HELENA, Mont. -- The Carroll Football team defeated No. 6 College of Idaho 28-19 on Saturday at Nelson Stadium to clinch a share of the Frontier Conference Championship and secure an automatic bid to the NAIA Football Playoffs.
This marks Carroll's first conference title and first bid to the playoffs since 2014.
Following the opening kickoff, College of Idaho marched down the field and Stan Mulderij kicked a 22 yard field goal to give the Yotes a 3-0 lead out of the gate.
The Saints responded immediately, putting together a 75 yard drive over 11 plays capped off by a four yard touchdown run from Matthew Burgess to go up 7-3.
Both teams came to a stalemate for quite some time before College of Idaho broke the scoring drought with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter.
Wide receiver Connor Richardson lined up as quarterback in a wild cat formation and ran in a touchdown from two yards out to put C of I up 10-7.
Once more, Carroll answered. Matthew Burgess scored his second touchdown of the day, this time from two yards out, to give the Saints a 14-10 lead heading into half time.
College of Idaho, much like the first half, opened the scoring in the second half with a Stan Mulderij 36 yard field goal. The kick cut the Carroll lead to 14-13 with 8:59 left in the third.
For the third straight time, the Saints responded to a Yote scoring drive with one of their own. This time it was redshirt freshman, Duncan Kraft, who popped a 60 yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 21-13.
In the fourth quarter, the Yotes were looking to even the score. Junior safety TJ Abraham had other plans, as he intercepted a Ryan Hibbs pass to set up the Saints for another score. Just eight plays later, Devan Bridgewater connected with tight end Logan Gilliard for a 17 yard score.
With the lead at 28-13, all Carroll had to do was put the game away. The Yotes, however, had a chance to make it a one score ball game when a deep pass to Brock Richardson set up a two yard Nick Calzaretta touchdown with 3:25 remaining. They lined up to kick the extra point, and it was blocked by the Saints to keep the score at 28-19. From there, Carroll shut the door to secure the win.
Carroll's defense, led by first-year Defensive Coordinator Wes Nurse, was outstanding yet again on Saturday afternoon. They totaled six sacks, including two and a half from Garrett Kocab. They also had three interceptions, two from TJ Abraham and one from Micah Ans.
The Saints will find out who they play in the first round of the NAIA Football Playoffs on Sunday, April 11th. The selection show is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. MST and will be broadcasted on the Play NAIA Facebook page.
