll College 2-4 2-4

MSU-Northern 1-5 1-5

College of Idaho 1-5 2-5

Saturday

Rocky Mountain 21, MSU-Northern 13

Montana Tech 34, Carroll College 15

UM-Western 30, College of Idaho 20

Eastern Oregon 39, Southern Oregon 29

Saturday, Oct. 22

MSU-Northern vs Montana Tech

Rocky Mountain at Carroll College

Southern Oregon at College of Idaho

UM-Western at Eastern Oregon