HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll Football team makes their first ever trip to Redding, Calif., taking on third-year program Simpson in a 2 p.m. Frontier - West clash on Saturday afternoon at Central Valley High School.

With one more week before a much needed bye, the No. 11-ranked Fighting Saints (5-1, 2-0) will look to pick up their first win in the state of California since 2008, taking on a Redhawk team (3-3, 1-1) that features one of the most prolific offenses in the nation (485.3 ypg).

Last weekend's Purple Reign game against Montana Western went just about as well as anyone could have hoped for. For the fourth-straight week, it was a true full-team effort, with all three phases playing some outstanding complimentary football. The 52-10 over Western marked four-consecutive games scoring 40 points or more for the first time since 2003. The defense showed up again in a big way, limiting one of the nation's top offensive teams to a season low in total yardage, and the Special teams were flawless yet again. Week-after-week, the Saints seem to be getting better and better as they pursue conference title No. 46.

For the second-straight week, the Fighting Saints moved up one spot in the NAIA National Coaches' Poll. Carroll is now back to where they started, checking in at No. 11 - the same position they were in the Preseason Poll. College of Idaho remained at No. 1 in the national rank, splitting votes with Keiser, while Montana Tech moved up one spot to No. 5 thanks to a loss by then-ranked No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan. Up until this week, the Frontier had at least four teams appearing inside of the Top-25 every week, however, the league is down to three following then-ranked No. 23 Dakota State's loss to Dickinson State last weekend. The Trojans now appear in the receiving votes category. 

Saturday marks just the third all-time meeting between the Fighting Saints and the Redhawks - two programs that have wildly differing histories. 2026 marks 112-years of Carroll Football, and just year No. 3 for Simpson. The Redhawks added Football in 2024, and joined the Frontier as associate members last Fall. Entering the year, Simpson had yet to win a game, but they picked up a 56-14 win over Whittier (NCAA DIII) for the program's first victory back in week one. Carroll has outscored Simpson 96-0 in two prior meetings, holding the Redhawks to just 192.5 yards per game in the two wins, however the Redhawks are a much improved unit this season, entering the week at 3-3, including a last second win at Southern Oregon last weekend.

Since their early season bye week the Carroll College offense has been on whole new level. The four-game stretch since the break has been truly historic, averaging 53.0 ppg. Throughout the 112-year history of the program, only four times have the Saints scored 40+ points in consecutive games (1988, 2003, 2005, 2026). All three prior occurrences have led to Frontier Conference Championships, and the last two resulted in an NAIA title. 

While the Carroll offense has been historically good the last several weeks, the defense is not far off. 

Entering the week, Carroll has some of the most impressive defensive team stats across board in the entire NAIA. The Saints are No. 11 in the nation allowing just 157.7 passing yards per game, No. 9 in the nation in rushing defense at just 83.8 yards per game, No. 7 in the NAIA in total average with just 241.5 total yards allowed per game, and No. 3 in the NAIA allowing just 11.3 points per game. Additionally, the Saints are No. 2 in the nation with 10 forced fumbles on the year and still one of the top teams in the country with a +6 turnover margin (12 takeaways, 6 turnovers). Carroll has consistently been a top-25 defense in recent years, but they've been truly suffocating in recent weeks. The unit shut down Montana Western in every facet last weekend, holding a team that entered the week at No. 5 in the NAIA with 503 ypg to a season-low 236 total yards. Over the last four games, the Carroll Defense has held opponents to their season lows in total yards, amounting to an average of just 191.75 yards per game - the lowest mark in the NAIA by a wide margin.

One reason for the 2026 success? The Saints are still amongst the best teams in the NAIA in high-leverage conversion rates. Carroll enters the week at No. 5 in the NAIA in third down conversion percentage (55 percent), and No. 9 in fourth down percentage at 67 percent. 

Although Carroll QB Kaden Huot (Helena, Mont. / SR) had a quiet passing game by his standards in last week's win over Western, his highly efficient line of 10-17 for 136 and four TD's was good enough to bump him into No. 1 in the NAIA in pass efficiency at 188.9. All four of his touchdown passes went to tight end Ty Wilkinson (Pocatello, Idaho / R-SO), who matched the program record for single game TD grabs in the win. Wilkinson now has eight TD catches on the season, the most by any TE in the nation.

Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com this evening for a full recap of the action, and for complete coverage of the Fighting Saints all season long.

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