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Frontier Notebook: Tech was simply unmatched this season

Frontier Conference Notebook

And just like that, it's over. The 2016 Frontier Conference football season is in the books, and what an intriguing season it was.

Obviously, the biggest story lines from this fall were the sheer dominance of Montana Tech, which won nine straight games by an average margin of 17 points per game. The Orediggers were a well-oiled machine, even with losing at Carroll College to start the season, and, the fact that they led the Frontier in both scoring offense and scoring defense this season proves that, Tech was simply impossible to beat after its Sept. 4 wake-up call.

Winning streaks in the Frontier didn't just apply to Tech though. Eastern Oregon won its last seven games to finish just one game behind the Orediggers in the Frontier standings. When the Mounties came to Blue pony Stadium for a night game with MSU-Northern back on Oct. 8, they were sitting at 2-2 in the Frontier, and the playoffs seemed a long way off. But the Mounties won that night and every game after, and now, they're headed to the playoffs for the first time in school history.

When looking back at the Preseason Frontier Coaches Poll, it's always interesting to see how things ended up after the fact. Southern Oregon was picked to win the Frontier after going to the NAIA championship game two years in a row. But mid season, the Raiders went through a four-game losing streak and wound up at 5-5 in league play to finish fourth. Tech was picked second and won the league title, while Carroll College was picked third and finished tied for fifth at 4-6, suffering its second straight losing season.

Once again, Rocky Mountain College was the enigma of the league. The Bears were picked to finish seventh but at the end of September were tied for first. Ultimately, RMC lost its last four games and finished tied fifth at 4-5. UM-Western was one win away from a serious look at the playoffs, but, the Bulldogs finished 6-4 and alone in third place. The Bulldogs were predicted to finish sixth. College of Idaho was picked fifth, but landed in seventh place, while Northern won one game and finished last, where it was picked at the start of the season.

Individually, Montana Tech's Nolan Saraceni, despite being snubbed in favor of Southern Oregon's Tanner Trosin as the Preseason Player of the Year, will certainly win the league's MVP for the second straight season. Saraceni 1,341 yards and 19 touchdowns, averaged seven yards per carry and a whopping 134 yards per game, which was third in all of the NAIA.

The league's defensive MVP is still a little less clear, and while the votes have already been submitted, it could come down to any number of players, including Tech's Luke Benz, C of I's Nate Moore and Eastern Oregon's Stanley Tucker, all of whom had really big seasons for their respective teams.

As for the Coach of the Year honors, Tech's Chuck Morrell has to be the front runner, but votes could also go to EOU's Tim Camp, who not only guided the Mounties to seven straight wins, including sweeping rival SOU, but also led the team to its first-ever playoff berth.

Lights Leaders

When the 2016 Frontier postseason awards are announced soon, there probably won't be too many Lights on it. But, that doesn't mean Northern doesn't have plenty of players worth of being named All-Conference.

Obviously, senior running back Zach McKinley will be on the list for a third straight year, and he deserves the First-Team nod alongside Saraceni. McKinley rushed for 1,071 yards and eight TDs this season and, was the only other Frontier running back to average 100 yards per game. Anything but a First-Team nod for McKinley would be absurd.

Once again, Northern senior offensive lineman Pete Morales should make the list as well, as he had an outstanding season from start to finish, while junior tight end Kagen Khameneh should also get consideration. Khameneh was Northern's fourth-leading receiver with 10 catches for 145 yards, but, he was just as big in helping McKinley get to 1,000 yards with his excellent blocking.

On the defensive side of the ball, Northern has a plethora of players who honestly deserve to be All-Conference, though some of them will probably be left off the list. Those include both senior defensive linemen Tyler Craig and Patrick Barnett. Craig finished his final season with the Lights with 58 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and two forced fumbles, while Barnett is an unsung DT who racked up 45 stops, four TFLs and two sacks.

Senior safety Logan Sprouse and junior linebacker Garet Fowler should also get heady consideration. The two led Northern in tackles, with Fowler totaling 84 stops to go along with three TFLs and an interception. Sprouse had a team-high four picks this season, which was third in the league, as well as 60 tackles, including 40 solo stops.

And lastly, if junior kicker Tommy Langley isn't on the All-Conference list, that too would be a shame. Langley was a stellar 9-of-12 on field goals this season with a long of 51, a Northern school record, and he made three other kicks that were outside of 40 yards. He was also 18-of-19 on extra points this season.

Playoff Bound

It's so good to see two teams from the Frontier in the NAIA playoffs again. The league's schedule is such that it's actually really hard to accomplish the feat, and that's why what EOU did the last two months is very impressive.

The Mounties, who have climbed to No. 9 in the NAIA, will have a tough road test in the first round, traveling to No. 7 Doane College (9-1). The Tigers were the No. 2 at-large team, so certainly, EOU will have its hands full, especially considering the weather in Western Nebraska on Saturday is supposed to be ugly. Yet, EOU is playing as well as anybody right now, and a win in Nebraska would likely set the Mounties up with a trip to Butte in the second round.

Of course, for that to happen, Montana Tech, ranked No. 6, will have to dispatch No. 15 Dickinson State (8-2) in the first round of the playoffs this Saturday at Alumni Coliseum. Tech did so last season, but the Blue Hawks are an even better team now and won six straight on their way to claiming the Northstar Athletic Conference championship.

Still, Tech will be heavily favored in that game, and a win Saturday would mean the Orediggers will probably stay home to play the winner of the Doane/EOU matchup in the quarterfinals. And that would be good for Tech because the Diggers certainly have aspirations, and the team is capable of making it even farther into the playoffs then they did a year ago.

Note: This will be the final Frontier Conference Notebook for 2016. The notebook will resume in January and will be full of Frontier Conference men's and women's basketball news.

 

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