Road Warriors: Lights collar Bulldogs in Dillon

George Ferguson

Havre Daily News sports editor

gferguson@havredailynews.com

Just two games into the 2006 NAIA football season, it is starting to look more and more like the Montana State University-Northern Lights are not just a young team on the rise anymore.

After a 34-16 thumping of UM-Western in Dillon Saturday, and a 22-14 season-opening win at Dickinson State University last weekend, it looks as though the Lights are here to make a serious run at the Frontier Conference championship.

On Saturday, Northern used a fast-paced start to overwhelm Western early, a dominating rushing attack, and a smothering run defense to hold back the Bulldogs and pick up its second road win of the season.

And even more importantly, start the conference season 1-0.

“I thought we played pretty well again this week,” MSU-N third-year head coach Mark Samson said. “I think we improved in the areas we wanted to from last weekend, and we also found out some more things that we need to be better at. But a win on the road in our conference is big for us, and we’re happy we were able to go down there and get it done.”

Northern’s start was important given the fact that the Bulldogs scored all 16 of their points in a short span in the second quarter.

The Lights scored 20 unanswered points to open the game, all on touchdown passes from Kyle Samson to Oregon State transfer Nick Bodeman—who just became eligible to play late in the week.

Samson hooked up with Bodeman on TD passes of 13, 31 and 41 yards to put the Lights ahead 20-0.

But, as quickly as the Lights stunned the Bulldogs, Western bounced back with a field goal and two touchdown passes from Travis Blome to make the score 20-16 at halftime.

“We were pretty glad to see halftime,” Mark Samson said. “Our defense kind of fell asleep in the second quarter. I think we started so quickly and got so far ahead, we just kind of relaxed a little defensively, and we let them right back in the

game.”

Less mature Lights’ teams of the past may not have recovered from Western’s comeback. But this MSU-N team is much more poised, and the Lights took con-

trol of the game for good with 14 points in the third quarter on TD runs by Zach Wermers and Justin Moe, respectively.

Then the Lights turned the game back over to their defense — a defense that held DSU to 80 yards rushing and then held Western to just three yards on the ground Saturday.

“Our defense is really good right now,” Samson added. “Our guys pretty much made their running game a non-factor. They had to be pretty one-dimensional against us, and in the second half, we pretty much dominated the game from a defensive standpoint.”

Northern’s defensive front harassed Blome in the second half, and he was less effective than the hot streak he got on in the second quarter. The day was also highlighted by sophomore Khalin Anderson’s second interception in as many games.

The Lights wound up outgaining Western 491 to 299 in total yardage, with the biggest difference coming on the ground. The Lights pounded the Bulldogs to the tune of 314 yards rushing, while the Bulldogs found nothing on the ground against the MSU-N defense.

Kyle Samson was also extremely efficient through the air, passing for 196 yards, three TDs and no interceptions.

“I was happy with our passing game,” Samson said. “We didn’t throw a whole lot, but I thought we were very efficient. I think we

definitely improved in that area from last week.

“And our running game was very good,” he added. “Western was giving us that inside run all day and we just decided to continue

to take advantage of it. We didn’t have any guys with really big rushing numbers, but everyone ran the ball really well.”

Indeed, the Lights got a balanced running attack led by Don Saisbury’s game-high 92 yards, including a 33-yard scamper. Wermers ran for 48 yards and Saxton Shearer added 45. Kyle Samson had a much more effective day running the ball than he did against DSU. Samson scrambled for 39 yards, while Moe added 29 yards on the ground.

Bodeman had a more-than-impressive debut for the Lights. The 6-0 senior wideout caught six balls for 121 yards and three straight scores. Saisbury added to his all-around stellar day with four catches for 36 yards.

“I was really pleased with how we played overall,” Mark Samson said. “Except for the second quarter, our defense really controlled the game. And I think our offensive execution improved a lot this week.

“We’re happy with the win,” he added. “But we also know there are some things we still need to get better at. We have a long way to go to get to where we want to be. But this is a very good start to the season. It is always a positive to be 2-0 after two road games like we’ve just played.”

The Lights (2-0, 1-0) will make their long-awaited home debut Saturday when they take on Rocky Mountain College (1-1, 0-1) Saturday at 1 p.m. at Blue Pony Stadium.

Lights 34, Bulldogs 16

MSU-N 20 0 7 7 — 34

UM-Western 0 16 0 0 — 16

MSU-N — Nick Bodeman 13 pass from Kyle Samson (Luke McKinley kick)

MSU-N — Bodeman 31 pass from Samson (McKinley kick)

MSU-N — Bodeman 41 pass from Samson (kick failed)

UM-W — Michael Guelff 24 pass from Travis Blome (kick failed)

UM-W — FG, 40 Brad Hollen

UM-W — Jake Larson 5 pass from Blome (Hollen kick)

MSU-N — Zach wermers 6 run (McKinley kick)

MSU-N — Justin Moe 6 run (McKinley kick).

MSU-N UM-W

First downs 25 17

Rushing 51-314 18-39

Passing 13-19-0 26-47-1

Passing yards 196 298

Fumbles lost 1-1 1-3

Penalties 11-92 11-85

Time of possession 33:26 26:34

Individual Statistics

Rushing — MSU-N, Don Saisbury 10-92, Zach Wermers 8-48, Saxton Shearer 7-45, Kyle Samson 15-39, Justin Moe 5-29, UM-W, Kaleo Igarta 3-2, Cress 2-9, Clary 3-16, Travis Blome 10-(-24).

Passing — MSU-N, Kyle Samson 12-16-0—182, Don Saisbury 1-3-0—14, UM-W, Travis Blome 26-47-1—298.

Receiving — MSU-N, Nick Bodeman 6-121, Don Saisbury 4-36, Coda Tchida 1-17, Saxton Shearer 1-15, Steve Aherns 1-7. UM-W — Michael Guelff 10-126, Travis Hartman 5-67, Jake Larson 3-22.