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THIS WEEK IN CARROLL FOOTBALL
The Saints return home for the first game at Nelson Stadium since Sept. 24. It  is the first of three home games in the final four weeks. Carroll  hosts Rocky Mountain who is 4-2 in conference play with two wins over MSU-Northern, a win over College of Idaho  and a come from behind 21-20 victory over the Saints in the second week of the season. The Bears are receiving votes in the NAIA Poll. 

LAST GAME: CARROLL FALLS TO MONTANA TECH 34-15
The Carroll offense failed to find a rhythm and No. 9 Montana Tech racked up 377 yards of offense while holding Carroll to 266 en route to a 34-15 Oredigger win over the visiting Saints.

Montana Tech scored touchdowns on their first two drives of the game. The first was a six-yard touchdown from Quinn McQueary to Dion Williams. The second, a 32-yard pass from McQueary to Williams.

The Carroll defense stepped up and held Montana Tech to just three point for the rest of the half but the Saints couldn't must a score before the break and trailed 17-0 at the half.

The Diggers got the ball to start the second half and the Saints held them to a 35-yard field goal by kicker Derrick Holt. A short Carroll drive stalled and a punt pinned the Diggers on their own 15-yard line but on the first play of the drive, All-American candidate Nolan Saraceni broke two tackles and scored an 85-yard touchdown to put the Diggers up 27-0 with 7:24 left in the third quarter.

 Carroll got on the board in the final seconds of the third quarter with a pass from Tanner Gustavsen to Connor Fohn. Gustavsen entered the game after starting quarterback JT Linder went down with an injury earlier in the drive. The Saints tacked on an extra point from Gustavsen to Troy Arntson to cut the Digger lead to 27-8.

McQuery scored on a 3-yard run with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 34-8. Carroll answered on its next possession on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Gustavsen to Fohn on a circus catch and run.

Carroll drove down to the Tech 5-yard line on their final drive but Gunnar Kayser picked off Gustavsen with less than a minute remaining to close out the win for Montana Tech.

ABOUT ROCKY MOUNTAIN 
Head coach Jason Petrino is 4-3 in his first season at the helm of the Battlin' Bears. Chase White leads the Bears from the quarterback position with 1,498 yards passing and 13 touchdowns. He also gets outside of the pocket and has rushed for two touchdowns. Kodee Varner has 402 yards rushing on the season to lead the Rocky rushing attack. The Bear receivers have over 200 yards receiving with Tyrell McGee leading the way at 380 yards. 

The Rocky defense is led by Chase Bertleson who has a team-high 51 tackles. Seth Swandal had five sacks and eight tackles for loss. JJ Taela and Jason Baker each have three interceptions on the year to lead Rocky.

QUICK NOTES
• Carroll returns home for the first time since Sept. 24 to host Rocky Mountain. The Bears won the first meeting 21-20 after Carroll led 21-7 at the half. 

• The Saints started the season with a bang, topping No. 7 Montana Tech 27-24 on a last-minute field goal. The Saints trailed 24-10 with just over nine minutes remaining in the game buts scored 17 points in the final minutes to notch the win. 

•Two Carroll receivers made a triumphant return to the field in week one after season-ending injuries in 2014. Kyle Griffith caught six passes for 74 yards and a touchdown and Connor Fohn tallied six catches for 141 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown to spark the Carroll comeback over Montana Tech. 

• Fohn comes into the game ranked No. 6 in the NAIA in receptions per game, No. 7 in receiving yards per game, No. 7 total receptions and No. 10 total receiving yards. He is also ranked No. 32 in all-purpose yards per game and 45th in all-purpose yards. He is the leading receiver in the conferences at 654 receiving yards.

• With 188 yards against MSU-Northern, Fohn has the individual single-game high for receiving yards in 2016.

• Rocky Mountain's Griff Amies has the longest field goal of the season at 49 yards against Montana Tech on Spt. 17. 

• Rocky is fourth in the conference for scoring defense per game at 28.6 PPG. 

• The Battlin' Bears are fifth in the conference for scoring offense with 23.7 points per game.  

• First Year head coach Jason Petrino played at Carroll and was a captain on head coach Mike Van DIest's first team.

• Rocky has 24 transfers on this season's roster. 

• Major Ali notched his first touchdown of his Carroll career against Southern Oregon, the redshirt freshman had 13 carried for 60-yards. 

• Senior Dylan Green had the biggest game of his career against the College of Idaho. He racked up 110 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. The big game propelled him into the NAIA Top-50 in Scoring TDs and Scoring TDs Per Game.

• JT Linder ranks in the top-50 in five different statistical categories including Passing Yards per game, total offensive yards per game, pass efficiency, total passing and total offense.  

• Tucker Johnson is fifth in the Frontier Conference for tackles per game at 9.3 and David Anderson is sixth at 8.0.

• Alec Basterrachea is second the Frontier Conference for sacks (4.5) and third in sacks per game (0.08).

• Carroll ranks sixth in the Frontier for total offense.  

• Carroll is third in the Frontier for sacks per game at 2.3.

• The Saints are sixth in the Frontier Conference in total defense

•There are 37 true freshmen listed on the Carroll roster. 

• In one of the smallest classes in recent history, only 18 seniors are listed on the roster. Seven of those seniors are listed as starters on the two-deep.

• Head Coach Mike Van Diest has the second-best winning percentage (.838) of any active college football coach with more than ten years of experience. He trails only Ohio State's Urban Meyer. His winning percentage is also the 11th-best of all-time.