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Yotes Howl: College of Idaho 48, MSU-Northern 17

College of Idaho subdues Northern on its first trip to Blue Pony Stadium

The Montana State University-Northern Lights want to improve every week. And there’s no denying the Lights did just that Saturday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to avoid a sixth straight loss.

In their first-ever visit to Havre, the College of Idaho Yotes used a stout running game to breeze by the Lights 48-17 Saturday afternoon at Blue Pony Stadium. The loss dropped Northern to 0-5 in the Frontier Conference, while C of I (2-3, 2-4) picked up its second win of the 2015 campaign.

Still, even with a difficult loss, Northern first-year head coach Aaron Christensen liked the fight in his team, especially coming off an 82-9 pounding at the hands of defending NAIA national champion Southern Oregon in their last game.

“I don’t question their effort,” Christensen said. “It would have been real easy for guys to quit after the last game. But instead, they came back and worked really hard these last two weeks. They worked hard to get better, and I feel like we definitely got better today.”

Indeed. There were bright spots, but too many times Northern overshadowed those bright spots with painful mistakes. Two turnovers and several costly penalties kept the Lights from really making a game of it, and those are things Christensen said his team needs to shore up in order to have a better chance to win games in the rugged Frontier.

“It’s hard to overcome penalties, or turnovers, or bad snaps and things like that, for any team,” Christensen said. “For us, that’s something we have to continue to work on. Some of that is our youth and inexperience. But it also goes back to execution. We do good things, and we did some good things today. And we will continue to do good things when we don’t hurt ourselves. Today, we hurt ourselves a few too many times.”

The Yotes had something to do with it, too, and they seemingly took control of the game right from the start.

On their first possession, the Yotes went 50 yards on just five plays, and capped the drive with an A.J. Martin rushing touchdown. It was the start of a tough day for the MSU-N defense, which surrendered 237 yards on the ground to the run-first Yotes. But, Northern looked like it would have a good chance to answer the first score of the game, when, on C of I’s second possession following a Jess Krahn interception, Jordan Brusio sacked C of I quarterback TeeJay Gordon on back-to-back plays. That gave the Lights good field position, but they couldn’t capitalize, and the Yotes added 10 more points to lead 17-7 after the first quarter.

But, as tough as the first quarter was, the Lights showed plenty of fight. They put together an outstanding drive that included two big pass plays to Mario Gobbato and a huge catch by Jake Messerly on fourth down sandwiched in between. The second Gobbato reception resulted in a 15-yard touchdown that pulled the Lights to within 17-7.

A fired up Northern defense got the ball back for the Lights again, but C of I’s defense forced a Northern punt, and from there, things unraveled a bit as the Lights saw Martin cap an eight-play 88-yard drive with his second score to push the lead to 24-7. On Northern’s ensuing possession, a fumble gave it right back to the Yotes, and they made it pay with a 31-yard field goal as time expired on the first half — sending Northern into the lockerroom trailing 27-7.

“I think, defensively, we played much better this week, especially in the first half,” Christensen said. “I thought our defensive effort and pursuit was much better than our last game, and that’s something we worked really hard on this week. Now obviously, we have to give up less point, but I thought, the way our defense came out today, it was a big improvement, and they did some great things to get the ball back to our offense.”

And though the Lights were down 17 to start the second half, that effort and fight was still there.

MSU-N quickly drove down and got a Jaime Toscano field goal to pull closer, and while the Yotes answered with another drive, resulting in a Ringo Robinson TD on a screen pass from Gordon, MSU-N wasn’t done.

The Lights promptly answered that score with a two-yard Zach McKinley score. The TD was set up by two big plays to Qwaundre Yancy and a magnificent pass from Krahn to Messerly down to the two-yard-line.

“Offensively, we played better today,” Christensen noted. “Flat out, our protections were better, our run game was better, and our passing game was a little bit better.

“But, we’re still at that point that when we have an opportunity to make a big play, we have to make it, and today, we missed a few too many of those.”

And the Lights missed that big opportunity on their very next offensive series. After McKinley’s score, which cut the lead to 34-17, Garrett Jericoff made a leaping interception to give MSU-N the ball again. But, Northern quickly went 3-and-out on offense, and four minutes later, Martin scored his fourth TD of the day, stretching the C of I lead to an insurmountable 41-17 with just 15 minutes left. The Yotes would get a Colby Brown rushing score late in the fourth to put the game even further out of reach.

C of I’s run game was also a big difference in the contest, as the Yotes not only rushed for over 200 yards, they also held the ball nearly twice as long as the Lights had it. The Yotes did it by committee as well, with bruiser Kyle Merritt totaling 90 yards on nine carries, Zach Garzoli tallying 71 yards on 11 carries and Martin, the backup quarterback, gaining 34 on seven totes. Gordon would finish with 209 yards passing, 42 yards rushing and a TD as the Yotes totaled 467 yards of offense.

Defensively, the Lights got 13 tackles and a pick from Jericoff, while Tucker Dunn, Brusio, Jon McGinnis and Tyler Craig each had eight stops. Craig also totaled his sixth sack of the season.

On offense, Northern had one of its most productive days of the season. The Lights gained 338 yards, with Krahn throwing for 229 yards and a score. Messerly had nine grabs for 90 yards and Kagen Khamaneh caught two balls as well. McKinley rushed for 79 yards and another 75 receiving, while Gobbato had 30 yards rushing and 31 yards though the air.

“We had some opportunities today to make some more plays on offense,” Christensen said. “But, we just hurt ourselves too many times. Those are things we just have to keep working on. We have to learn to execute better. But I thought we got better today. I thought we played much better, and that’s what we’re trying to do, keep getting better.”

Northern (0-6) will look to make even more strides this Saturday when the Lights travel to Butte to play Montana Tech. MSU-N will then return home to face Eastern Oregon Oct. 24.

Improvements

Lights are 0-6 overall and 0-5 in the Frontier; Next up: at Montana Tech Saturday

Lights Notes: The Lights are now 0-2 against the Yotes. C of I also beat Northern 35-31 in its inaugural football season a year ago. Northern had its highest offensive output of the season, but also one of its highest penalty totals. The Lights committed six fouls for 73 yards. Craig now leads the Frontier with six sacks, as well as 10.5 tackles for loss.

 

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