Box Score HELENA, Mont. -- A winning season came down to a kick. 

The Carroll College Saints were an 18-yard field goal from cementing their first winning season since 2014, but Eastern Oregon broke through on the kick and blocked the attempt with 20 seconds remaining.

Carroll (5-6, 4-6) fell to the Mountaineers (6-4, 6-4) 8-7 on Saturday in Nelson Stadium during Senior Day. 

"If we make the kick or we score a touchdown, we still played the same game," a dejected Saints coach Mike Van Diest said afterward. "They played hard. I made a big mistake the last call of the game not going for a touchdown. The field goal kicking has not been good. We had two blocked last week. This is all on me. These guys deserve to win. I didn't give our offense a chance to win."

Carroll's offense made splendid plays to put the Saints in position to win the game on two separate drives in the fourth quarter. 

With 14 minutes left in the game, the Saints faced a third and 14. Kolby Killoy delivered a strike to Troy Arntson on an in-route and the Saints picked up a first down. Four plays later, the Saints faced a fourth-and-one on their own 46 and put the ball in senior Eric Dawson's hands. The do-everything player from Great Falls rumbled nine yards to keep the drive alive. 

Four plays later, the Saints faced a fourth-and-three on the EOU 38. Again, the Saints called Dawson's number and the senior delivered. Dawson hauled in a pass for seven yards and Saints kept moving.

"That's the way he's played most of the year," Van Diest said of Dawson. "He did it week after week. I wanted these kids to smile today and I didn't give them a chance." 

The Saints went for the kill shot on the next play, throwing a deep ball up to redshirt sophomore Shane Sipes, but Justin Hughes intercepted it. 

EOU hit a long pass a few plays later, setting them up for a 49-yard yard field goal from Nathan Harden to take the lead 8-7 with 4:59 left in the game. 

With the ball back in their hands, once again, the Saints' offense drove. 

Though, it started with two consecutive sacks.

Killoy felt instant pressure on his first two drop-backs and then faced a third-and-26. Rather than fold, Killoy hung in and delivered a precise pass to Sipes to pick up the first down. Killoy connected with Dawson, Sipes, Arntson and Farris on the drive to get the Saints down onto EOU's 7-yard line. 

The Saints put the ball in Dawson's hand from there, and Dawson ran for three consecutive plays to bring the Saints down to EOU's one-yard line on fourth down. 

Once there, the Saints sent Josh Kraft on the field. And for the third time in two weeks, he had a kick blocked. 

"They took the ball and drove it 74 yards," Van Diest said of his offense. "They deserve to have a chance to win the game with the offense on the field and not our kicking game. Our offense is better than our kicking game. I didn't stay with it. That's a big mistake. I can't' believe that. They did everything right."

The Saints grabbed the lead right before the first half expired. EOU had built a lead on a field goal and a blocked punt that became a safety, but with the clock ticking down Killoy hit Sipes for an 18-yard touchdown to grab a 7-5 lead. 

That lead held up until the fourth quarter. 

Statistically, the Saints dominated everywhere except in points scored. 

Carroll held EOU to 245 yards, while racking up 407 offensive yards. The Saints had the ball for 39 minutes, while SOU only managed to hold onto it for 21 minutes. 

The Saints held EOU all-conference wide receiver Brenden Kelly to two catches for 18 yards. 

"Offense and defense did everything they needed to do to win today," Van Diest said. 

Killoy completed 25 of 45 passes for a career-high 309 yards, a touchdown and an interception -- though he missed a few targets and a few receivers dropped catchable passes.

"We dropped a couple balls," Van Diest said. "Shane Sipes and Eric Dawson made some great plays. The catches they made in the second half… they showed why they're the type of players they are. They're big time players. They went up and got the ball." 

Matt Kvech, who was injured against Western on Oct. 13, came off the bench to punt well and give the Saints quality field position to keep Eastern in check. 

"He did a real good job," Van Diest said. "He stepped up today and had some real punts and helped us with the field position." 

The Saints rushed for over 100 yards, though their final total took tapered down to 98 after sacks of Killoy. 

NOTES: Carroll honored its 15 seniors on the football team before the game… Sipes posted his second consecutive week with over 100 yards receiving… Carroll held EOU to 60 yards rushing… Drew Melton had five pass breakups in the game.