Billings, Mont. – With two wins to open the 2019 season, Rocky Mountain College travels to Helena, Montana to take on rival Carroll College.

Series History: Based on available records, Rocky is 23-86-2 against the Fighting Saints. Last time these two teams met was on October 20, 2018 and Rocky defeated the Saints 42-21 in Helena. Jacob Bakken threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions and Max Gray caught nine receptions for 165 yards. Sam Sparks ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts. Carroll's Kolby Killoy threw for 246 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions while Eric Dawson caught seven receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown. 

Battlin' Bears So Far: Rocky built on their season opener win over No. 9 ranked Dickinson State with a 53-34 win over the MSU-Northern Lights last week. Drew Korf stepped in and threw for 331 yards and five touchdowns. Both Carter Garsjo and Josh Kraft caught two touchdowns passes. Sam Sparks rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown.

Fighting Saints So Far: Carroll College opened their season with a 31-24 loss to the No. 25 ranked Montana Western Bulldogs last Saturday. Despite leading at halftime, Carroll was unable to take advantage of late key drives in the fourth quarter. Mathew Burgess rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown while Devan Bridgewater threw for 326 yards and a touchdown. The Bulldogs' Jason Ferris had 19 tackles.

Scouting the Fighting Saints:

• Carroll is led by sophomore quarterback Devan Bridgewater who started his first game as a Saint last week. Bridgewater was 19-of-42 in the air for 326 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
• Freshman running back Matthew Burgess had a big start in his debut as a Saint with 106 rushing yards and a touchdown. 
• Don't forget about Major Ali who also poses a threat in the backfield. Ali rushed for 69 yards with an additional 77 yards of receiving against the Bulldogs. Before the game, Ali had only 51 career yards of receiving. The senior has recorded 2256 yards of rushing so far through his four seasons with the Fighting Saints.
• Shane Sipes caught six receptions for 70 yards last week. In his third season playing at Carroll, Sipes has recorded 1262 receiving yards.
• On the defensive side, Dylan Kresge led the team last week with eight total tackles while Chase Bowen had seven.

Scouting the Battlin' Bears: 

• Having split time between Nathan Dick and Drew Korf at quarterback, Rocky is currently ranked No. 4 in the NAIA for total pass offense with 596 yards.
• Josh Kraft has had two big weeks to start the season. The senior ranks No. 6 in the NAIA for total receiving yards (236) and No. 9 in total scoring (18). He leads the Frontier in both categories.
• Sam Sparks has the most all-purpose yards (172) for the Battlin' Bears. Sparks rushed for 96 yards against Dickinson State and 120 yards and a touchdown against MSU-Northern. He caught a 40 yard touchdown pass against the Lights last week.
• The Battlin' Bears had four interceptions last week against the Lights. Henderson, Brusven, Hunter, and Reynolds all picked off a pass from the Lights' Brenden Medina. 
  • Jimmy Henderson has caught two interceptions through his first two games which ties Southern Oregon's Michael Chisley Jr. as most in the Frontier this season. It is also the third most in the NAIA.
  • It's not often that you see a kicker record an interception, but that is exactly what happened last week when Wyatt Brusven, also a defensive back, intercepted MSU-Northern's Brenden Medina late in the fourth quarter.
• Chad Nebel's two sacks ties for second most in the Frontier with MSU-Northern's Shadarius Jenkins. Eastern Oregon's Sage Delong leads the conference with three which were all against Southern Oregon last week.
• Both of Rocky's highly regarded cornerbacks, Jimmy Henderson and Devonte Woods, are both headed to the NAIA's Senior Classic this year.

Preseason Rankings: Rocky Mountain College earned a No. 5 ranking in both the Frontier Conference Football Preseason Coaches' Poll and the Frontier Conference Media Poll. The Battlin' Bears received 29 points in the Coaches' Poll and 71 points and two first-place votes in the Media Poll. College of Idaho was picked to finish first in both polls. The Fighting Saints were ranked No. 7 in both polls. The Battlin' Bears ranked No. 23 in the 2019 NAIA Football Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll with 66 points. The next NAIA poll will be released next week.

Frontier Conference Players of the Week: 

• Offensive Player of the Week: College of Idaho's Nick Calzaretta
• Defensive Player of the Week: Eastern Oregon's Sage DeLong (NAIA Player of the Week)
• Special Teams Player of the Week: Eastern Oregon's Chase Van Wyck (NAIA Player of the Week)

First Meeting: Both in their first season with their teams,  Carroll's Troy Purcell and Rocky's Chris Stutzriem will play each other for the first time on Saturday. Purcell is currently 0-1 while Stutzriem is 2-0.