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HELENA, Mont. - While Thursday night's season opener was interrupted multiple times due to lightning the No. 11-ranked Carroll Football team was undeterred, cruising to a 30-14 win over MSU-Northern on Valley Bank Field at Nelson Stadium.

The Fighting Saints (1-0) came into Thursday's game looking for a fast start, and did just that. Carroll tallied 239 yards in their first three drives, each finishing in Nelson Stadium's checkered endzones, putting the game out of reach for the Lights (0-1) early.

Kaden Huot (Helena, Mont. / SR) picked up right where he left off in 2025. The second-year quarterback completed each of his first eleven passes, including four for 38 yards on the season's opening drive, en route to a final line of 23-31-372 and two touchdowns. Huot spread the wealth on the opening drive, completing passes to three different receivers. Archie LaFurge (Great Falls, Mont. / R-JR) also impressed in his return to the field after missing the entirety of the 2025 season with an arm injury. The former Rustler rattled off 32 yards on six carries, ultimately plunging through the line to cap a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive. 

For the first time in the Jerome Souers era, MSU-Northern came out throwing. Bakersfield CC-transfer Malakhi Statler attempted 53 total passes on the night, completing 31. Dating back to 2021, Lights quarterbacks had combined for 36 total completions against the Saints. 

Statler extended Northern's opening drive several times with scrambling completions, while Sadik Sadik made several strong runs to set the Lights up deep in the redzone. On third and three at the Carroll 13, Statler completed a pass to the right flat, but Gage Norslien (Lewistown, Mont. / R-JR) would come up with the first big play for the Carroll defense on the young season. Norslien forced a fumble with a crushing blow near the boundary, and an opportunistic Max Grady (Phoenix, Ariz. / JR) was right there to pounce on the loose ball to end the scoring threat.

Ty Wilkinson (Pocatello, Idaho / R-SO), wasted little time getting rolling on Thursday, putting to rest any anxiety about replacing All-American tight end Carson Ochoa. After coming down with catches for 12 and 14 yards on the opening drive, Wilkinson upped the production on drive two. He pulled down a 38-yard grab early in the drive, helping Carroll flip field position in a hurry following the takeaway. Four plays later, Huot and Wilkinson connected on a 34-yard touchdown strike to double the Carroll advantage in the opening frame.

After holding Northern on the ensuing possession, Carroll once again lit up the scoreboard early in the second quarter. Back-to-back 29-yard completions to Connor Sullivan (Kalispell, Mont. / R-SR) and Gavin Vandenacre (Townsend, Mont. / R-SR) set the Saints up with a quick redzone opportunity. Three straight runs by Jake Jeske (Spangle, Wash. / R-JR) resulted in Carroll's third score in as many drives, giving the Saints a 20-0 lead in the first half, matching last year's final score in the season-opening win in Havre. 

Northern responded with a 14-play, 48-yard drive. After pushing the ball down to the Carroll 27-yard line, they elected to go for it on fourth-and-ten instead of attempting a 40-plus-yard field goal. Jacob Nemecek (Salem, Ore. / R-SO) broke-up the fourth down pass attempt, helping keep the Lights off the board in the first half. 

Carroll had one final shot at putting points on the board, regaining control with 1:10 on the clock. Running the hurry-up, Huot connected with Vandenacre for 21 yards, then added seven more himself on the ground on the following play to give the Saints a shot at adding three. Kai Golan (Columbia Falls, Mont. / R-SO) blasted his first field goal of the season from range. Golan became the first Saint since Hall of Famer Marcus Miller in 2004 to record a 47-yard field goal, giving Carroll a 23-0 lead at the break.

Unfortunately, the break would be much longer than anticipated. Thunderstorms skirted the Carroll campus, forcing the game into a 32-minute lightning delay.

Just like the opening Northern possession of the first half, the Carroll defense found a way to kill momentum. Kolbe Coey (Hayden, Idaho / R-FR) came away with his first career interception, curtailing a promising Lights drive to set the Saints up in plus-territory. 

It took Carroll all of three plays to capitalize on the pick. Connor Sullivan kick-started the scoring drive with a 32-yard reception down to the Northern 11-yard line. Peter Minnaert (Boise, Idaho / JR) picked up two hard-earned yards on the ground before Ty Wilkinson came down with his second touchdown of the game - a nine-yard strike in the flat from Huot to push Carroll's lead to 30-0. 

The score continued an extremely unique trend for the tight end. In 13 career games, Wilkinson is averaging a touchdown on one out of every three receptions (21 receptions, 298 yards, seven touchdowns). While eight different Saints recorded a catch in the opener, Wilkinson led them all with his six catches for 115 yards and two scores.

Northern finally broke through midway through the third, as Statler connected with Cale White for a 26-yard touchdown that capped an eight-play 75-yard drive. The passing touchdown was the first for the Lights against Carroll since the COVID Spring Season of '21.

Fresno State-transfer Joshua Johnson (Gardena, Calif. / R-JR) made the first big play of his collegiate career on the ensuing Carroll possession. Johnson hauled in a 54-yard bomb, setting the Saints up at the Northern 10-yard line. The Saints couldn't find a way to extend the lead, however, as an Eddie Ballanco (Bozeman, Mont. / FR) field goal attempt would be blocked.

The Carroll defense came up with a goal line stand early in the fourth quarter, halting a 75-yard Northern drive mere inches away from pay dirt. Statler hit White just shy of the endzone on fourth down from the four, but Garrett Freeman (Boise, Idaho / R-SO) found a way to wrestle-down the receiver and force the turnover on downs.

The Saints had another 30 minutes to think about the 99-yards in front of them, as another lightning-strike in the area forced the field to clear once again.

Carroll ended up going three-and-out after the delay, setting up a short field for the Lights. Statler tossed his second touchdown pass of the night, hitting Isaiah Woodley just over the reach of the Carroll secondary for a seven-yard score that brought Northern within two-scores at 30-14. 

The Saints hit the field with 5:03 left on the clock, and perfectly executed their six-minute offense to salt away the clock, and the win.

Three Carroll backs (LaFurge, Jeske, Minnaert) combined for 92 rush yards on 27 total attempts, while the Saints finished with 372 passing yards on 23 receptions.

Carroll outgained Northern 468 to 346 on the evening, averaging 7.2 yards per play. The 468 yards of total offense were the most since October of last season when Carroll put up 488 yards in a 34-12 win over Arizona Christian, and the most in a season opener since 2019 (513 yds vs UMW).

Four Carroll receivers tallied at least 50 yards in the win, led by Wilkinson with 115, Johnson with 76, Sullivan with 74, and Vandenacre with 56.

Defensively, Kolbe Coey and Marcus Evans (Helena, Mont. / SO) led the Saints with 8.0 tackles apiece. Coey added a pick and a pass break up, while Evans finished with one tackle-for-loss as well.

All-Conference linebacker Eli Aby (Laurel, Mont. / 5th), Carroll's leading returning tackler, finished with seven tackles and one forced fumble. Gage Norslien matched Aby's line, while also adding 1.5 sacks and 1.5 TFL. Henry Gross (Helena, Mont. / R-JR) also finished his evening with seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss as well.

Carroll has a couple of extra days to prepare for an early season rivalry next weekend, as they head to Butte for a battle with No. 5 Montana Tech, looking to snap a five-game skid to the Orediggers.

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