'Dawgs blinded by Lights

By Pat Ryan - 09/28/2008

DILLON — The Bulldogs stumbled out of the blocks Saturday, and never caught up in the race.

Montana State-Northern played a bend-but-don't-break defense and got a handful of big plays on offense to earn a 31-9 Frontier Conference football win over Montana Western Saturday at Vigilante Field in Dillon. It was the Bulldogs' homecoming weekend.

Both defenses held fast on the opening drives, but a fumbled punt return led to Northern's first touchdown. The Lights' Khalin Anderson was Johnny-on-the-spot when Pono Matthews lost hold of a punt, leaving Northern with a new set of downs on Western's 22.

Northern quarterback Nick Petrino hit Coda Tchida on a 6-yard scoring pass and the Lights took a lead they never gave up.

"We struggled a bit today," said Bulldog head coach Rich Ferris. "Northern is a good team. That first punt return set us back, and

then we couldn't stop them on defense. We'd like to at least hold them to a field goal in that situation."

Western's offense had a difficult time clicking in the first half, as four drives ended in punts and the fifth was put to a stop on downs. Freshman quarterback Micah Mamiya got his first start Saturday, and finished with 370 yards passing on a 29-of-51 performance.

The bad news is that only 64 of the yards came in the first half, where the Bulldogs picked up only four first downs. Western had only 31 net yards rushing at intermission as well.

Northern picked up its second touchdown in the second quarter when Drummond freshman Tyrell Cochrel ran virtually untouched up the middle for a 38-yard score. Cochrel finished the day with four carries for 63 yards.

The Lights took a 17-0 edge into halftime after a 22-yard field goal with 13 ticks remaining in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs came out of the gates quickly in the third quarter, as Mamiya connected with Craigh Cornelius on a picture-perfect pass play across the middle that gained Western 59 yards and a shot at the endzone with first-and-goal at the 10.

The Northern defense held tough, and Western had to settle for three points on a 21-yard field goal by Colton Woods.

Northern freshman running back David Puckett had trouble with the drops Saturday, getting the ball twice and fumbling away both carries. The youngster did his best to make up for the gaffes on the kickoff return crew. Following Western's first points on the board, Puckett took the kick 45 yards to the Western 42.

On Northern's first play from scrimmage in the second half, Petrino connected with Tchida on a 41-yard bomb, leaving the quarterback free to sneak in three plays later.

The Bulldogs scored their only touchdown of the day on the ensuing drive when Mamiya hit Kekoa Perbera on an 8-yard slant. Western got in range when running back Chris Wells stretched to haul in a 39-yard pass over his shoulder.

"Micah got some more confidence today," Ferris said. "It made a difference when he got the start instead of being thrown in like last week. We had a good second half. Now we've just got to put two halves together."

The Bulldogs put together their best drive of the day in the waning minutes of the third quarter. Starting at their own 20, Western marched ahead on the power of Mamiya's arm and the crafty Bulldog receivers.

With the home team knocking on the door on Northern's 8-yard line, the quarter came to an end, and so did Western's momentum. The Bulldogs suffered a pair of incomplete passes and gave the ball away on downs.

Three of Western's final four drives ended in interceptions, including one returned 35 yards for a touchdown by Khalin Anderson.

"Their defense played well," Ferris said of the Lights. "They're physical up front."

Northern head coach Mark Samson said he was relieved to have the game in the books.

"This is a tough place to get a win. I was worried about their passing game coming in. They have two very good receivers," he said. "They're young and they're going to get better."

The Lights got 106 hard-earned yards on the ground from Justin Moe, while Petrino completed 14-of-23 passes — including 10 in a row — for 253 yards.

We had some big plays and we got better on offense, which is what we're shooting for," Samson said.

The Bulldogs got a big day from Cornelius, who snagged 11 passes for 152 yards, while Michael Guelff had five catches for 60 yards.

Sean McKinney registered back-to-back sacks for Western, while Chad Schira added another for an 11-yard loss. Schira paced the Bulldog defense with a dozen tackles while Jake Hayes had 10 stops and a fumble recovery.

"We gave up a couple posts," Ferris said, "But our defense played pretty well today."

Western (1-3, 1-4) travels to Rocky Mountain College next weekend to take on the Bears (1-3, 2-3). MSU-Northern (3-1) will play at Montana Tech (1-3, 1-4).

"I'm proud of how we came back after the loss to Carroll last week," Samson said. "Our defense sucked it up. Now we'll look forward to going to Butte and playing Tech. That'll be another huge game for us."

Northern 7 10 7 7 — 31

Western 0 0 9 0 — 9

First quarter

MSUN — Cody Tchida 6 pass from Nick Petrino (Kyle Kercher kick), 7:43. Key play: Khalin Anderson recovers fumbled punt return on Western 22. Drive: 4 plays, 22 yards.

Second quarter

MSUN — Tyrell Cochrel 38 run (Kercher kick), 8:34. Key play: scoring play. Drive: 5 plays, 58 yards.

MSUN — Kercher 22 FG, :13. Key play: Tchida 45 pass from Petrino on third-and-1 to the Western 2 (back to Western 17 on MSUN personal foul). Drive: 12 plays, 63 yards.

Third quarter

MW — Colton Woods 21 FG, 12:39. Key play: Craigh Cornelius 59 pass from Micah Mamiya on second-and-10 to MSUN 10. Drive: 7 plays, 78 yards.

MSUN — Petrino 1 run (Kercher kick), 11:36. Key play:Tchida 41 pass from Petrino on first-and-10 to Western 1. Drive: 4 plays, 42 yards.

MW — Kekoa Perbera 8 pass from Mamiya (kick blocked), 9:46. Key play: Chris Wells 39 pass from Mamiya on first-and-10 to MSUN 8. Drive: 6 plays, 60 yards.

Fourth quarter

MSUN — Khalin Anderson 35 interception return (Kercher kick), 5:53.

MSUN MW

First downs 18 15

Rushes-yards 42-186 24-79

Pass yards 253 370

Comp-att-int 14-23-0 29-51-3

Fumbles-lost 3-2 4-2

Penalties-yards 4-40 9-66

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MSUN: Justin Moe 21-106, Nick Petrino 14-17, David Puckett 2-0, Tyrell Cochrel 4-63, Garren Hammons 1-0. MW: Chris Wells 11-23, Micah Mamiya 6-26, Jordan Clary 4-10, Charlie Dotson 3-20.

PASSING — MSUN: Nick Petrino 14-23-0-253. MW: Micah Mamiya 29-51-3-370.

RECEIVING — MSUN: Kyle Kercher 3-60, Jeff Van Nest 1-14, Coda Tchida 5-105, Justin Moe 1-7, Garren Hammons 2-21, Micah Thomas 1-6, Seth Wildung 1-40. MW: Colton Woods 3-17, Martin Iosefo 2-16, Michael Guelff 5-60, Craigh Cornelius 11-152, Chris Wells 3-47, Kekoa Perbera 3-20, Jerry Schmitz 1-17, Jamal Rabb 1-5.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — MSUN: Kercher 25-yarder wide right.