FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019
SATURDAY’S GAMES
ALL TIMES PACIFIC
MONTANA TECH
AT EASTERN OREGON, 1 P.M.
This is an important early matchup
for both teams. By the end of the
day, one will have incurred a second
Frontier Conference loss. And while
that isn’t necessarily a death knell to a
conference title or even a playoff berth
(see Rocky Mountain winning it last
year at 7-3), it without a doubt puts a
damper on the losing team’s hopes.
THE OBSERVER — 2C
THE BLITZ
EOU looks to ride momentum of
thrilling win into home opener
SOUTHERN OREGON
AT COLLEGE OF IDAHO, NOON
College of Idaho had beaten SOU
only once since bringing back its
football program before a 45-34 home
win last October. That was the third in
what has now become an eight-game
winning streak for the Yotes, who are
the Frontier Conference’s hottest team.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN
AT CARROLL COLLEGE, NOON
On the fi eld, Rocky has a three-game
winning streak in the series (not count-
ing its forfeited win in last year’s season
opener). The game is the home opener
for Carroll College, which has dropped
its last two home opening games,
including when Rocky dismantled the
Fighting Saints in Helena, Montana,
two years ago, 40-14.
MONTANA WESTERN
AT MSU-NORTHERN, NOON
This is a matchup that will show if
MSU-Northern, losers of 28 straight
Frontier games, can contend in the
conference again. Montana Western
has won each of the last eight contests
by a minimum of 20 points, including
52- and 29-point wins last fall.
PLAYER TO WATCH
A year ago, no Mountie fan would
have pegged Saige Wilkerson as a fu-
ture wide receiver, let alone the team’s
leading receiver in the early stages
of 2019. But through two games, the
converted quarterback has 10 catches
for 125 yards and one all-important
touchdown catch — the winning grab
against SOU that he called “surreal.”
TREND TO WATCH
Eastern has won its last four home
openers, and has been strong in them
under Tim Camp, going 8-3 in his
tenure when they fi rst take the fi eld
at Community Stadium. The games
tend to be thrillers, too. All but three in
that stretch have been one-possession
games. The opponent in the three that
haven’t? Montana Tech.
NAIA POLL
Team
Record Points
1. Morningside (Iowa) [16] 15-0
366
2. Benedictine (Kan.)
13-2
352
3. Saint Francis (Ind.)
10-3
338
4. Kansas Wesleyan
13-1
307
5. Saint Xavier (Ill.)
9-4
300
6. Concordia (Mich.)
10-3
280
7. Marian (Ind.)
10-1
278
8. Baker (Kan.)
9-3
268
9. Dickinson State (N.D.) 9-3
230
10. Reinhardt (Ga.)
9-2
224
11. Northwestern (Iowa) 9-2
214
12. Grand View (Iowa)
8-3
185
13. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 7-3
182
14. Langston (Okla.)
9-2
171
15. College of Idaho
6-5
164
16. Bethel (Tenn.)
10-2
161
17. Cumberlands (Ky.) 10-1
157
18. Evangel (Mo.)
9-2
136
19. Southeastern (Fla.)
7-3
88
20. Southern Oregon
6-4
82
21. Georgetown (Ky.)
7-3
78
22. Ottawa (Kan.)
8-2
70
23. Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 8-4
66
24. Dordt (Iowa)
7-3
32
25. Montana Western
6-4
27
Others Receiving Votes:
Siena Heights (Mich.) 25, Cumberland
(Tenn.) 22, William Penn (Iowa) 20,
Eastern Oregon 18, Montana Tech 9,
Ottawa (Ariz.) 9, Arizona Christian 6,
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 5, Ave Maria (Fla.) 5
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Eastern Oregon defensive backs, from left, Derrick Fontenot, Donald Cook and Brennen Hull work
on drills during practice Tuesday.
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
It was almost a night-and-day
difference from the opening game
to the second game for the Eastern
Oregon University Mountaineers.
A week after getting rolled in
their season opener at Frontier
Conference favorite College of
Idaho, the Mountaineers turned it
around on defense and found the
needed moxie to earn a come-from-
behind 24-21 win last weekend
at Southern Oregon. The victory
over the Raiders gave them some
much-needed momentum and a
confi dence boost headed into their
home opener against the Montana
Tech Orediggers Saturday.
“I saw something special in
these kids (in) that they pulled
together and they played well
together,” EOU head coach Tim
Camp said of Eastern’s fi fth win in
its last seven road games against
SOU. “That was probably the best
game I’ve been a part of where
the kids played to win the football
game, and that’s the way they
practiced last week.”
The biggest area of improve-
ment for the Mountaineers was
on defense. A week after C of I
amassed 377 yards on the ground
in its 48-12 win, EOU held SOU
to just 96 yards rushing, and 273
yards total.
Defensive end Sage DeLong,
who had three sacks and fi ve tack-
les for loss in an effort that earned
him NAIA defensive player of the
week honors, said EOU focused
on being physical in the lead-up to
the Southern game after getting
“exposed” by C of I.
We changed what we were do-
ing (after the C of I loss),” he said.
“We decided we were going to get
back to hitting people. The team
responded.”
That newfound — or, perhaps,
refound — physicality is some-
thing the Mountaineers will need
Saturday against the physical
Orediggers.
And that will start on defense
with containing Tech running back
Jed Fike, who the last two seasons
was the Frontier’s leading rusher
with 136.4 yards per game and a
total of 2,592 rushing yards.
“He’s a very good football player,”
Camp said of Fike. “(The Oredig-
gers) have a good group of offensive
linemen. Chuck (Morrell) does a
very good job coaching those guys.
They’ve got a really good defensive
scheme. It doesn’t matter what
type of Tech (team) or what type of
Eastern team you have. It’s always
a fair fi ght. It’s going to be a very
Ronald Bond/The Observer
EOU wide receiver Saige Wilkerson, who caught the winning
touchdown pass a week ago, makes a grab at practice Tuesday.
SERIES HISTORY
Eastern Oregon and Montana Tech have met a total of 31 times,
with the Orediggers holding a 17-14 edge all time. EOU won the
most recent matchup, a 35-17 home win last October that snapped
Tech’s four-game winning streak in the series.
OREDIGGER TO WATCH
Running back Jed Fike is a load, and is the two-time defending
conference leader in rushing, posting 1,252 yards two years ago
and 1,340 last fall. In three career games against EOU, the senior
has 419 rushing yards and a touchdown.
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Local Sports
Report...
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for the Local Sports Report with
Observer Sports Editor Ronald Bond
at 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday.
BY RONALD BOND
THE OBSERVER
1. College of Idaho: Two games in,
and the Yotes look every part of a
team ranked 15th in the nation and
picked to win the Frontier Conference.
They have a running game that, early
on, leads the nation at 362 yards per
contest.
2. Rocky Mountain: The defending
Frontier champs are looking strong to
start with a good road win at Dickin-
son St. It’s too early to say, though,
what just a 19-point win over formerly
hapless MSU-Northern means.
3. Montana Western: The Bulldogs
extended their streak of winning
season openers to seven years in a
row, by far the longest suck streak in
the Frontier Conference.
4. Eastern Oregon: That was a
much-needed win for the Mountain-
eers, and a very good bounce back
after the tough opener. To get through
the early back-to-back of Frontier
favorites at 1-1 has to give EOU
confi dence.
5. Southern Oregon: To lose in the
fi nal seconds to the in-state rival has
to sting for the Raiders. They’ll need a
big rebound at C of I to avoid an 0-2
start in conference play
6. Montana Tech: The Orediggers
were never really in the game against
C of I after the Yotes broke out to a
21-point lead. They gave up 510 yards
in that loss, their most since 2017.
7. Carroll College: The Fighting
Saints lost their opener on the fi eld
for the third year in a row (though
they did get the 2018 win back via
forfeit). That’s not a good trend.
8. MSU-Northern: While two games
is a very small sample, the Lights
appear to be improved with their win
at Arizona Christian and a respectable
effort against Rocky Mountain. They’ll
need to do more —like win a confer-
ence game —to get out of the cellar.
STANDINGS
About the game
physical and contested ball game
Saturday.”
Tech, like EOU was a week
ago, is coming off a loss to College
of Idaho, as the Yotes spoiled the
Orediggers’ season opener with a
28-14 win in Butte, Montana.
Fike ran for 101 yards and a
touchdown in that game, but Tech
also found success through the
air as quarterback Jet Campbell
threw for 218 yards and a touch-
down. He connected with receiver
Trevor Hoffman 11 times for 149
yards.
Keeping their eyes peeled on
Hoffman’s location will be key for
the secondary, according to EOU
safety Zack Jacobs.
“They have the capability of
hitting us downfi eld, so the back
end, we’ve gotta be ready,” said
Jacobs, who had two interceptions
against SOU. “(Hoffman) is the
main target.”
The challenge for the secondary
will be keeping track of the receiv-
ers and not letting Tech lull them
to sleep with the run game before
going deep.
“(We can’t) let them fool us with
a shot or something (and get)
caught looking in the back fi eld
and letting our guy go,” Jacobs
said.
On offense, the Mountaineers
will look to improve in their ability
to maintain possession while also
taking what the defense gives
POWER POLL
them. Against the Yotes, EOU held
possession for just two minutes in
the fi rst quarter, Camp said, but
improved to 11 minutes in the fi rst
against SOU. For the game, EOU
saw a jump from a 24:48 time of
possession against C of I to 35:21
against Southern.
“I want to be able to control the
ball,” Camp said. “I want to be able
to control the tempo and the fl ow
of the game offensively, and take
what they give us at that time. If
you’re able to do that, then you can
help the defense out. We’re going to
play team football.”
Wide receiver Saige Wilkerson,
who caught the winning touch-
down pass from Kai Quinn with 10
seconds remaining against SOU,
said the team improved against
Southern in taking opportunities
presented to it in the run-pass op-
tion, and needs to keep growing in
that regard.
“That opened up the run game,”
said Wilkerson, who is EOU’s
leading receiver with 125 yards
through the fi rst two games. “We
were able to put the ball on the
ground a little bit, and that opened
up the pass game even more.
“(Tech is) very physical. I would
say the RPOs will keep Tech’s de-
fensive backs on their toes. They’re
going to have to stop (the RPOs).
That alone will lighten the box up,
and I think our game plan is going
to be to run the ball quite a bit.”
College of Idaho
Rocky Mountain
Montana Western
Eastern Oregon
MSU-Northern
Montana Tech
Carroll College
Southern Oregon
Conf.
2-0
1-0
1-0
1-1
0-1
0-1
0-1
0-1
Overall
2-0
2-0
1-0
1-1
1-1
0-1
0-1
0-2
Thursday, Aug. 29
Rocky Mountain 23, Dickinson St. 21
Saturday, Aug. 31
College of Idaho 48, Eastern Oregon 12
MSU-Northern 20, Arizona Christian 14
Sacramento St. 77, Southern Oregon 19
Saturday, Sept. 7
Eastern Oregon 24, Southern
Oregon 21
Montana Western 31, Carroll College 24
Rocky Mountain 53, MSU-Northern 34
College of Idaho 28, Montana Tech 14
Saturday, Sept. 14
Montana Tech at Eastern Oregon, 1 p.m.
Montana Western at MSU-Northern,
noon
Rocky Mountain at Carroll College, noon
Southern Oregon at College of Idaho,
noon
Saturday, Sept. 21
Eastern Oregon at Portland St., 2 p.m.
Montana Western at Rocky Mountain,
noon
MSU-Northern at Carroll College,
1 p.m.
Southern Oregon at Montana Tech,
noon
Saturday, Sept. 28
Eastern Oregon at Montana Western,
noon
Montana Tech at MSU-Northern, noon
College of Idaho at Rocky Mountain,
noon
Carroll College at Southern Oregon,
1 p.m.
ON THE COVER
Defensive end Sage DeLong, the
NAIA defensive player of the week.
(Ronald Bond, The Observer)
on the
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