Lights will challenge themselves in 2019

In the first game he ever coached at Montana State University-Northern, Andrew Rolin's Lights were victorious. The Lights beat Mayville State in their season-opener last August, which was their only win of the 2018 season.

And while the Lights will look to show marked improvement in year two of the Rolin era, their season-opener will be a much tougher task.

Northern released its 2019 football schedule last month, and at the top of the list of the 11 games the Lights will play this season is a road trip to Arizona Christian. Northern will open its season Aug. 21 in Phoenix against the Firestorm, who have only been an official NAIA program for six years, but have already started to climb the ranks.

In 2018 ACU went 8-3 overall and 6-3 in conference play, and while the Firestorm came up short of qualifying for the NAIA playoffs, they did spend much of the season ranked in the NAIA Coaches Poll, and finished the year essentially ranked No. 26 in the final poll.

And playing the Firestorm in Phoenix in August isn't the only reason the first leg of the Lights' schedule is tough. A week after Northern travels to ACU, the Lights will begin Frontier Conference play against defending league champion Rocky Mountain College, in Billings. The Battlin' Bears ended 2018 ranked No. 16 in the country, and will likely be the favorite to win the Frontier title again this season.

Northern's start to 2019 will be arduous as the Lights play three road games in the first five weeks of the season, and four of their first six games away from Havre.

After playing ACU and RMC on the road back-to-back, the Lights come home to play Montana Western on Sept. 14, in what will be an exciting, but tough home opener for the Lights. Western threatened to win the Frontier title for much of last season, and did it will running with an extremely young roster. Following the home game with the Bulldogs, the Lights will go right back on the road, traveling to Helena Sept. 21 to play Carroll College, a program many see as being much-improved this coming season. Northern then returns home to host Montana Tech Sept. 28. The Orediggers were another squad that had its struggles a year ago, but figure to be loaded for a big run in 2019.

After five games to open the season, the annual bye week starts October, before the Lights travel to Eastern Oregon Oct. 12. Northern returns to Havre for a rematch with Rocky Oct. 19, then visits Western Oct. 26.

November begins with the Lights only back-to-back home stretch of the season. On Nov. 2, the Lights play Carroll for a second time, which will also mark the return of Troy Purcell to Blue Pony Stadium. A week later, the Lights close out their home schedule against high-octane Southern Oregon on senior day. And for the fourth straight year, the Lights close out the regular season against College of Idaho, this time, traveling to Caldwell, Idaho Nov. 16.

Northern's schedule this coming season pits the Lights against seven teams that had .500 or better records in 2018. For the second straight year, the Lights play Rocky, Carroll and Western twice each. For the second year in a row, the Lights will make two, out-of-state Frontier road trips. And for the first time since 2017, they'll make three out-of-state road trips in all.

Northern, which will start spring practice Monday, will open its season Aug. 31 against Arizona Christian. The game between the Lights and Firestorm will kick off at 7 p.m. in Phoenix. The Firestorm are slated to come to Havre for the Lights' season-opener in 2020.

2019 MSU-Northern

Football Schedule

Aug. 31 at Arizona Christian

Sept. 7 at Rocky Mountain

Sept. 14 vs Montana Western

Sept. 21 at Carroll College

Sept. 28 vs Montana Tech

Oct. 12 at Eastern Oregon

Oct. 19 vs Rocky Mountain

Oct. 26 at Montana Western

Nov. 1 vs Carroll College

Nov. 9 vs Southern Oregon

Nov. 16 at College of Idaho