Frontier Notebook: Wild Frontier season ends with the retirement of a legend

A cold wind blew through Montana last Saturday, and by late afternoon, it had swept away what was left of the Frontier Conference football season.

And what a season it turned out to be. For the second straight year, only the league champion reached the NAIA playoffs, but even that turned into an interesting scenario as Rocky Mountain College dropped its final game of the season to Montana Tech last Saturday in Billings. Rocky still captured the outright Frontier championship due to Southern Oregon’s win over UM-Western last Saturday, but, Rocky’s loss to the Orediggers likely cost the Battlin’ Bears a home game in the first round of the playoffs. Instead, RMC, which finished at 8-3 overall, and was ranked 16th in the final NAIA Coaches Poll, was sent to Iowa to take on top-seeded and unbeaten Morningside in the first round this Saturday.

And that’s the way it was for the Frontier. There was just too much parity and two many crazy Saturday’s for any team in the league to really control the league, or to make up much ground on the national level.

After Southern Oregon lost four straight games, the Raiders fell from ranked No. 2 in the NAIA to all the way out of the Top 25, and in the final four weeks of the season, no Frontier team cracked the Top 10.

And when it comes to parity, this season was as even-steven as maybe it’s ever been in the league, as Rocky won the league title with three losses, and four teams finished behind the Battlin’ Bears at 6-4. In all, six teams finished at .500 or better with Tech getting to 5-5, and even though Carroll College suffered its fourth straight losing season, the Fighting Saints came within a blocked field goal by Eastern Oregon to finishing at .500 as well.

In the final coaches poll, released Sunday, Rocky came in at No. 16, which is the lowest a Frontier champion has been ranked in November in ages. In all, three teams finished the season ranked, with College of Idaho, winner of six straight games, coming in at No. 22 and Eastern Oregon ranked No. 24. UM-Western and SOU received votes in the final poll.

Of course, the Frontier season also ended with the announcement that the great Mike Van Diest has decided to retire from his head coaching position at Carroll. Van Diest announced his retirement on Monday morning. An NAIA Hall of Fame member, Van Diest will go down as one of the greatest coaches in NAIA, and all of Montana football history. And, with his announcement, the Carroll job will certainly be one of the most sought-after coaching jobs in the country.

Awards Guesses

It won’t be long, and the Frontier will release its 2018 All-Conference teams and postseason honors. In the race for Frontier Offensive MVP, I have Rocky’s Jacob Bakken earning the award over EOU QB Kai Quinn, Montana Tech running back Jed Fike and C of I QB Darius-James Peterson.

My Defensive Player of the Year pick is likely a no-brainer in RMC defensive end Ryder Rice. SOU’s Sean Rodgers and UM-Western’s Jason Ferris definitely deserve consideration too, but Rice has been an absolute beast from start to finish this season.

Finally, my Coach of the Year is going a little against the grain. No doubt, RMC’s Jason Petrino is a very deserving candidate, but, I have to give my vote (If I had one) to C of I’s Mike Moroski. The Yotes started the year 0-5, but, they rallied to win six straight games, and four of those were against nationally ranked teams. What’s so impressive about what the Yotes did this season too is, they graduated an incredible senior class last year, much of the group was part of C of I’s first-ever recruiting class, and yet, they come back this season, with no senior starters, and rip off six straight wins. And I’d venture to say that, if C of I was in the playoffs, they would be the scariest team in the field.

Way Too Early

Speaking of the Yotes, I’m also going to pick them as my favorite to win the 2019 Frontier championship.

That’s right, even though the NAIA season isn’t over, I’m looking towards next year. Back in August, I picked Rocky to win the 2018 title and I was right, and now I’m going with the Yotes in 2019. Yup, you heard it here first, in just their sixth year as a program, the Yotes will win the Frontier title.

As for the rest of my way too early 2019 preseason poll, I have Rocky second, followed by Eastern Oregon and UM-Western in my top four. After the Bulldogs, I’ve got Southern Oregon, Montana Tech, Carroll and Northern finishing in the second half of the Frontier standings, in no particular order at this point.

But, one thing I’ll say about 2019, before I bid farewell to the Frontier Notebook for the fall, I don’t want to see a repeat of the 2018. And that’s because I want to see more than one team represent the Frontier in the playoffs. But for that to happen, the Frontier needs a dominant champion, and a runner-up that loses no more than two games all season long. I know that means some teams won’t be happy if the league race turns into a two-team battle, but, the Frontier is too good to keep only getting one team in the playoffs. And after all, that’s what it’s all about, chasing a national championship. But you can’t win the national title if you’re not in the big dance, and I want to see more Frontier teams playing postseason football.

NAIA Coaches Poll Final

Rn. Prv. Rec. Pts.

1 1 Morningside (Iowa) 11-0 366

2 2 Marian (Ind.) 10-0 352

3 3 Bethel (Tenn.) 10-0 337

4 4 Reinhardt (Ga.) 9-1 324

5 5 Northwestern (Iowa) 9-1 304

6 6 Kansas Wesleyan 11-0 293

7 7 Benedictine (Kan.) 10-1 284

8 8 Saint Francis (Ind.) 8-2 264

9 10 Langston (Okla.) 9-1 253

10 12 Grand View (Iowa) 8-2 235

11 13 Cumberlands (Ky.) 10-1 230

12 14 Baker (Kan.) 8-2 218

13 15 Concordia (Mich.) 9-2 195

14 9 Evangel (Mo.) 9-2 174

15 16 Dickinson State (N.D.) 8-2 165

16 11 Rocky Mountain 8-3 160

17 17 Saint Xavier (Ill.) 8-3 156

18 18 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 7-3 133

19 19 Georgetown (Ky.) 7-3 115

20 21 Ottawa (Kan.) 8-2 88

21 25 Southeastern (Fla.) 7-3 84

22 24 College of Idaho 6-5 53

23 NR Dordt (Iowa) 7-3 44

24 NR Eastern Oregon 6-4 29

25 NR Arizona Christian 7-3 20

25 20 Siena Heights (Mich.) 7-3 20

Others Receiving Votes: Montana Western 9, Ave Maria (Fla.) 5, Southern Oregon 4, Tabor (Kan.) 3, Avila (Mo.) 3.