September 2005
Carroll Rocks Western in Frontier Conference Football
Saturday, September 24 2005
Defending national and Frontier Conference champion Carroll College stayed unbeaten with a 37-7 thumping of the University of Montana-Western in Dillon on a chilly fall afternoon.
The win raises Carroll's overall record to 4-0 and their conference mark to 2-0. Western falls to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the Frontier Conference.
Western was three and out on their opening possession. On their first possession, Carroll marched 61 yards on nine plays capped by a one yard touchdown run by Tyler Emmert to lead 7-0. It was a lead they would never lose.
Carroll led 23-0 at the half and 37-0 at the 12:56 mark of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs scored their lone touchdown on a 19 yard touchdown pass from Travis Blome to Marcus Williams.
Carroll rolled up 419 yards in total offense, 177 on the ground and 242 in the air. Western could only manage 179 yards in total offense.
The Bulldogs have next week off and then travel to Havre for a rematch against MSU-Northern on October 2.
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Western Hosts Carroll
Friday, September 23 2005
The University of Montana-Western hosts defending conference and national champion Carroll College in a Frontier Conference football game Saturday, September 24. Kickoff is 1:00 p.m. from Dillon's Vigilante Field.
The game will broadcast locally on KDBM, 1490 on the AM radio dial, and over the internet on sportsjuice.com.
Western is 1-3 overall and 1-1 in league play after last weekend's 37-0 non-conference loss at Idaho State, an NCAA 1-AA school.
“Despite the loss, there were a lot of positives coming out of the game,” said Bulldog coach Tommy Lee. “Defensively, to hold a team like that to seven points in one quarter and 23 points in a half. That speaks very highly of the way our defense played. The part that was a little disappointing was that we were unable to score. I thought we should have scored some points. But, we went into the game without a couple of starters on the offensive line, and that hurt us. I was happy how the kids competed and played hard from start to finish.”
Against Idaho State, the Bulldog defense picked off two passes with Missoula seniors Ryan Keltz and Ryan Tuttle each grabbing one.
Carroll College stayed unbeaten at 3-0 with a 31-14 win over MSU-Northern in Helena.
“That was a good football game,” added Lee. “Northern is much improved as we found out a couple of weeks ago. They played hard against Carroll too. We know that Carroll has a lot of talent and a lot of weapons to defend. You can never entirely stop them, but need to contain them.”
“Defensively, they are not a big defense,” said Lee. “We have seen bigger defenses, but what Carroll has is speed. They all can run from their lineman to the linebackers to the defensive backs. They are all very quick. From our offensive standpoint, we have to move the ball and keep their offense off the field.”
The Carroll offense is second in the nation, averaging 529.7 yards a game. They are sixth in the nation in both passing and rushing. The Saints average 34 points a game while giving up 11.
Western averages 275 yards and 14.5 points per game while giving up 418.5 yards and 41.5 points per game.
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Bulldogs Face Big Sky Power Idaho State
Friday, September 16 2005
The Bulldogs travel to Pocatello, Idaho for a non-conference college football game against the Idaho State University Bengals, Saturday, September 17.
Kickoff is 3:05 p.m. from the Holt Arena and the game will broadcast locally on KDBM, 1490 on the AM radio dial, and over the internet on sportsjuice.com.
Western is 1-2 on the season after picking up their first win of the season last weekend. The Bulldogs edged MSU-Northern 34-33. Western sophomore quarterback Justin Hartman threw for 367 yards and four touchdowns and was named Frontier Conference and NAIA National Player of the Week.
Idaho State is 1-1 on the season after last weekend’s 29-41 loss to the University of Kentucky. Idaho State outgained Kentucky 448 yards to 310, but gave up 287 yards in kick return yardage including a 99 yard return for a touchdown. The Bengals are an NCAA 1-AA school and members of the Big Sky Conference.
This will be the ninth meeting between the two schools with Idaho State leading in the overall series 8-0. The last meeting was in 2003 when Idaho State won 54-20.
Western returns home to host Carroll College in a Frontier Conference game Saturday, September 24.
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Hartman Named NAIA National Player of the Week
Monday, September 12 2005
Justin Hartman, 6-1, 200 lb sophomore quarterback, from Great Falls, Montana was named the NAIA National Offensive Player of the Week in addition to be chosen the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. In the Bulldogs' 34-33 win over MSU-Northern, Hartman was 19 of 34 for 367 yards and four touchdowns. He rushed for an additional 13 yards. Bulldog Senior Defensive End Brian Gardner of Bishopville, South Carolina was chosen the Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Game. In Western's 34-33 win over MSU-Northern, Gardner had 1 solo tackle, 12 assisted tackles, 1.5 tackles for losses (-9) and 1.5 quarterback sacks.
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Bulldogs Capture First Win
Saturday, September 10 2005
Western grabbed their first win of the year as they edged MSU-Northern 34-33 on cool, wet afternoon in Dillon.
The Bulldogs are now 1-1 in the Frontier and 1-2 overall while Northern drops to 0-1 in league play and 1-1 overall.
The game was a shoot-out in every since of the word. Both offenses combined for 886 yards in total offense. Western had 455 yards while Northern had 431.
Western scored first, but then the two teams traded first half touchdowns. The Bulldog defense finally found a way to stop a Northern drive and the half ended with Western on top 21-14.
It was the Northern defense turn for a stop when they forced a punt on the Bulldog's opening drive of the second half. Three plays later, the Lights tied the game on a 65 yard pass play. Western answered on a five play, 88 yard drive capped by a Justin Hartman to Travis Hartman 67 yard touchdown pass.
The teams traded touchdowns and missed extra points to give Western a 34-27 lead. Northern's defense forced the Bulldogs to punt and got to within one on a 10 play, 70 yard drive. The Lights elected to go for the two point conversation and failed.
The Bulldogs were forced to punt and the Lights had one more chance. On a fourth down play with less than a minute to paly, senior linebacker Kawai Curran sacked the Northern quarterback tto seal the win for the Bulldogs.
Next Saturday, Western travels to Pocatello for a non-conference game against Idaho State.
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Bulldogs Host Lights
Friday, September 9 2005
The University of Montana-Western Bulldogs will be searching for their first win of the 2005 season when they host the nationally ranked MSU-Northern Lights in a Frontier Conference game from Dillon's Vigilante Field. Kickoff is 1:00 p.m. and the game will broadcast locally on KDBM, 1490 on the AM radio dial, and over the internet on sportsjuice.com.
Western is 0-2 on the season after a 24-40 loss at Montana Tech and a 56-0 shutout last week at Central Washington.
“We have had a couple of horrible weeks,” said Bulldog coach Tommy Lee. “We have committed seven turnovers in our first two games, and obviously, you can't win ballgames when you turn the ball over that many times. Especially when you give your opponents a short field to score. We have played some good teams, but we can't compete against good teams when we make that many mistakes. During practice this week, we concentrated on execution and eliminating mistakes. IF we can do that, we can be in every ballgame. In our first two games, we got down early and big and then it became a real battle. Our kids have to learn that there will be hard times in every ballgame, and they just have to respond when those things happen. This has been a great week of practice and hopefully that momentum will carry over into Saturday's game with a very good MSU-Northern team.”
Northern opened their season last week with a 32-17 win over #6 Dickinson State. Lights quarterback Kyle Samson threw for two scores and ran for two more. Northern fell behind 14-0 early in the first quarter before mounting their comeback.
“With what happened to Northern, shows how good they are,” added Lee. “They were down early, but battled back, took the lead and won quite handily. There is a lot of talent on that team. This is a tough league, there will be no easy games. We are expecting a tough game from Northern. Their big win over Dickinson gives them a lot of momentum. They are fired-up and excited about their program, I believe they are ranked 20th in the nation. That is an impressive turnaround after a 1-10 season last year.”
Northern's offense rolled up 302 yards in total offense, most of it coming from the arm of Kyle Samson.
“Samson is an outstanding athlete and competitor,” said Lee. “I don't know if you can totally contain him. He makes things happen with his feet or with the pass.”
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Bulldogs Lose at Central Washington
Friday, September 2 2005
It was a repeat of the season opener at Montana Tech as the Bulldogs fell behind early and big. It was also the turnover bug that bit the Western offense. Central Washington scored three first quarter touchdowns, two of which coming off interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs never could get their offense going as Central's defense held them to only 129 yards in total offense. The Western offense didn't much better luck against the Wildcat defense, giving up 407 yards. Central scored on their first six possessions.
Western returns home to host MSU-Northern on Saturday, September 10.
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Bulldogs at Central Washington
Thursday, September 1 2005
The University of Montana-Western Bulldog football team is on the road for the second straight week as they travel to Ellensburg, Washington to face Central Washington, Friday, September 2. Kickoff is 1:00 p.m. (MDT) from Tomlinson Stadium.
The game will be broadcast in the Dillon area over KDBM-AM, 1490 on the AM dial. It will be streamed over the internet at sportsjuice.com.
Both teams lost their season openers. Western lost 40-24 to Montana Tech in Butte, while Central lost at home 44-20 to North Dakota.
“We had our moments in that game,” said Bulldog coach Tommy Lee. “But, we made too many mistakes against a very good football team.”
Western used two quarterbacks in the game. Justin Hartman threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns while Travis Blome threw for 158 yards and one touchdown. Jake Larson set a new school record for reception yards in a game as he caught 12 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Western scored first on a 38 yard field goal but fell behind 21-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Central Washington also got off to a slow start as they fell behind 24-0 with just 30 seconds gone in the second quarter.
When the two teams met a year ago, Central won 34-17.
“In Central Washington, we are facing a team a lot like Tech,” said Lee. “They always come at us with a balanced offensive attack. They struggled against North Dakota in the first half, but seemed to get some momentum in the second half.”
Central will have a slight Montana feel to them. Their starting quarterback is Mike Reilly from Kalispell, Montana.
Western plays their first home game next week, when they host MSU-Northern.
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