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Sept. 26, 2014
www.havredailynews.com
Notebook: Northern's Baum is tearing up the Frontier Conference so far n From Page 11
But one thing is clear, the Frontier is loaded with good teams, from top to bottom, and the league is already shown that with four teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25 and another receiving votes this week. And while there’s plenty of big games left to play, it looks as though the race to the Frontier championship is going to have to wait to be settled until well into November. And while the Lights have played excellent pass defense this season, allowing just 206 yards per game, they are now faced with stopping the best quarterback in the NAIA in SOU’s Austin Dodge. Barring injury or any other disaster, Dodge is set to smash at least eight different NAIA offensive records at some point this season. Dodge will blow by the total career passing yards mark of 13,388 as he was less than 2,000 yards shy of that one when the season started. Air Emergency The Lights know exactly what’s coming when Southern Oregon takes the field Saturday in Havre. The game will be SOU’s second trip to Havre since joining the Frontier, and the Raiders fourth foray into Blue Pony Stadium in the last 15 years. And it’s no secret what the Raiders will do. They will throw the ball without fear, they will go fast and they will try to put as many points on the scoreboard as possible. That’s the task the Northern defense is faced with on Saturday. If he stays on his pace of throwing for four touchdowns every outing, he’ll break Chris Reisert’s record of 120 career TD passes Saturday in Havre. Dodge is just three shy of that now. And he needs less than 400 yards of offense to break Carroll great Tyler Emmert’s record of 13,979 career total yards gained. Other NAIA records in jeopardy because of the great Dodge include, total completions, passing yards per game, total offensive yards per game, touchdowns responsible for and career passing attempts. Of course, Northern will do everything it can Saturday to prevent Dodge from racking up the huge numbers he’s accustomed to. And the Lights have a chance to do just that if their pass rush can continue to be what it has been so far this season. Defensive end Tyler Craig is having a monster sophomore campaign, as he leads the Frontier with six sacks, while Patrick Barnett and Will DeVos each have three tackles for loss. Northern interim head coach Jake Eldridge, who has had to game plan for Dodge as the Lights’ defensive coordinator the last three seasons, understands just what it takes to slow the senior quarterback down, let alone stop him from bombarding the opposition with passing yards and big plays. “You have to be able to generate some pressure on him (Dodge),” Eldridge said. “Maybe not necessarily with sacks, because their offensive line is very good and he’s very mobile in the pocket. But if you can get to him, throw his timing off and disrupt the timing with his receivers, that’s one way to at least slow them down a little bit. That’s what we hope to do, get some pressure on him.”
Havre Daily News/Eric Seidle Montana State University-Northern's Trevor Baum is currently the leading receiver in the Frontier Conference, and he is coming off a huge game last Saturday at UM-Western. Baum and the Lights take on No. 7 Southern Oregon Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium. Catch the Ball If you like watching wide receivers do their thing, then Blue Pony Stadium is certainly the place to be on Saturday as no less than five of the top statistical receivers in the Frontier will be in action. On the side of the Lights is senior Trevor Baum. In his first and only season as a wide receiver, Baum is running wild on the Frontier. He’s caught 39 balls for 604 yards this season, and he averages 16 yards per grab, to go along with nine catches per outing. Baum is coming off a 200-yard performance against Western last Saturday, and he’s hit paydirt three times. On the other side is sophomore Jake Messerly, who also has two 100-yard games this year. Messerly is a speedster and a big-play threat, and in his career at Northern, he already has six catches that went for 70 yards or longer.
Meanwhile, the SOU receivers, as expected, are no slouches either. Brothers Matt and Ryan Retzlaff were both All-Conference a year ago. Both are Oregon State transfers, who each went over a 1,000 yards a season ago and combined to haul in 40 touchdowns. But the most gifted receiver in the league might be Dylan Young, who already has nearly 600 yards and four touchdowns this season. Young is a threat to go the distance from anywhere on the field, and he’s someone who has to command a lot of attention from opposing defenses. The Raiders also acquired the services of former Portland State star Victor Dean this season. Dean lit up the Big Sky Conference at times a year ago, and at 6-6 and 215 pounds, he’s an NFL-sized WR with blazing speed. Instant Impact The College of Idaho suffered its first loss
of its innaguaral season when the Yotes were thumped by SOU, 56-28 last Saturday in Ashland, Ore. But, no matter where the Yotes finish in their first season in the Frontier, they certainly have a star at quarterback. Junior TeeJay Gordon is the definition of a dual-threat QB, and his running ability is giving Frontier defenses fits they probably weren’t prepared for when facing the Yotes for the first time. While he’s an adept passer, the 5-11 Gordon, out of Manteca, California, has already rushed for 359 yards on 50 carries this season. He’s also thrown for 603 yards and the Yotes are averaging eight yards per play every time Gordon has the ball in his hands. And with eight total touchdowns already, Gordon has quickly established himself as one of the most dangerous weapons in all of the Frontier Conference.