Lights host top-ranked Saints
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
Emmert and his seemingly endless eligibility will be
on display on Saturday when he leads the top-ranked two-time defending NAIA
national champion Carroll College Saints into Blue Pony Stadium to take on the
Montana State University-Northern football team in its home opener.
"It does feel like he's been around forever," said Northern head
coach Mark Samson. "He and (Kevin) McCutcheon and (Jeff) Shirley have
playing in their system for a long time."
To put it simply, there hasn't been a better player in NAIA football the last
two years than Tyler Emmert. He has the hardware to
prove it, garnering national player of the year honors the past two seasons and
leading the Saints on an impressive 20-game winning streak dating back to three
years ago.
"He's as good as they come," Samson said. "When I watched
Carroll against Central Washington, they didn't look as sharp as they usually
do, but (Emmert) made some really impressive throws
for some big plays"
Indeed, Carroll did what it had to do, coming from behind in overtime to defeat
NCAA Division II power Central Washington 27-21.
That lack of sharpness is something Carroll
head coach Mike Van Diest wasn't surprised at seeing
early in the season. He'll be the first to admit that this team is in a little
different situation than past years.
"We lost 20 players from last year," Van Diest
said. "We have a lot of new faces and knew personalities that we are
trying to get to come together It takes about three or
four games to find out who you are."
Who the Saints are? The answer is simple. They are still probably the deepest
and most talented team in the Frontier Conference, with a solid mixture of
veterans like Emmert, McCutcheon and Shirley.
After losing All-American wide receiver Mark Gallik
to graduation, McCutcheon helped ease the loss by catching nine passes for 235
yards and a touchdown against CWU.
Shirley is a returning all-conference selection at defensive end, who uses linebacker-type speed to blow by blockers.
Carroll's talent doesn't stop there. Junior Kyle Baker is a returning
all-conference performer, who anchors the offensive line from his center
position.
The Saints also return a pair of all-conference linebackers in Gary Cooper and
former Chinook standout Mike Maddox and all-conference defensive backs Regan
Mack and A.J. Porrini.
One thing that was particularly effective for CWU against Carroll was the
vertical passing and two-back attack. Central picked on cornerback Matt Thomas,
who replaced graduated HHS standout Jarrod Wirt, on several occasions, racking
up yardage and taking an early lead. Thomas had the last laugh, intercepting a
pass in overtime. But still, CWU had some scoring opportunities.
"The first quarter we struggled against the two-back game that Central
ran," Van Diest said. "We made some
adjustments in the second half. But we know Northern also runs a similar look,
so we have to be prepared."
Carroll has had plenty of time to prepare. The Saints opened the season two
weeks ago, and then had a bye week last weekend after
"It just feels like we've been practicing for too long," Van Diest said. "The kids are just looking for a game. We
didn't have much choice since
Conversely, Northern has only one week to prepare the Saints, and they can't
really even draw on last week's preparation for
"It's a completely different mindset," Samson said. "
With that in mind, Samson and his staff added some new offensive and defensive
schemes this week, specifically for the Saints.
"The kids and my staff have really worked hard this week
," Samson said. "We've added some new schemes on both sides of
the ball that will hopefully help us match up better with Carroll."
Defensively, the Saints will run more stunts and blitzes than DSU.
"They're going to use different stunts, different slants and different coverages," Samson said. "We've worked this week
on getting good pre-snap reads."
Van Diest admitted to being a little wary of Northern's skill players.
"I was very impressed with Don Saisbury,"
Van Diest said. "He's a kid, along with Kyle
Samson, who we recruited pretty heavily. We know they are capable of making big
plays at any time. We need to control the football on offense and execute some
long drives with a lot of first downs and keep Don and Kyle off the
field."
Any time the Saints have the ball on offense, they are a threat to score, no
matter the field position.
"Offensively, they're going to keep us spread out," Samson said.
"And they can strike so dang quick. In the first half,
Samson admits that there is no way a team is going to shut down or shut out
Carroll's offense. Rather, he wants to slow it down and avoid the big plays.
"They're going to get their yards," he said. "We can't get
frustrated when they make plays. But we have to avoid the big plays. It seems
like every series Carroll got at least one big play in their first game. We
can't have that."
More than anything, Samson wants to see his team improve considerably from last
week. With the return a few missing starters and a game under their belts, its a definite possibility.
"Last weekend was an eye opener for the kids," Samson said. "They
are starting to understand how hard they have to work to have success at this
level. I do think we're better prepared this week."
But Samson wasn't just referring to the Lights' game plan,
he was referring more toward his players' mental makeup.
"We've been really stressing the mental aspect," he said. "We've
talked to them a lot about preparation and what it means to be a college
football player."
Kickoff between Northern and Carroll is scheduled for
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