Notes l Live Stats l Live Audio l Live Streaming

THIS WEEK IN CARROLL FOOTBALL
The fourth-ranked Saints travel south on I-15 for the rivalry game with Montana Tech in Butte. The Saints won both match ups a year ago but the Orediggers started 2015 with a bang, defeating MSU Northern 58-14 while racking up 622 yards of total offense. The Saints, on the other hand, defeated the No. 1 team in the nation in defending national champions Southern Oregon in a battle to the last snap.

LAST GAME: No. 4 SAINTS DEFEAT TOP-RANKED SOU 26-20
Senior quarterback Mac Roche threw for 266 yard and three touchdowns and the Carroll defense held the vaunted Southern Oregon offense to just one offensive touchdown as the No. 4 Saints outlasted No. 1 SOU and a lightning delay for the 26-20 home victory Saturday at Nelson Stadium.

The game was tied to start the fourth quarter 20-20 but Carroll forced a SOU stop and Ryan Gregory returned the ensuing punt 31 yards to the Carroll 45 yard-line to give the Saints great field position. Carroll then drove to the Southern Oregon 19-yard line before a holding call moved the Saints back.

The game was then delayed 30 minutes for lighting and the Saints picked up the drive with a first and 20 on the SOU 29. Four plays later Roche found freshman running back Conner Poulson out of the backfield for the 15-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 26-20 lead that would hold for the win. SOU threatened, but Kamerun Smith's fourth down pass to Adonis Griffin was broken up by Dominique Cole in the endzone with 24 seconds left to seal the win for Carroll.

ABOUT MONTANA TECH
To say that the Montana Tech offense is seeing a renaissance under transfer quarterback Quinn McQueary would be an understatement.

The 622 yards tallied last week were nearly a hundred more than any game in 2014 and is the third-highest average in the NAIA, the 58-points the Diggers tallied against MSU-Northern is 19 points more than any Tech performance from a year ago and McQueary currently ranks third in the NAIA for pass efficiency (218.3).

Running back Nolan Sarcaceni ran for 101 yards and tallied four touchdowns in game one which makes him the scoring leader in the NAIA.

The Tech defense didn't slouch against the Lights either. They held the Northern attack to just 272 yards and 14 points, both touchdowns coming in the second half. 

QUICK NOTES
• The Saints hold a 19-1 record over Montana Tech over the last 20 meetings.

• In two meetings last season, the Saints defeated Tech 38-10 in Helena and 20-12 in Butte.

• The Saints were picked to win the Frontier Conference by the Frontier coaches. Montana Tech was picked to finish seventh.

• The Saints didn't score a single rushing touchdown in the first game of the season but Ryan Walsh and Conner Poulson each scored a receiving touchdown from the backfield.

• Five Saints receivers, Connor Fohn, Eric Dawson, Troy Arntson, Connor McGree and Conner Poulson caught their first passes in a Carroll uniform against Southern Oregon.

• The Carroll offensive line had a stellar performance against a talented Southern Oregon defense. The Saints didn't allow a single sack in 41 pass attempts.

• After game one Mac Roche Ranks No. 10 in the NAIA for total offensive yards at 323. • Roche's 41 attempts and 26 completions are both highs for the Frontier Conference.

• Roche ranks in the top 50 in the NAIA in offensive yards, passing yards per game, total passing, total offense and pass efficiency.

• Roche was named the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against SOU.

• The experienced-laden Carroll secondary has eight individual top-ten rankings after shutting down the pass-heavy SOU offense.

• Southern Oregon's 20 points was the lowest point output since a 2011 loss to Mary Hardin Baylor.

• Three Saints, Adam DeBruycker, James Dowgin, and Greg Tucker, are among the top-ten in the Frontier for tackles per game.

• The Saints are perfect (1-1) in fourth-down conversion and have a perfect defensive fourth down conversion rate on one attempt from Southern Oregon.

• Head Coach Mike Van Diest has the best winning percentage (.862) of any active college football coach with more than ten years of experience. His winning percentage is also the fifth-best of all time behind Larry Kehres - .929 (Mount Union 1961-2012), Knute Rockne - .881(Notre Dame 1918-1930), Frank Leahey - .864 (Boston College, Notre Dame (1939-1953) and Bob Reade .862 (Augustana 1979-1994).