THIS WEEK IN CARROLL FOOTBALL
The sixth-ranked Saints travel to Dillon to play the undefeated, No. 16 Montana Western Bulldogs in the final game before the bye week. The Saints are 2-1 after a dramatic 42-36 win over Rocky Mountain on a touchdown pass from Mac Roche to Connor Fohn with just seven seconds left on the clock. Rocky Mountain is 3-0 after wins against Rocky Mountain, the College of Idaho and MSU-Northern. Western has a conference-high 12 turnovers on the season. 

LAST GAME: No. 7 SAINTS TOP ROCKY 42-36
Mac Roche hit freshman Connor Fohn on the five-yard line on a 55-yard completion and he strode into the end zone to give Carroll College a 42-36 lead over Rocky Mountain College with seven seconds remaining and the seventh-ranked Saints prevailed to move to 2-1 on the season.

The game seemed out of hand just minutes earlier when a 39-yard field goal attempt from Colter Hamel fell short and Rocky took over with just 1:32 left on the clock.

Three plays and two Carroll timeouts later the Bears punted and Carroll took over on their own 40-yard line with 29 seconds left on the clock. A dropped pass and a five-yard Roche scramble out of bounds set up third down on the Carroll 45.

Roche evaded pressure and stepped up in the pocket to find Fohn who had got behind the defense and went untouched for the score.

The score topped a half that saw the Saints overcome a 17-7 halftime deficit with 35 second-half points.

ABOUT MONTANA WESTERN
The Bulldogs bring a veteran-laden defense that may be one of the best in the nation. The four starters at linebacker are all seniors and are four of the top five leaders in tackles for UMW. The Bulldogs are ball hawks to say the least, two Western Players, AJ Wilson and TJ Benson are in the top three in the Frontier in interceptions and Reno Ward leads the conference in forced fumbles.

The UMW offense is under the helm of freshman quarterback JD Ferris. The dual threat quarterback is sixth in the Frontier in passing yards per game and eighth in rushing yards per game. Bulldog running back Sam Rutherford is sixth in the Frontier for rushing yards per game.

Head coach  B.J. Robertson is in his third season as head coach of his alma mater and owns a career record 13-11 but has never defeated Carroll as a coach.

QUICK NOTES
• The Saints haven't lost to Montana Western since 2004 when the Bulldogs defeated the Saints 26-17 at Nelson Stadium.  

• Montana Western is the lone remaining undefeated team in the Frontier Conference.

• The Bulldogs leads the conference in turnovers with eight interceptions and four fumble recoveries for a total of 12 turnovers in three games.

• UMW forced eight of those turnovers in the first game of the season against Rocky Mountain in Billings.

• The Saints were picked to win the Frontier Conference by the Frontier coaches. Western was picked to finish fifth behind Carroll, Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon and Rocky Mountain.

• After tallying an atypical 15 penalties against Southern Oregon, the Saints had only three penalties for 27 yards against Montana Tech and four penalties for 40 yards against Rocky.

• The Carroll defense locked down the Rocky rushing attack and allowed only 50 yards on 28 attempts.

• After two games, Mac Roche Ranks 16th in the NAIA for passing yards per game with 252 yards.

• Ryan Walsh ranks ninth in the nation for kick off yards per attempt at 29.8.

• Roche ranks in the top 50 in the NAIA in passing yards per game, total passing, total offense per game, 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 six individual top-ten rankings.

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

• Roche's four touchdown passes against Rocky Mountain is the high to date for the Frontier Conference.

• James Dowgin is fifth in the Frontier for tackles per game at 8.7. Greg Tucker is tied for sixth with 8.3.

• Connor Fohn scored his first touchdowns as a Saint against Rocky Mountain. The first was a 50-yard touchdown in the third quarter. The second was the game-winning 55-yarder with seven second remaining.

• Fohn broke out with 148 receiving yards on four catches against Rocky.

• Fohn is now second in the Frontier Conference behind Rocky's Andre McColloch for receiving yards per game.

• Tight end Eric Dawson is second on the team with 13 catches and is second on the team with 182 receiving yards. 

• Dawson is sixth in the Frontier for receiving yards per game at 60.7.

• Colter Hamel has 11 touchbacks on 16 kickoffs this season including one that went through the uprights against Rocky Mountain.

• Beaugh Meyer is tied for fourth in the Frontier for sacks per game at 0.5 and tied for third in the conference in tackles for loss per game at 1.7.

•  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.

• Head Coach Mike Van Diest has the best winning percentage (.858) 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).