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Banged-up Lights, Diggers clash
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
If there is one coach in the Frontier Conference sympathizing with Montana
State University-Northern football coach Walt Currie and all of the Lights'
injuries, it would be Montana Tech head coach Bob Green.
Green's team has also been beleaguered by injuries this season.
Saturday's game won't qualify for a Red Cross disaster area, but the number
of players who won't play is much higher than either coach would like to see.
"We've definitely been bit pretty hard by the injury bug," Green
said. "It's stinging a little."
The Orediggers lost their two best players on both sides of the ball to
serious injuries. Defensive end Jay Deal broke his ankle in a double-overtime
loss to Carroll College and is done for the season. Two weeks ago,
quarterback Aaron Johnson shattered his arm in a 20-3 loss to Whitworth.
Johnson had to have metal plates inserted and is also gone for the season.
Both of the injuries have played a significant role in the Diggers' 0-3 start
on the season. The loss of Johnson has been particularly painful.
"There is nothing we can do about
Aaron's arm," Green said. "I'd give him mine if I could, but I
don't think it will help. Offensively, we just improvise, overcome and
adapt."
Tech used a duo of quarterbacks in last weekend's 49-13 loss to Weber State -
redshirt freshman Jake Hill and true freshman and former Havre High
all-stater Justin Kegel.
Hill started last week's game and will start again this week. Hill has
completed 10 of 21 passes for 87 yards. He also completed four passes to
Weber State, which led directly to scores.
"Weber has a tough defense," Green said. "We were down 7-0
after the first quarter. In the second quarter, frankly, we made some
mistakes, some big mistakes."
Hill had one of his picks returned for a score, and two others set up Weber
touchdowns.
Kegel didn't see as extensive action as Hill. He was planning on redshirting
this season, but Johnson's injury forced Green to take Kegel out of his
redshirt.
While Kegel isn't starting now, that doesn't mean he couldn't grab the
starting job.
"As far as I'm concerned, the position is open," Green said.
"They both have equal chances of being the starter."
Kegel only attempted two passes against Weber, completing one for 1 yard.
Still, Green saw plenty of positives.
"Justin played fine," Green said. "He's a brand new guy out
there and he drove us all the way to the goal line. He didn't throw an
interception and did some things with the option."
Kegel will play on Saturday, according to Green. How much will be determined
on who is playing better, Hill or Kegel.
Besides the injury at quarterback, last year's starting running back, Adam
Cotton, did not play against Weber. Instead, freshman Josh Johnson took his
spot, rushing for 87 yards on 23 carries. Their styles are very different,
with Cotton being more of a bruising, straight-ahead runner. At 5-7, 160
pounds, Johnson is far from a bruiser. Regardless of who's in there, Green
said his team will run the football.
"We run the football, plain and simple," Green said. "We need
to run it to be successful. We still have to make some adjustments and find
things in our offense for our quarterbacks to excel."
One thing that has hurt Tech, much like Northern, is turnovers. The Diggers
have committed 12 turnovers on the season and that has to stop.
"We've never been a team that turns the ball over that much," Green
said. "This year, without Aaron, we've committed a ton. We have to
protect the football."
No, Green wasn't quoting Currie from past stories. It's just that both teams
are suffering from the same affliction.
Northern once again leads the Frontier with 14 turnovers, which Currie hopes
will change.
"We need to start forcing more turnovers and committing less,"
Currie said. "It seems like every time we commit one it leads to a
score."
If there was a count, the Lights would probably be leading the conference in
injuries as well. Green may have thought his team had a rash of injuries, but
compared to Tech, the Lights have the plague.
Four more players went down in last week's loss to UM-Western. The most
serious was starting guard Lowell Hahn's knee injury, which put him out
indefinitely. Strong safety Cort Milks was leveled on a kickoff and suffered
a concussion. He too will sit out.
Also last week, quarterback Neill Crandell suffered a high ankle sprain.
Crandell has practiced this week, but the ankle was still pretty tender,
according to Currie. Still, it will take more than tenderness to keep
Crandell off the field.
However, the ankle will change how he plays and how Currie calls the plays.
"We certainly won't be calling any more quarterback draws," Currie
said. "Neill needs to be smarter in those situations and slide. This
isn't high school. There are big boys out there that would love to hurt the
quarterback."
Northern will once again play possession football and try to control the
clock to take some pressure off its inexperienced defense. Tanner Cochrell
was a workhorse last week for the Lights, and Currie will put a load on him
this week.
"Traditionally, we've been able to run well against Tech," Currie
said. "We're seeing improvement from Tanner every week. He is very
strong, probably the strongest kid pound-for-pound on our team."
To control the clock, Northern must get something from its punting unit.
Punter David Knight is trying to play this week but his kicking foot will be
heavily bandaged around the ankle.
"I doubt he'll be able to punt like that," Currie said. "We
need to find someone who can get it downfield consistently. I don't care if
it's end over end, just get it further than 14 yards."
"For us to have a chance, we need to avoid turnovers, run the football
and not give them great field position."
Saturday's game kicks off at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium on the Montana Tech
campus in Butte. It can be heard locally on 92.5 KPQX-FM.
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