GAME NOTES l LIVE VIDEO l LIVE AUDIO l LIVE STATS
THIS WEEK IN CARROLL FOOTBALL
Carroll travels to face MSU-Northern at Blue Pony Stadium in Havre. The Saints topped Northern 34-3 in the first meeting of a home-and-home series. The Lights are 0-7 in Frontier play and 1-7 overall with a win against Mayville State. MSUN head coach Aaron Christiansen resigned Wednesday and Defensive Coordinator Jake Eldridge has resumed the roll of interim head coach. Carroll is coming off of a dominant defensive performance against Rocky Mountain and looks to keep the momentum going against the Lights.
LAST GAME: SAINTS DOMINATE LIGHTS ON DEFENSE EN ROUTE TO 16-3 WIN
The Carroll College defense held Rocky Mountain to 192 total yards, including 54 yards rushing and Reese Hiibel threw a pair of touchdown passes to lead the Saints to a 16-3 win over the Bears Saturday high winds at Herb Klindt Field in Billings.
The game started with two three and outs, but Rocky Mountain downed their punt on the Carroll one-yard line. The Saints drove the ball to the 27-yard line before they were forced to punt into the wind. The ball struggled in the wind and was downed at the Carroll 45, giving Rocky excellent field position. The Bears drove 25 yards on 11 plays, eating the clock on the wind advantage and leading to a 37-yard field goal from Griff Armies.
Carroll regained the ball and drove the ball to the 50-yard line before the switched the field and earned the advantage of the wind. The Saints rode the advantage and capped a 75-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Hiibel to Eric Dawson. Dawson caught the ball in the flat and got to the pylon to put Carroll up 6-3. The winds pushed the PAT wide, but the Saints would not trail again.
The Bears notched one first down on their ensuing drive but were forced to punt. Cole Greff blocked the punt to give the Saints the ball on Rocky's 13-yard line, setting up a six-yard touchdown pass from Hiibel to Chase Fossum to put Carroll up 13-3.
The two defenses would step up for the remainder of the half, combing for just two first downs for the rest of the quarter and the 13-3 score would hold to the half.
The two teams traded possessions before the Saints closed the third quarter with the ball and continued the drive to the Rocky 13-yard line to set up a field goal from Torgerson to give the Saints a 16-3 lead. The Bears went three and out on their ensuing drive and the Saints took their ensuing drive 10 plays for 31 yards on a clock-killing drive. A field goal attempt was missed, but the 5:42 off the clock was the real advantage for Carroll.
Rocky had one more possession, but a David Peterson sack on third-and-10 and a batted pass on Cole Greff ended the offensive opportunity for the Bears.
Major Ali ran three times and earned a first down, and the Hiibel took a knee to close the game and the victory for the Saints. Hiibel was 9-for-20 for 93 yards and two touchdowns, but the yeoman's work was done by Ali who had 25 attempts for 117 yards. Ryan Arntson added 46 yards on six carries. Eric Dawson caught four passes for 38 yards and a touchdown. Shane Sipes notched three catches for 46 yards. Fossum only caught one pass, the six-yard TD.
The defense was the story of the game. The Saints held dynamic runners Sam Sparks and Mason Melby to a combined 54 yards, well short of their 141-yard season average to date. It is also the first game of the year that the Bears were held without a touchdown, their previous low was 23 against Southern Oregon. Carroll tallied four sacks, including two from senior defensive end Alec Basterrechea. The Saints secondary also came up big with nine pass breakups.
ABOUT MSU-NORTHERN
A year of struggle for the Lights got even more chaotic Wednesday when head coach Aaron Christiansen stepped down after two and a half years at the helm. The Lights lost to Montana Tech last Saturday 93-19 and defensively struggled to find any consistency. Offensively, the Lights have been productive at times with multiple games over 400 yards of offense, but in the first meeting with the Saints, Carroll held them to just 201.
Defensively, the Lights are last in the league in total defense and scoring defense.
QUICK NOTES
• Carroll travels to MSU-Northern for the second meeting of the season.
• Carroll returned eight starters on offense, including three offensive linemen, two receivers, the tight ends and a pair of running backs.
•Starting Quarterback Tanner Gustavsen was injured in the first drive of the second quarter against College of Idaho. Redshirt-Freshman Reese Hiibel took over and went 7-19 for 87 yards and an interception.
• In Hiibel's first start, he was 17-33 for 184 yards and he threw one interception. He earned his first win as a college quarterback against Rocky Mountain. He threw two touchdowns in the effort.
• In the season opener at Montana Tech, Tight End Eric Dawson made an impressive return from a medical redshirt year with five receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown and a 15-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation. He has a team-high 18 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown to date.
• Major Ali became the Saints' leading rusher after carrying the ball 24 times for a career-best 147 yards and a touchdown against MSU-Northern. He has 112 carries for 530 yards on the year.
• Carroll running backs combined for 321 yards in the first match up against MSU-Northern, the most since rushing for 396 against the College of Idaho in 2014.
• Shane Sipes was named the Frontier Special Teams Player of the Week on Oct. 18, after racking up 119 yards on two returns, including an 85-yard touchdown against MSU-Northern.
• In the opener, the Saints and Diggers were tied at 21 at halftime and stats were very similar, before the Saints struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the second half.
• Carroll is seventh in the Frontier in total offense/game after seven games.
• Dylan Torgerson is ranked 20th in the NAIA in Punt Yards per attempt at 39.0 yards per attempt.
• Ryan Beaulieu ranks 17th in the NAIA for total punt return yards per attempt (7.7)
• Drew Melton jumped into the NAIA top-10 in passes defended after breaking up five passes and grabbing a first quarter interception against MSU-Northern. He is now sixth overall at 1.9.
• The Carroll defense has held the last two opponents, Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain, to under 56-yards rushing. Montana Tech's Jed Fike is the leading rusher in the NAIA and Rocky Mountain is the leading rushing team in the Frontier. Carroll also held MSU-Northern u
•There are 36 true freshmen listed on the Carroll roster.
• In one of the smallest classes in recent history, only 14 seniors are listed on the roster, 11of those seniors are listed as starters on the two-deep.
• Head Coach Mike Van Diest has the sixth-best winning percentage (.806) of any active college football coach with more than ten years of experience. He is ranked 23rd all-time from any division.
• Van Diest has the highest winning percentage of any coach in NAIA history with 10 or more seasons. Second is Charlie Richard who coached at Baker (Kan.) from 1980-90, 92-94.
• Interim coach Jake Eldridge takes the helm for the Lights. He was previously the interim coach in 2014.
• Trey Blanchard leads the Lights in rushing with 502 yards on 87 carries.
• Three quarterbacks have taken snaps for MSUN with Tommy Wilson taking the bulk of the action. He has 140 completions for 1323 yards and seven touchdowns with 13 interceptions.
• Garet Fowler and Dequincy Bergen each have two interceptions for Northern.
