HELENA -- A lot went in to career win No. 200. 

Six national championships on one side of the field; four on the other. One legendary NAIA coach and a counterpart that runs a  NCAA D-III program with 62 consecutive seasons with a winning record. Three takeaways on defense. One massive touchdown to grab the lead late. 

No matter which number you favored on Saturday at Nelson Stadium, all of them added up to one thing: a Carroll College Saints victory, the 200th of Mike Van Diest's 20-season coaching career. Carroll College surged late and defeated NCAA D-III powerhouse Linfield 21-14. 

Even the grizzled, tough-as-nails head coach showed a bit of emotion as he tried to contextualize what 200 career wins meant on a smoky day in Helena. Van Diest used the majority of his postgame press conference to honor his players, the ones that had just gutted out the Saints' first meaningful win of the season. 

If you know Van Diest, you know the number mattered little. A win every Saturday matters most. 

"It's a number," Van Diest said. "It's not something I set out to do. It's not why I came back to coach. I wanted to be around these seniors. I wanted to be around these guys because I love Drew Melton, McBride Galt, Troy Arntson,  Connor McGree, Ryan Beaulieu, Reece Quade… every one of these seniors is a great guy." 
 
A reflective Van Diest recalled win No. 1 in 1999. The Saints opened up the season by defeating No. 5 Rocky Mountain College, a sign then of the fortunes to come for the Saints. All along the way, Van Diest has had offensive coordinator Nick Howlett at his side. 

Both longtime coordinators put their units in positions to win on Saturday. 

Entering the game without a takeaway, the Saints' defense came away with three interceptions, capped off by Ryan Beaulieu's impressive interception of Linfield quarterback Wyatt Smith with two minutes remaining. 

"I knew it was a c-stem route from the get go," Beaulieu said. "I called it last night. I said I'm going to get a c-stem pick off that. He went in and bit on it. I was like he's going to come out again. I was just waiting for him to just give me the pick. Lucky enough I was there."

Teammates mobbed Beaulieu, whose pick with a few minutes remaining during a 14-14 game gave the Saints new life. Before he could calibrate himself to see what the offense was doing, Joe Farris was already streaking down the far sideline wide open. 

Quarterback Kolby Killoy tossed the bomb to Farris and 65 yards later, the Saints led 21-14.

"I was expecting to run that route off the corner," Farris said. "No one took me, so I was like I really hope he throws it. Before that, we had been running the ball. When he called that play, I knew this is the one." 

Both players acknowledged there had been no talk about getting Van Diest No. 200 throughout the week. The focus, as always, was on getting a win regardless of circumstance. 

The Saints did that. 

McBride Galt and Tony Madsen both had huge red zone or end zone interceptions to stave off the Wildcats earlier in the game, too. 

The Saints built up a 14-0 lead thanks to their running game and strong defense early. Major Ali scored on a 12-yard punishing run and the Saints held that 7-0 led until the third quarter. 

In the third, Ali struck again, this time from 15 yards out. He finished his day with 121 yards rushing on 24 carries with those two scores. 

On defense, the Saints bottled up a potent running attack from Linfield. Carroll allowed Linfield's top rusher Chidubem Nnoli to run 11 times for just 42 yards, and 90 yards total on the ground. 

That meant the Wildcats had to turn to the air, where they threw 54 times, completing 25 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown. 

The Wildcats fought back into the game in the third quarter when Smith hit Dawson Ruhl for a four-yard touchdown pass. They followed that up with a score in the fourth quarter with a trick play that watchers may have remembered from the Super Bowl.

Linfield's running back threw back to the quarterback Smith for a touchdown to tie the game. 

Then, the Saints came up clutch to deliver No. 200.

The win was monumental enough, but when you consider the opponent and the amount of success Linfield's also had, it made the victory even sweeter. 

"Coach (Joe) Smith is an outstanding coach," Van Diest said. "They do things right over there. It's a good program. We're very honored and blessed to have played them today."

No. 200 is in the books.

A chance for No. 201 comes next weekend in Havre, as the Saints take on MSU-Northern.