Football | 08/31/23 | 11:02 AM

HELENA, Mont. - The defending Frontier Conference Champion Carroll College Football team will make their long-awaited return to the field this evening in Butte, as they take on Montana Tech to open the 2023 season.

The Fighting Saints enter tonight's opener as the No. 15-ranked team in the Preseason NAIA Coaches' Poll, their highest ranking in the poll since 2015 (October 12, 2015 - No. 11). The preseason No. 15 ranking also gives Carroll its 18th appearance on the preseason poll since 1999, the most of any school in the Frontier Conference in that time span. 

Waiting for the Saints on the other side of the field is No. 16 Montana Tech, a team placed behind them in the national poll, but one spot higher in the Frontier Conference Preseason Poll (Montana Tech - No. 2, Carroll - No. 3).

There is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the new year for the Saints.

The team, now in its fifth season under the direction of Head Coach Troy Purcell, has made the NAIA Football Championship Series in two of the last three seasons, and has once again become a regular on the national poll. In addition, the Saints return a large contingency of players from a 2022 squad that  won their final five games and finished 8-2 in the regular season. Underclassmen have one additional year under their belt, and a large crop of new additions to the team are ready to help push the team to new heights in 2023.

Although the 2022 season ended with a heartbreaking loss in the opening round of the NAIA FCS to No. 2 Grand View (Iowa), one thing was made abundantly clear.

No one wants to see Carroll College in the postseason.

The Saints gave the No. 2 team in the nation all they could handle for 60 minutes, carrying a lead for the large majority of the contest, but ultimately coming up just short.

2022 is behind us, and this year's version of the Fighting Saints is ready to pick up right where they left off.

Carroll returns eight starters on the offensive side of the ball. Luckily for the Saints, the tremendous depth in their roster allowed the coaching staff to rotate in plenty of players, and the starting 11 for Carroll tonight will all enter with game experience. 

The offensive line sees four returners listed at the top of the depth chart (LT - Hunter Mecham [Las Vegas, Nev. / R-SR), LG - Conor Quick [Helena, Mont. / R-SR], RG - Sebastian Koch [Kalispell, Mont. / R-SR, RT - Timothy Sellars [Olympia, Wash. / R-JR) and Jadon Lamb (Townsend, Mont. / R-JR) sliding into the center position. The unit is one of the most experienced on the entire roster, and will look to keep their quarterback upright, and open holes for the run game right out of the gates tonight.

Entering his third year of starting duties as signal-caller for the Saints is Jack Prka (Couer d'Alene, Idaho / JR). Prka has been a rock for the Saints over the past season-and-a-half. In 2022, he posted a line of 173-292-7 for 2,075 yards and 15 passing touchdowns. With yet another offseason of preparation in the books, Prka will look to up the production in 2023 and help propel the Saints further into the postseason.

Aiding Prka in his pursuit of the next level is a veteran group of wide receivers, each bringing a unique skillset to the field. The group is led by fifth-year seniors Camron Rothie (Hamilton, Mont. / R-SR) and Jaden Harrison (St. George, Utah / R-SR), and breakout performer Chris Akulschin (Gig Harbor, Wash. / R-SO). Rothie and Harrison averaged 8.29 yards per catch as a pair, and were on the receiving end of two of the biggest touchdowns of the season in 2022. Akulschin was near unstoppable in the back half of 2022, racking up and impressive 651 yards and a Frontier Conference-leading eight touchdown receptions. 

A pair of seniors head the Carroll backfield in 2023. Duncan Kraft (Billings, Mont. / R-SR) and Baxter Tuggle (Laramie, Wyo. / R-SR) each have seen a significant workload over the last two seasons, and will split the bulk of the run game again in 2023. Last season, the pair combined for 678 rush yards and three touchdowns, and both are eager to see those numbers grow in the new year.

Defensively, Carroll will look a little more different this season. The Saints saw the departure of four graduates, including Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Garrett Kocab, and defensive back-turned coach, Zach Spiroff. The opportunity is there for a hungry group of underclassmen to step in and fill the holes, and the staff believes they have an abundance of guys who can handle the responsibility.

The Carroll defensive front is not only one of the best in the Frontier Conference, but potentially as good as any in the NAIA. The unit was dominant in 2022, and return nearly every player, sans Kocab. Last season, Hunter Peck (Windsor, Colo. / JR), Garret Worden (Laramie, Wyo. / R-JR), Jake Walk (Boise, Idaho / R-SR), Cameron Pruitt (Boise, Idaho / R-JR) and Forrest Suero (Helena, Mont. / SO) wreaked havoc on opposing offenses. The group combined for 111 tackles, 28 TFL, and 15 sacks. All indications point to the group once again being disruptive to opponents in 2023.

The next level of the defense is spearheaded by Tucker Jones (Hamilton, Mont. / R-JR) and Jake Resch (Billings, Mont. / R-SR). Jones led the team in tackles last season with 62, including 34 solo stops, while Resch added another 2o tackles in his own right. Joining them in the middle of the field will be Ben Held (Great Falls, Mont. / JR), who sees his first prolonged opportunity as a starting middle linebacker.

The defensive backfield is where Saints fans will learn some new names in 2023. Tug Smith (Newport, Wash. / R-SR) and Kaden Gardner (Spokane, Wash. / R-JR) will anchor the safety positions, but a slew of younger players will have their shot at locking down opposing receivers, and a starting spot, in the 2023 Carroll defense. Daxon Graham (Dillon, Mont. / R-SO) and Elijah Larson (Sandpoint, Idaho / R-SO) will be called upon in the opener, and will look to solidify their spot with a good performance tonight in Butte.

Spencer Berger (Billings, Mont. / SO) performed admirably as true freshman in 2022, handling both kicking and punting duties for the Saints. His game-winning field goal against Eastern Oregon in September of last season earned him an NAIA National Player of the Week honor. Berger once again will be the go-to guy for Saints special teams in 2023.

Tonight's season opening game will be a rare non-conference matchup between the Saints and the Orediggers. With the addition of new member, Arizona Christian, the Frontier Conference has ditched its multiple-game format between members. Teams will now play each school one time per year as a conference contest, with every school but ACU also playing one frontier opponent as a non-conference game to fill the schedule.

The matchup between the two teams tonight marks No. 130 in the all-time series, dating back to 1920. The two schools have faced off more times than any other two programs in the state at any level, with only Montana and Montana State having played games for a longer period of time. Carroll has been historically dominant in the series. The Saints boast an 87-40-2 record in the all-time series, and hope to add to the number this evening.

Last season's contest fell in favor of the Orediggers, 26-10, and the Saints are hungry to avenge one of only two losses suffered in their regular season campaign from a year ago.

All eyes in the NAIA will be on tonight's battle between two top-20 ranked teams, in what will be one of only two NAIA games taking place nationwide.

Kick-off for tonight's contest is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. from Alumni Coliseum.

The game will not be broadcast on local television, but a live stream will be available HERE free of charge, via the Montana Tech YouTube channel. 

Catch John Kemper and Hall of Famer, Gary Turcott, on the call on the home of the Fighting Saints, Rewind 94.9 FM, or online HERE. 

Live stats can be found via the Montana Tech Athletics website, HERE.

Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com later tonight for a full recap of the action, as well as to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.