Northern football blanked by Eastern Oregon University

Coming out of the bye week, the Montana State University-Northern football team was looking for its first win of the season when it went on the road to play Eastern Oregon University this past Saturday. While the EOU Mountaineers were themselves a winless squad, the Lights were outmatched as they lost, 37-0, to the Mountaineers in La Grande, Oregon.

The Lights are a young program in their first year under head coach Jerome Souers. With it being a rebuilding year, the Lights have a small and inexperienced roster. It should not be a surprise they are now 0-7, but that cannot make it any easier for the Lights. While another loss is tough, Souers believes another game of experience can be beneficial.

“We see these as lessons that need to be learned,” Souers said. “We have to look intrinsically at our development. We’re learning to be a team. Those are the things we can control. We’re learning to be better connected, how to solve problems, how to address adversity and how to remain unified.”

But these will be hard lessons for the Lights. As an offense, the Lights only gained 28 total yards of offense. Kaymen Cureton got the starting nod at quarterback where he went 11-for-20 for 71 yards. However, he lost two fumbles on the day. As a team, the Lights are only averaging 2.6 points a game, so the continued growth of this unit will be something to watch out for over the last few weeks of the season.

“It’s a process in itself. It’s a form of adversity that we got to learn to get through,” Souers said. “We have to adapt, improvise and overcome. Those are the lessons that we’re learning.”

There were some positives on defense for the Lights. As a team, they recorded three interceptions against the Mountaineers. Linebacker Dylan Wampler also had another strong game with 14 total tackles in the game. But that was not enough to slow down the Mountaineers.

As a team, the Mountaineers finished the game with 329 total yards of offense. Starting quarterback Carson Bohning went 7-for-16 through the air for a touchdown and two interceptions. But most of the damage came on the ground where the Mountaineers had 218 rushing yards. Aiden Patterson led the way with 104 rushing yards and a score on 11 carries.

But the EOU offense did not get off to the best start in the game. Outside of a 17-yard run by Patterson for a first down, the Mountaineers could not do much on their opening possession and had to punt it away. But the Lights responded with a three and out of their own on their opening drive. Over the next few minutes, both offenses continued to struggle as each team went three and out.

After the Lights punted from their own end zone, the Mountaineers started their third drive at their own 42-yard line. They handed the ball off to Patterson to start the drive, who carried the ball for 21 yards into Northern territory. After another Patterson run, Bohning completed a 14-yard pass to Cade Reed down to the Northern 18-yard line. On the next play, Patterson ran it in from 18 yards out to give the Mountaineers a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

Looking to respond, the Lights caught a break with a personal foul for a first down on their next possession. But later in the drive, a tripping penalty on the Lights forced them into a third and 25 that they could not convert.

After the Lights’ punt, the Mountaineers barely moved the ball before punting the ball away themselves. But on the Lights’ first play of the drive, Cureton fumbled the ball and Gabriel Shukle recovered it for the Mountaineers at the Northern 18-yard line.

Patterson got the call on first down as he carried the ball 10 yards to make it first and goal at the eight-yard line. After a four-yard run by Patterson and an incomplete pass, Parker Robinson completed a four-yard pass to Jonah Blackham for the touchdown. The Mountaineers then connected on the extra point to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter.

The Lights could not respond as they went three and out and punted the ball back to the Mountaineers, who got the ball at the Northern 46-yard line. After a short run and incompletion, Bohning completed a 21-yard pass to Patterson to convert for a first down. A roughing the passer penalty on the Lights pushed the ball further to the Northern 12-yard line.

On the next play, Bohning threw a 12-yard touchdown to Malachi Spurrier. The Mountaineers missed the extra point, but they had a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The Lights tried to get their own offense going in order to keep up. On a third and five on the next drive, Cureton completed a nine-yard throw to Levi Keltner to convert. But a false start and a sack forced the Lights into a third and 23 that they could not overcome, resulting in another punt for the Lights.

Falling behind, the Lights needed a play on defense. On the second play of the ensuing EOU drive, Bohning’s pass was intercepted by safety Hunter Riley who returned the pick to the EOU 30-yard line. While it was a rough day for the Lights, Souers liked how his defense played at moments throughout the game.

“Our kids have not given up. They continue to fight on. That’s the thing I’m most proud of,” Souers said. “We’re the Northern Lights. We represent positive energy. That’s what we have to maintain to get through the darker parts of this journey.”

With the ball back, the Lights tried to take advantage of the good field goal position. Cureton got the drive started with a 10-yard completion to Jamari Johnson for a first down to the 20-yard line. But two incompletions and a sack made it fourth and 15 at the 25-yard line. On the fourth down, Riley’s pass to Johnson fell incomplete and the Lights gave the ball back to EOU.

A personal foul on the Lights gave the Mountaineers a first down to start the drive. But after two short runs, Bohning’s next pass was intercepted by Joshua Rose who returned it to the EOU 44-yard line. The Lights could do nothing with it, though, as Cureton fumbled the ball on third down. The Lights recovered the ball, but the loss pushed them back to their own 32-yard line. On the next play, the Lights punt only went 18 yards to midfield.

Starting the drive at the 50, the Mountaineers quickly took advantage of the field position. Bohning got the drive started with an 11-yard run for a first down. On the next play, Bohning completed a 39-yard pass to tight end Willie Camp for a touchdown to make it 27-0. The Lights got the ball back and ran out the clock to send the game to halftime.

On their opening drive of the second half, the Lights again went three and out. The Mountaineers got the ball at their own 49-yard line and used the running game to move into Northern territory. The Lights were able to eventually get a stop, but Ethan Cutler made a 23-yard field goal to extend the lead to 30-0 for the Mountaineers.

Over the rest of the third quarter, the Lights and Mountaineers both struggled to move the ball as both teams had a pair of three and outs. In the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers scored another touchdown for good measure while the Lights failed to break through for any score.

The Lights now only have three more games this season. They will head to Montana Western this weekend before hosting Rocky Mountain College and Montana Tech in the last two games of the season. While there has been much adversity this season there is more sure to come, Souers believes his players are capable of handling it and becoming a better program for it.

“We need to hold fast, we need to stay true through the storm. As we develop the continued improvement, we’re going to get to where we’re going but it’s a process,” Souers said. “Everybody sees where we’re going. We’re not sure exactly how we’re going to get there yet but the intent remains 100 percent. I’m most proud of that right now.”

The MSU-N football team will play in its final road game this Saturday at 1 p.m. against Montana Western in Dillon.

MSU-N 0 0 0 0 - 0

EOU 7 20 3 7 - 37

1st Quarter

EOU - Aiden Patterson 18 yard run (Ethan Cutler kick)

Drive: 4 plays, 58 yards

2nd Quarter

EOU - Parker Robinson 4 pass to Jonah Blackham (Cutler kick)

Drive: 4 plays, 18 yards

EOU - Carson Bohning 12 pass to Malachi Spurrier (kick failed)

Drive: 4 plays, 46 yards

EOU - Bohning 39 pass to Willie Camp (Cutler kick)

Drive: 2 plays, 50 yards

3rd Quarter

EOU - Cutler 23 FG

Drive: 9 plays, 43 yards

4th Quarter

EOU - Robinson 56 yard run (Cutler kick)

Drive: 1 play, 56 yards

MSU-N EOU

First Downs 7 17

Rushing 37(-43) 38-218

Passing Yards 71 111

Total Offense 28 329

Kick Returns 2/11 0/0

Punts 9/37.6 5/35.6

Penalties 9/77 9/104

Possession 32:36 27:24

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING - MSU-N, Mason Dionne 9-15, Johkyreian Shealey 1(-1), Hunter Riley 1(-2), Jamari Johnson 8(-2); EOU, Aiden Patterson 11-104, Parker Robinson 7-88, Victor Rosas 3-19, Carson Bohning 6-13.

PASSING - MSU-N, Kaymen Cureton 11-20-71-0-0, Hunter Riley 0-1-0-0-0; EOU, Carson Bohning 7-16-107-2-2, Parker Robinson 1-2-4-1-1.

RECEIVING - MSU-N, Jamari Johnson 2-16, Joshua Rose 1-14, TaVarus George 2-12, Kai Green 4-11; EOU, Willie Camp 1-39, Aiden Patterson 1-21, Malachi Spurrier 2-17, Cade Reed 1-14.

TACKLES - MSU-N, Dylan Wampler 14, Lucas Thacker 8, Johkyreian Shealey 4, Joshua Rose 4; EOU, Colby Preston 7, Zak Donato 6, Gabriel Shukle 6, Solo Taylor 3.