A Dark Halo: Fighting Saints 27, Lights 6

The Montana State University-Northern Light's tough season continued Saturday night. It has been a rough season for the Lights, as they have not found a win since their season opener at Arizona Christian.

And in a Frontier Conference rematch against Carroll College Saturday night at Blue Pony Stadium, Northern fell to the Fighting Saints 27-6. The game was rough and rowdy throughout but with the loss to Carroll, the Lights now have a 1-8 record on their 2019 season and have yet to get a conference win.

MSU-N head coach Andrew Rolin knows where his team struggled against the Saints and is looking for a better result in Northern's next game.

"We make too many costly mistakes to win football games," said Rolin. "I think when we're good, we're really good and I think everybody knows and can see that."

Northern and the Saints exchanged possessions to start off the game, but after two failed drives by Northern, Carroll started on their own 20 with 5:42 left in the first quarter. The Saints pushed the ball down the field and after a big pass play, along with some quick runs, Devan Bridgewater ran the ball into the endzone for the score. The nine-play, 80-yard drive took Carroll just 3:17 and the Saints led 6-0.

The first quarter saw no more points on the board, but the Lights found a spark on the offense and drove down the field in the second quarter.

Quarterback Tre' Long and wide receiver Bryce Bumgardner connected for multiple key passes throughout the drive, while running back Jett Robertson assisted with Northern's march down the field. In the end, Long found receiver Marvin Williams Jr. for six. The 13-play, 72-yard drive allowed the Lights to tie the game at 6-6.

However, that was Northern's only drive that resulted in points, but that push downfield is an example of how great the Lights can play when they're at their most disciplined state. Rolin knows his team can execute like that on every drive and game, but the maturity needs to step up in his eyes, as well.

"I think everybody can see that we can play with anybody in this conference (Frontier)," said Rolin. "But sometimes, we're playing like we're freshman and sophomores. We can't play that way. We need to grow and grow up as a program."

The rest of the game was all Carroll College.

The Saints scored two times in the second. Carroll's first score of the quarter came from a quick two-play, 66 yard strike ending in a Bridgewater pass to receiver Shane Sipes to take the lead once more 13-6.

The Saints second score before the first half ended was another quick possession. It took Carroll three plays and 28-yards to score again. Bridgewater ended the drive with another passing touchdown to receiver Joe Farris for a 20-6 lead.

Only one score came out of the second half and it was from the Saints in the third. All it took was running back Matthew Burgess and a good PAT kick from Josh Kraft to give Carroll a comfy 27-6 lead.

The Lights were not able to capitalize on the rest of the game after their only score. Multiple dropped passes and a stout Saints' defense smothered Northern and kept them from the endzone. Carroll would come out of the rematch with the victory and a 5-3 record.

In the end, Rolin knows his team can be better, they just have to work out the rough spots.

"When we mistakes when it matters too much, a disciplined team like Carroll is going to take advantage of that," Rolin said. "I just know the things we need to clean up for ourselves. If we do that and trust the process we got going here, the score will eventually take care of itself and that's what I believe. We got to hold our standard and our standards are high."

It was a quiet night for the Lights. The offense managed 78 plays for 294 yards and only one score, while Carroll put up 57 plays for 295 yards and four touchdowns. On top of that, it took Carroll almost half (18:29) the time to score 27 points compared to Northern's possession time of 34:51 to score once.

The Lights' defense struggled, too. Northern was not able to infiltrate the backfield and put up a sack or a tackle-for-loss, while the Saints terrorized the Light's backfield with five sacks and sic tackles-for-loss.

The Lights will now get ready to close out their home schedule when they host the Southern Oregon Raiders this Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium.

Defensive Night

Lights are 0-8 in

Frontier, 1-8 overall; Next Up: vs SOU

Saturday

Lights Notes: Saturday night's game was the first for new head coach Troy Purcell in Blue Pony Stadium. The Lights had their best total defensive output of conference play, holding the Saints to just under 300 yards. Northern also won the time of possession battle for the second straight home game. The game marked the second time in four years that Blue Pony Stadium held a Havre High/Northern day-night doubleheader.