Football | 03/29/23 | 11:10 AM

HELENA, Mont. - Head Coach Troy Purcell and the Carroll College Football team have announced the finalized 2023 Fighting Saints schedule. Carroll will play a total of 10 regular season games, five road contests and five games at Nelson Stadium.

The Fighting Saints, coming off of conference title No. 45 in program history, and a return to the NAIA Football Championship Series, will look to parlay last season's success into another postseason run in 2023.

Carroll's 10-game schedule features eight games in a new-look Frontier Conference, as well as two non-conference clashes.

The Saints will open their season with a rare non-conference game against rival Montana Tech. The season opener for the two schools will be a Thursday evening affair on August 31. The Saints and Orediggers will book-end their schedules with a Frontier Conference game in Helena on November 11.

The Thursday night game will provide Carroll with an extra bit of rest leading into their home opener. The Saints will host St. Thomas University (Fla.) on September 9 at Nelson Stadium, the first meeting between the two programs. Saint Thomas finished the 2022 season at No. 15 in the nation with a 9-2 record, but were left on the outside looking in at the 2022 NAIA Football Championship.

The Saints will open Frontier play on the road at Rocky Mountain College on September 16 in Billings, then return home the following weekend for a showdown with the Frontier's newest addition, Arizona Christian. 

Carroll will host the Firestorm of Arizona Christian on September 23, which will be part of homecoming weekend. Arizona Christian joined the Frontier Conference as a football-only addition this past winter, and are coming off an 8-3 season and an appearance in the NAIA Football Championship Series.

Carroll's bye week on October 7 will be sandwiched by a pair of road games. The Saints will head to Havre, Mont. to play MSU-Northern on September 30, and then take a long bus ride to La Grande, Ore. where they will take on Eastern Oregon on October 14.

The College of Idaho, whom Carroll shared the 2022 Frontier Conference Championship with, will visit Nelson Stadium on October 21. 

Carroll will make it's longest road trip of the year to put a cap on October when they travel to Ashland, Ore. for a tilt with Southern Oregon.

November will provide the Saints with a pair of home games against long-time Frontier foes. Montana Western will come to Helena on November 4, and as mentioned earlier, Montana Tech will come to town for a final-game Frontier Conference showdown.

Game times will be announced in the near future.

The Saints are currently in the midst of their 2023 spring practice window, and will have their annual spring game on Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m. The spring game, which will be held at Nelson Stadium, is free to attend and open to the public.

Stay tuned to www.carrollathletics.com for all the latest updates with Carroll Football and the rest of Carroll Athletics.