Lights take one more shot at Blue Pony Stadium

The Montana State University-Northern Lights haven't won a home game since their August 2018 win over Mayville State. A Frontier Conference win? Well, that's been even longer.

But, a win is exactly what the Lights would love to give their dedicated seniors Saturday against Southern Oregon. Northern (0-8, 1-8) closes out its home schedule against the struggling Raiders (3-5, 3-6) Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium.

And, like any senior day, it will be an emotional one, as a small but important group of Lights are honored before their last home game.

Trenton Woodward, Jett Robertson, Darius Alexander-Jones, Cody Lucke, Bryce Bumgardner, Derante Lamelle and Ian Sparrow will also be playing their final home game in a Northern uniform Saturday, and for many, it's been a journey that has been hard, difficult and short on success. Nevertheless, this group of Northern seniors stayed the course, and second-year head coach Andrew Rolin has nothing but love for the group.

"This group of seniors will be greatly missed, and I am thankful for their commitment and dedication to being all in," Rolin said. "They were great members of our program, but more importantly, I know will be great husbands, fathers and members of their community. They will always be Northern Lights because tradition never graduates."

The Northern seniors haven't graduated just yet either, and Saturday, they will try and help the Lights knock off SOU.

Of course, given MSU-N's struggles, that won't be easy. SOU comes in with an un-Southern-like record, but yet, a very Southern-like offense.

The Raiders, always a high-flying passing team, have quarterback Wyatt Hutchinson throwing for 13 touchdowns and over nearly 2,000 yards so far. Hutchinson is also a threat to run, while receivers like Jordan Suell and Christian Graney make SOU an imposing offensive team.

Of course, SOU is always good offensively, but after an 0-4 start to the season, the Raiders have progressed because of a young defense starting to mature. Still, the Raiders do allow 33 points and 450 yards of offense, so the MSU-N offense, led by Robertson and Bumgardner, as well as Marvin Williams Jr., and quarterbacks Brendan Medina and Tre' Long, are hoping to exploit that young Raider defense Saturday.

And to do that, the Lights have to simply stop shooting themselves in the foot.

Northern averages almost 400 yards of offense and is fourth-best in the Frontier in passing. But, because of turnovers and mistakes in the redzone, the Lights are still averaging a Frontier-worst 17 points per contest. And while all season long, the Lights have moved the ball up and down the field, the critical turnovers and miscues have hurt their chances to take that next step in league play.

Defense has also hurt at times, too. Northern continues to have to play many young players on defense that, it's been difficult for the Lights to make significant progress. And while players like linebacker Jaren Maki and young safeties Japerri Powell and Hunter Riley have been huge bright spots on defense, the Lights still come into Saturday's home finale allowing 43 points and 473 yards of total offense per outing, and those numbers will have an offense like SOU's licking its chops Saturday, though the weather could also play a factor.

And still, as much as the stats don't favor the Lights and they are struggling through a difficult stretch of their season, one thing Northern hasn't done is quit. And the Lights certainly won't on senior day. So now, all that's left to do is for Northern to execute at a high level and try to win possibly the last MSU-N game to be played in Blue Pony Stadium.

"We need to clean up the mistakes for ourselves," Rolin said. "If we do that and trust the process we have going here, the score will eventually take care of itself and that's what I believe. We've got to hold our standard and our standards are high."

Saturday's senior day game between the Lights and Southern Oregon kicks off at 1 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium. The Lights will finish the 2019 season at College of Idaho next Saturday.

Home Finale

MSU-Northern Lights (0-8, 1-8) vs Southern Oregon Raiders

(3-5, 3-6)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Blue Pony Stadium

Streaming: golightsgo.com

Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

Twitter: Twitter/Havredaily

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