Lights on the road at Montana Tech
Havre Daily News Sports Editor
rdivish@havredailynews.com
The Montana State University-Northern football team has proven many things this
season. The Lights have proven that they are much better than last year. They
have proven that they can play with any team with the conference. They have
proven that their first win of the season wasn't a fluke with a win last
weekend.
But one thing the Lights haven't proven, at least under head coach
Northern (2-2) will get another opportunity to prove people wrong on Saturday,
when it travels to
In Samson's tenure, the Lights are 0-8 on the
road. Last year was brutal, as Northern was outscored 221-33 in road games.
This year, things are much better. The Lights lost a one-point heartberaker to
UM-Western in Dillon and played gamely in a 31-14 loss to
"Our next step is a road break through," he said. "We've been
doing a much better job of preparing and playing on the road. We just have to
win."
Of course, it isn't quite that simple. While the Lights have played well in
their first two road games, they need to play a little bit better.
"We just have to be a little sharper and a little better on the road to
win," Samson said. "We have played pretty well, but we can definitely
play better."
The Lights should easily play better than they did last year in
"Never in my coaching career have I felt so embarassed," Samson said
of last year's loss. "It just started to snowball. Everything that could've
went wrong, did go wrong."
It's unlikely the Lights will have a repeat of that performance this year.
Northern was beyond inexperienced last season at almost every position.
"We had kids that were literally afraid of teams like Tech and
Carroll," Samson said. "We're past that stage. I can't blame them
really. We were lining up 18- and 19-year-old kids against a lot of older kids
last year."
A year older and a year wiser, the Lights head into
"I really think we have a good chance on Saturday," Samson said.
"Our defense has had a great week of practice. I feel like we have a good
gamegoing in and I think the kids are pretty well prepared."
The Tech offense that Northern will face is a bit of a mystery. The Orediggers
will be basically playing their fourth game with Justus Sheets as the
quarterback. Sheets took over after senior quarterback Aaron Johnson broke his
arm in the second game of the season.
Since Johnson took almost every snap last season and was a savvy senior, there
was bound to be a drop-off in offensive production. However, Samson doesn't
expect to see anything different from the Digger offense.
"It really isn't any different than what they were trying to do
before," Samson said. "The production just hasn't been as good
without Johnson."
That doesn't mean it won't change.
"Every time Sheets plays another game he gets better and more
comfortable," Samson said. "This is fourth game he will start. He
knows he's the starter now and I think he is going to play better, especially
at home."
Even if Sheets' play is improved, still expect to see a healthy dose of the
Tech ground game led by running backs Josh Johnson, Teague Egan and Corey
Warner.
"I still think they are going to come out and try to run it down our
throats," Samson said. "They know they aren't going to score 40
points on teams, so they would rather control the clock with the ground game
and let their defense shut you down."
It's sound philosophy, considering Johnson and Egan are second and third in the
conference in rushing, combining for 132 yards per game. The Diggers are
averaging 182 yards rushing per game, but just 137 yards passing per game,
which is the worst in the conference.
Northern's defense has had its best success against run-oriented attacks. The
Lights slowed down ground-heavy Dickinson State for their first win of the
season.
"I think our defense feels more confident going against running
teams," Samson said. "It works more into our favor with our
strengths."
Tech will still throw at least 15 times a game. Sheets will choose from
receivers Brian Styck and Kris Anderson and tight end Kent Kansala for his
targets.
"Tech is still throwing around 15 times a game, but the difference is
Johnson would complete 11 or 12 of them," Samson said.
The Diggers' strength lies in a defense that returns all but two starters from
last season. Led by linemen Corey Edmundson, linebacker J.J. Perino and
defensive backs Adam Cotton and Tyler Muzzana, the unit is a veteran group that
plays very physical football. Tech is holding teams to 15.2 points and 344
yards of offense per game.
"They play basically a 4-2 with a lot of cover three and man free,"
Samson said. "They have some big guys up front and their linebackers are
big."
It should be a good match-up with a Northern offense that is second in the
conference in total offense at 325.4 yards per game and third in scoring at
20.0 points per game.
"We should be able to move the ball against them," Samson said.
"We had kind of toned back some of the audibles for the offense and for
Kyle (Samson) the last few weeks. But we've added some more reads and sight
checks for this weekend."
Northern has shown solid balance this season on offense. The Lights average 134
yards rushing and 190 yards passing. Kyle Samson has improved his passer rating
to a solid 146.4 and is completing 60 percent of his passes.
"Our passing game is much more effective," Coach Samson said.
"It's made us a lot more unpredictable."
Samson has a pretty simple recipe for success - 200 yards rushing and 200 yards
passing.
"If we can do that, we're going to be pretty tough to beat," Samson
said. "We just have to be more consistent throughout the game. We can't go
two or three drives without moving the ball, because Tech is going to try and
limit our offensive possessions."
Despite his hopes for a win, Samson knows that a win at Alumni Coliseum is
going to take a near-perfect performance. Because teams don't just breeze in,
grab a win and breeze on out.
"It's never easy playing on the road," he said. "We still have a
lot of kids that are going to be playing for the first time in that stadium.
But I know we're a better team than the one that went in there last year."
Northern and Montana Tech will kick off at 1 p.m. The game can be heard on 92.5
KPQX-FM.
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