Homecoming Kind & Queen
Lexa Loch and Saxten Shearer
 

Congratulations to the Northern alums who returned to campus for Homecoming and the Alumni Games, as they won two out of the three competitions. The Lights Wrestling alumni defeated a young Lights team in hard fought competition. The wrestling alums have never lost the Alumni Games, so there is a lot of pride and history at stake. Many of the returning alums are All Americans or National Champs who use their experience and size to outwits their younger, more agile opponents. The first contest was won by 2005 NAIA All American Dustin Azure over Lights Jake Spencer. The second contest was won by Lights senior team captain and two year All American and NAIA national tourney runner up, Brian Fritchman, over former Light's standout, David Waters. The next two were won by alumni and All American, Aaron Jensen over Austin Ouelette and 3 time All American Chris Smith over JD Goodrich. The Light's battled back with Kirk DeVore taking National Champ and UGF head wrestling coach, Caleb Schaeffer to overtime before losing on a takedown. National Champion and Havre High School head coach, Scott Filius defeated Chris Thompson 1-0. Filius protégé and 3 time Montana State Champion, Evan Hinebauch of Havre won the final match for the Lights defeating former NAIA All-American Rudy James. Once again, the alums come away with the dual win.

The Lights and Skylights basketball teams had only one week of practice before the alumni games and, given the new personnel, they both played extremely well. Though it makes it easier to understand the alumni 99-95 win in the men's contest, it does not diminish the accomplishment for the alums. Bolstered by the
youth of recent Light's players, Ronnie
 

Simpson, Leo Bullchild, Jordan Matthews and Cody Gillespie, the sages of Gerry Veis, Buck Merriweather, Travis Moran and Tom Hennessey kept the team focused and the pressure on to take advantage of the struggling Lights offense. Matthews and Moran starting hitting from the outside and Ronnie Simpson battled on the inside and they were able to hold off the Light offense that was taking off when time ran out.

The Skylights scored a 69-58 win over the talent laden alumni team. Former National Champion and 2007 Hall of Fame inductee (see full article in this issue), Jodi Kruta, returned to compete with two teammates, Kari Fike Filius and Kristin Lawrence and the Northern fans who remember her exciting career and the adventure of the first women's basketball national championship. They were joined by former NAIA All American DeLayne Johnston, Chelsie Searle Boyle, Jayla McPherson, Jenna Heggem Hansen, Anna Bateman, Charleen Noreen Wasson, Bretteny Vermandel and Laura Munson in the hard fought game.

Homecoming 2007 was capped by a big win for the Northern Lights football team. They came back from a 13-7 halftime deficit scoring 20 unanswered points to secure a 27-13 win over the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers. The Lights waited until the fourth quarter to put it all together, causing much heart trouble for their loyal fans. It was worth the wait to see their team pull through on an exciting 18 yard TD run set up by Don Saisbury and executed by speedster, Justin Moe. Part of the problem was, to their credit, the young Mountaineer team came out of the bus after a long, long trip ready to play and tenaciously held onto that lead until the talented Lights reclaimed the game. The Lights have had their share of adversity losing their starting quarterback, Jeff Van Nest, who suffered a broken leg in the first game. Under the leadership of freshman, Garren Hammons, they finished the season in third place. The Lights presented an awesome defensive played with great heart and consistency. The special teams unit is also awesome and the kicking unit was the best! While head coach Mark Samson and his cadre of coaches had their sights set on post season play, they must still be proud of this team.

The Northern Alumni Association hosted a free barbeque after the football game in the big garage of the new ATC building. In spite of the cold damp weather, over 200 people attended and a good time was had by all.