Lights open Frontier play at new rival

The Montana State University-Northern Lights are four weeks into the second season of the Jerome Souers year two. And now it's time for the Lights to begin Frontier Conference play. 

However, league play begins for the Lights (1-1) with an all new road trip.

Saturday night, the Lights will be in Glendale, Arizona to face the Arizona Christian Firestorm (1-1). It will be the second ever meeting between the two programs, but the first since ACU joined the Frontier. In fact, Saturday night will be the Frontier debut for the Firestorm, who enter the game at 1-1 after beating NCAA DII Fort Lewis last Saturday.

ACU will be a pass-happy team with Tyler Duncan at quarterback, but the Firestorm run the ball well, too, led by Duncan and Justin Wright. That offense will be a challenge for the Northern defense, led by All-American linebacker Dylan Wampler, who is one of the top tacklers in the Frontier.

Offensively, Northern will look to rebound from a shutout loss to Rocky Mountain College two weeks ago. The Lights have been going with senior Oakley Kopp at quarterback, while Mason Dionne and Andrea Trahan-Proctor get the bulk of the carries. 

And while the Lights hope to get on track on offense, they'll need to be sharp in all three phases against the Firestorm, who are a potentially Top 25 team, and who will be excited to make their Frontier debut.

Northern and ACU kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Glendale. The Lights have their bye next week, before hosting Carroll College Sept. 30.