Mistakes spoil Northern's homecoming
By George Ferguson/Havre Daily News Sports/gferguson@havredailynews.com
To Montana State University-Northern head football coach Mark Samson, the
first quarter of Saturday's homecoming game with Montana Tech seemed eerily
familiar to the Lights' first meeting with the Orediggers
back on Sept. 18.
The Lights struggled with key turnovers at critical times in the earlier
contest. Once again, Northern was haunted by the same mistakes on a blustery
Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium, as the No. 13 ranked Orediggers
raced to a 21-0 first quarter lead, eventually spoiling the Lights' homecoming
party 48-22.
"The game started off just the way it did in
The bright spot on Saturday was that the Lights' offense outperformed Tech in
almost every phase of the game. Northern took the opening kickoff and drove the
ball all the way to the Tech 35-yard line before the drive stalled. That is
precisely where the Orediggers' early offensive
onslaught got going. It took just five plays for the Orediggers
to move the ball from their own 35-yard line to the MSU-Northern 33. From there
quarterback Aaron Johnson found Brandon Wood in the end zone. Johnson's pass
was deflected by cornerback Marc Samson, but Wood was able to corral the ball
for a 7-0 Tech lead.
On the Lights' next possession, running back Cody Nickel fumbled the ball on
first down and Tech recovered. A 19-yard Johnson scamper turned the first
turnover of the game into points and a 14-0 lead.
Things stayed bad for the Lights on their next possession. After a
three-and-out, Tech's Art Hustad blocked Don Saisbury's attempted punt, and Johnson hooked up with Wood
three plays later for Tech's third score in less than six minutes.
To finish the first quarter, the Lights coughed
up a Tech punt with under a minute left. The Orediggers
turned that miscue into seven more points. As the second quarter got under way,
Johnson hit Corey Edmundson from four yards out.
"Those kind of mistakes really hurt any football
team," Samson said of the first quarter turnovers. "But the trouble
with our team sometimes is that we are such a young team and when things like
that happen our kids have a tough time getting back up.
"But to their credit that is exactly what they did," Samson added.
"I think it was big that we were able to get a touchdown in the second
quarter and the kids felt like they were back in the game. I think that carried
over into the second half."
Indeed, the Lights did manage to get on the board at the
The Orediggers opened the second half with the ball
and tried to put the game away as Corey Warner scored from 1 yard out to up the
lead 41-7. But the Lights showed their resilience and also flashes
of a strong offense. Samson directed back-to-back scoring drives, both
resulting in quarterback keepers for touchdowns to pull the Lights to within 19
points at 41-22.
After Samson's second TD run, the Lights were in position to continue their
comeback as they forced Tech to punt late in the third period. But Northern was
flagged for a roughing the kicker penalty and two personal fouls for
unsportsmanlike conduct later in the game that seemingly stalled any hopes of a
comeback.
"That was a tough situation and those were crucial penalties," Samson
said. "We seemed to have gotten our offense going a little bit and had
some momentum. When you're trying to come back like that, you just can't have
mistakes like those."
Despite the difficulties with the penalties in the second half and the early
turnovers, the Lights' offense had a very good day moving the football.
Northern outgained Tech 421 to 392 in total offense,
while running 11 fewer offensive plays. The Lights also picked up more first
downs on the day. Samson had a strong statistical day, as he threw for 229
yards and rushed for 160 yards on 22 carries. However, the difference in the
game was turnovers as the Lights lost two fumbles and Samson threw two picks on
the afternoon. Tech committed no turnovers.
Another key difference in the game came on the ground, where Tech was able to
manage the game and time of possession. While Johnson threw three TDs, the Orediggers outgained the Lights 284 to 192 in rushing offense and
dominated the time of possession. Tech had two 100-yard rushers. Tanner Egan
gained 109 yards on 22 carries and Corey Warner racked up 106 yards on just 11
carries.
"The turnovers early in the game were a big factor," Samson said.
"I think the game could have been a lot different if we would have taken
better care of the ball in the first quarter.
"The encouraging thing is that our offense had some very good moments
against a very physical defense," he added. "I also think the kids
played hard right to the end. We got down early and they never quit playing.
That is always a good sign with a young team like we have."
The win keeps Montana Tech (5-1, 7-2) in first place in the Frontier Conference
standings. The Lights are now 0-9 and they will look to pick up their first win
of the Samson era when they travel to UM-Western on Saturday.
Montana Tech 21 14 6 7 - 48
MSU-Northern 0 7 15 0 - 22
First Quarter
MT - Brandon Wood 34 pass from Aaron Johnson (Dan Kleckner
kick), 8:17
MT - Johnson 19 run (Kleckner kick) 6:45
MT - Wood 6 pass from Johnson (Kleckner kick), 3:56
Second Quarter
MT - Corey Edmundson 4 pass from Johnson (Kleckner kick), 13:09
MSU-N - Jake Eldridge 29 pass from Kyle Samson (Chris Nagel kick), 11:13
MT - Adam Cotton 3 run (Kleckner kick), 0:52
Third Quarter
MT - Corey Warner 1 run (kick failed), 12:21
MSU-N - Samson 19 run (Nagel kick), 9:27
MSU-N - Samson 4 run (Don Saisbury from Samson), 1:13
Fourth Quarter
MT - Warner 19 run (Kleckner kick), 5:46
MT MSU-N
First downs 23 21
Rushes-yards 56-284 34-192
Passing 10-18-0 16-29-2
Passing yards 108 229
Total plays-yards 74-392 63-421
Punts-ave. 2-41.0 3-29.0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-2
Penalties-yards 4-24 10-9
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Montana Tech, Tanner Egan 24-109, Warner 11-106, Johnson 9-33, Cotton
6-15, Brian Styck 1-12, Jens Jensen 1-7, Kevin Dighans 2-6, Levi Briese 1-5,
Kris Anderson 1-(-9). MSU-Northern, Samson 22-160, Saisbury
8-24, Cody Nickel 4-8.
PASSING -
RECEIVING - Montana Tech, Anderson 3-22, Wood 2-40, Egan 2-29, Styck 1-11, Edmundson 1-4, Dighans 1-2. MSU-Northern, Danny Wirtzberger
4-46, Nick Arnold 4-45, Clint Herrera 3-38, Cody Nickel 2-28, Saisbury 1-34, Eldridge 1-29, Todd Nelson 1-9.