HELENA, Mont. - Over the last 24 years, Nelson Stadium has played host to countless big games, but for the first time in history, the Frontier Conference - West division will be decided as No. 8 Carroll takes on No. 15 College of Idaho at 12 p.m. on Valley Bank Field.

Down to the final two weeks of the 2025 regular season, the Fighting Saints (7-1, 4-0) find themselves in familiar territory. They can clinch the school's 46th conference championship with a victory over the Yotes (7-1, 4-0) on Saturday.

There are very few teams in the country who can claim a winning record in the all-time series against Carroll. Only 19 teams have a better record in their respective all-time series with the Saints, with the majority of those teams now at the NCAA Division I level - or teams who dropped Football decades ago.

Entering Saturday, College of Idaho holds an 8-7 edge in the head-to-head, making them one of just four current NAIA football teams with a better record in the historical series. Of the 15 all-time meetings, 13 games have been played since the 2014 season when C of I reinstated their football program that had been disbanded since 1978. Carroll has a 7-6 advantage in that modern era, and has shut the door on several seasons for the Yotes in recent years. Three times in the last five years the Saints picked up a late-season win over the Yotes to either win a conference auto-bid, or deny them from winning the league. 

Last week's win over Southern Oregon is one of the most memorable victories in the last decade of Carroll Football. The game featured a little bit of everything - a large early lead, momentum swings, adversity, special teams snaffu's, program records, mental blunders, and most importantly - a resilient comeback effort with little-to-no room for error. All said and done, Kaden Huot's (Helena, Mont. / JR) late game playmaking ability helped him find Gavin Vandenacre (Townsend, Mont. / R-JR) in the back of the endzone for one of the most unlikely two-point conversions you'll ever see, giving Carroll a 41-40 lead with less than one minute remaining - a lead that one of the nation's best defenses was not going to surrender. The win kept a six-game win streak rolling for the Saints, and more importantly moved them one step closer to the program's 46th conference title.

For the first time this season, the Fighting Saints swept the Frontier Conference weekly individual honors. Carson Ochoa - Offensive POTW, Braeden Orlandi - Defensive POTW, Connor Sullivan - Special Teams POTW. The trio join Kaden Huot and Forrest Suero as the only other Saints to earn a weekly award this season.

Quarterback Kaden Huot just keeps getting better. While his string of consecutive games with 300-plus passing yards came to a close last week, the junior transfer was electric in the pass game. He tossed his third-straight five touchdown game of the season in the win, moving him up to No. 5 in the NAIA with 27 TD passes on the season. With two games to play and the offense firing on all cylinders, it's safe to assume Huot will become the first CC QB since Tyler Emmert to throw 30 or more TD's in a single season. He's just 225 yards away from eclipsing Jack Prka's career-best 2,462 yards from last season, and rapidly approaching Mac Roche's 2,942 yard campaign in the 2014 season - the last season that the Saints hosted a playoff game in Nelson Stadium. 

Saturday's game features two of the nation's best defenses. The Saints enter the game with the nation's No. 13 scoring defense (17.0 ppg), No. 5 rushing defense (79.5 ypg), and No. 7 total defense (266.3). College of Idaho is No. 7 in scoring defense (14.4 ppg), No. 4 in rushing defense (78.4 ypg), and No. 5 in total defense at 244.0 ypg.

The noon kick-off is Carroll's annual Military Appreciation Day. Current and retired military members may show a valid military ID at will call to receive free entry into the game.

The Top-15 battle has the eyes of the nation, and is an NAIA Featured Game of the Week - broadcast nationally for free on the Urban Edge Network.

Likewise, it is the Frontier Conference Game of the Week, and will be broadcast on SWX stations throughout Montana, Northern Wyoming, Northern Idaho, and Eastern Washington with a simulcast available online HERE.

Catch Voice of the Saints, Stewart Davis, and Carroll Hall of Famer, Gary Turcott, call the action live on Rewind 94.9 FM in Helena, or online HERE.

Live stats can be found HERE.
 

Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com this evening for a full recap of the action, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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