HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College football team sent its 17 seniors off in style on Saturday, scoring 38 unanswered points over the final 31 minutes to top Southern Oregon 38-7 on Valley Bank Field at Nelson Stadium.
An abnormally slow start in the opening half of the first-ever senior night game at Nelson Stadium gave the Fighting Saints (7-1, 4-0) fans in attendance a bit of a scare on Halloween, but a late-half score would completely flip the momentum.
Through their first six wins of the season, one constant for Carroll had been pouring on first-half points. That simply was not the case on Saturday, as the Saints spun their wheels for the vast majority of the opening half.
Southern Oregon quarterback McCade Long, making his first collegiate start, led the Raiders on an 11-play, 93-yard scoring drive midway through the first quarter. The junior completed four passes for 77 yards, and added in some ground work to help give SOU a 7-0 lead with four minutes left in the first frame.
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From there, the Carroll defense slowed Southern Oregon down to a halt, holding the Raiders scoreless for the remainder of the game while limiting their offense to just 242 total yards.
Jake Jeske (Spangle, Wash. / R-JR) had a great first half, going for 78 yards on 12 carries, but the Saints could not find a way to capitalize on Jeske's efforts. Several times throughout the first 30 minutes, the Saints would see good first-down yardage eventually negated, coming up just shy of the sticks, with miscommunication, perhaps a little nerves, and general miscues keeping Carroll scoreless.
Entering the week, Carroll was among the top-five teams in the NAIA in third-down conversions, averaging 56 percent on the season. Saturday was a different story, however, as the Saints finished the night just 2-for-10 on third down.
The switch finally got flipped on at the tail end of the first half. The Carroll defense gave the offense a short field to work with, and just four plays later Kaden Huot (Helena, Mont. / SR) connected with Ty Wilkinson (Pocatello, Idaho / R-SO) on a 13-yard touchdown reception to level things up heading into the break.
On the other side of halftime, Huot and Wilkinson would connect yet again, this one a 34-yard strike to the back corner of the end zone, perfectly placed to give the Saints their first lead of the night just two minutes into the second half.
The 34-yarder was Wilkinson's 11th touchdown reception of the season, matching Carson Ochoa's season record by a tight end, established last year in his All-American campaign.
On the next Carroll drive Beau Butner (Spokane Valley, Wash. / R-FR) totaled 54 yards on the ground over five carries to set the Saints up with a red zone opportunity. Huot took advantage, finding Treyton Graham (Dillon, Mont. / R-JR) for his third TD pass of the evening. Graham's second career touchdown catch extended the lead to 21-7, and the offense began to function like they have all season.
Tight ends are a premier position at Carroll College, and Tanner Larson (Kennewick, Wash. / R-FR) would get in on the fun early in the fourth quarter, capping a one-play drive with a 16-yard TD grab set up by a fumble recovery on a muffed punt by Garrett Freeman (Boise, Idaho / R-SO).
Ethan Triplett (Belt, Mont. / R-SO) scored for the second time in as many weeks, fighting through an arm tackle on the far side of the field before scampering 26 yards to the end zone to give Huot his fourth passing TD of the season.
Leading 35-7 late in the fourth, Eddie Ballanco (Bozeman, Mont. / FR) would put the icing on the cake, drilling a 32-yard field goal to bring the running total to 38-7, a score which would hold true for the remainder of the win.
All said and done, Huot finished his night 14-for-21 for 221 yards and five touchdowns, a mark he also put up against the Raiders last season in Ashland.
Jeske and Butner combined for 187 yards on the ground, while Wilkinson led all players with five grabs for 125 yards and a pair of scores.
Defensively, the Saints got to the quarterback more than any other game this season, combining for nine total sacks in the victory. Henry Gross (Helena, Mont. / R-JR) had a monster game, finishing with a career-high 3.0 sacks, while matching Eli Aby (Laurel, Mont. / R-SR) with a team-best seven tackles.
On the back end, both Kolbe Coey (Hayden, Idaho / R-FR) and Max Grady (Phoenix, Ariz. / JR) came away with fourth-quarter interceptions, as the Saints continue to be among the national leaders in takeaways.
The win gives Carroll another unbeaten regular season inside Nelson Stadium, and also was a milestone victory for head coach Troy Purcell, who joined an exclusive list of coaching legends with 200 or more victories as a coach in the state of Montana (high school and college).
Carroll will now turn their full attention toward a monumental clash next weekend in Caldwell, Idaho, as the Saints look to upend the unbeaten No. 2 team in the nation.
