Lights brace for powerful Bears

The Montana State University-Northern Lights were snake bitten in a shoot out last week at Eastern Oregon.

On Saturday, the Lights will look to avoid the same type of game when they host the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears at 12 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium.

Saturday's game marks the start of a three-game home stand for the Lights, who won't go on the road again until Oct. 23. And MSU-N head coach Mark Samson says his team is ready to take advantage of the opportunity in front of it.

"It's been a good week of practice," Samson said. "It's another tough game in front of us, it was a tough way to lose last week, but we're ready and excited for this game, excited to be playing at home again. The key for us is just making sure we play smart. We have to play hard of course, but we need to play smart, not make the kinds of mistakes that hurt us last week."

Playing smart and hard will be something Samson says he shouldn't have to worry about on defense this week. The Lights (1-2, 1-2) went into last Saturday's game as a Top 5 defense in the NAIA but EOU rallied to score 50 points and overtake Northern 50-46. MSU-N did get three turnovers and key sacks at EOU, but made some critical mistakes in the fourth quarter. Now the stingy MSU-N unit, led by Casey Varner's five interceptions and sure tacklers like Will Andrews, Jared Weigel, the former Havre High standout who missed last week's game with an injury and Landry See must regroup and find a way to stop an RMC (1-2, 1-3) attack which might just be coming out of hibernation.The Bears may be at or near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories coming into Saturday's game, but they have two-time NAIA All-American quarterback Kasey Peters back after he sat out the first three games of the season. They also have wide receivers all over the place, including Levi Sutton, who hurt the Lights in RMC's split with the Lights a year ago. Rocky will also look to keep the MSU-N defense honest with bruising 6-2, 230-pound running back Michael Thomas, who rushed for over 100 yards in both meetings with Northern last season. Peters will have even more weapons at his disposal now, with Mark Desin, the Montana State transfer likely moving to wide receiver after starting the Bears' first three games at quarterback.

"It's going to be a challenge, it always is when you face Rocky's offense," Samson said. "They will spread you out, we're going to see a lot of four and five wide receiver sets and Kasey Peters is a dangerous quarterback. He gets the ball out real quick and just makes plays. You aren't going to completely stop him, but you have to limit him as best you can.

"The key for us is just getting back to playing hard-nosed, physical football," he added. "We have to make sure we get some pressure on the quarterback this week and we have to win the turnover battle. Those things will be big for us. But I believe we'll be ready on defense. I expect our defense to play better this week. With the exception of Anthony Tate being out, we're much healthier this week. We're back to full strength and I fully expect our defense will play well this week."

While the Bears' offense can give any Frontier Conference opponent fits, the MSU-N offense came out firing on all cylinders at EOU, and they will be hoping for more of the same Saturday against RMC.

Northern got three touchdown passes from Derek Lear. The red-shirt freshman from Fairfield is second in the Frontier in passing, and the MSU-N offense ranks at or near the top of the league in passing and total offense. Like Rocky, the Lights have a talented stable of receivers with both senior Matt Stuart and freshman Brandon O'Brien as big-play threats. Northern's running game is also picking up steam. Sophomore speedster Stephen Silva has picked up 171 yards on the ground in his last two outings and fullback James Chandless scored twice for the Lights last week.

"Offensively, we played well last week," Samson said. "I was really proud of the way Derek Lear shrugged off the Tech game. He came back and really had a great game. And our offensive line is playing really well right now. They've done a really good job up front the last two weeks and our running game has really started to get going.

"This is a different week," he added. "And there are some things to be aware of against Rocky. They have a pretty strong defense and they run an odd front at times, something we haven't seen much this season. So it's important for us to play smart, pick things they do up and get into position to make some plays and put points on the board."

Defense has been the Bears' Achilles heel at times the last few years. But there's no denying their talent. Rush end Phil Urlacher and linebacker Steffan Blume are two of the best at what they do in the Frontier and they both make big plays seemingly every week. Thomas Ackerman anchors Rocky's secondary.

And with defense and turnovers always playing a key role in the Northern/Rocky series, it figures to again Saturday. The team which can come up with stops and turnovers, limit penalties and timely mistakes will most likely walk out of Blue Pony Stadium with a win — a win that both teams will want badly considering the loser of Saturday's contest will likely have a long climb back up the Frontier standings. That was the case last year when Northern won a wild, offensive shoot out with the Bears in Havre in the final minute.

"It's early," Samson said. "We've talked to the team about not hanging our heads after these last two games and I think we've done a good job of staying positive, staying focused. There is a lot of season left and we can still do a lot of great things this year.

"For us, the big thing is, we have to become a team, from one end to the other that plays physical football, like we were those first two weeks," he added. "If we can do that, come out against Rocky and play hard for 60 minutes, we should be in good shape."

The Lights and Bears will kick off at 12 p.m. Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium. Northern is home again next week to take on Carroll College. The Bears play at home next Saturday against EOU.