Skip To Main Content

Rocky Mountain College Athletics

Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears

Events and Results

Events and Results

No. 20 Rocky Football Heads to Dillon to Take on Preseason Conference Favorite Montana Western

No. 20 Rocky Football Heads to Dillon to Take on Preseason Conference Favorite Montana Western

Bookmark and Share

Brandon Stinson | Sports Information & Media Coordinator

BILLINGS, Mont., Sept. 28, 2022- Battlin' Bears football heads to Dillon to take on Montana Western for the Bulldog's homecoming game. Kickoff at 3:00pm. 
 
Homecoming Celebration: Rocky shutout MSU-Northern 56-0 to celebrate homecoming weekend. George Tribble shined in his first start as a Battlin' Bear, throwing for 206 yards and four touchdowns in only two and a half quarters, earning him Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Kaysan Barnett earned Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown in the victory. 

Climbing the Ranks: Rocky Football began the season ranked No. 19 in the nation, but a loss to College of Idaho knocked them outside the Top-25. After their upset win over Montana Tech put them back at No. 25, Rocky has gone up to No. 20 coming into their matchup against Montana Western, who was previously ranked 17th before their loss last week to Montana Tech. 

Scouting the Bulldogs: Montana Western (3-2) looks to bounce back after a 24-33 loss to Montana Tech last weekend, which knocked the preseason conference favorites out of the Top-25 ranking. Western is led by redshirt senior quarterback Jon Jund, who has thrown for 977 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions to begin the 2022 season. Jund has also rushed for 297 yards and five touchdowns while earning conference player of the week awards twice so far this season. Jund is joined by redshirt senior running back Reese Neville, who has rushed for 351 yards this season and three touchdowns. Jund's main target in the air has been freshman wide receiver Dylan Shipley, who currently leads the conference in receiving touchdowns with five. 

Western's defense has only allowed 16.6 points per game so far this season, allowing an average of only 246 yards of total offense. The defense is led by junior linebacker Kameron Rauser, who is the team's leading tackler with 33 total tackles, including six tackles for loss this season. Redshirt senior James Aragon has anchored the defensive line and leads the conference in sacks so far this season with five. Sophomore Braden Swank has totalled nine pass breakups this season to lead Western's defensive backfield. 

The Bulldogs are coached by Ryan Nourse in his ninth season as head coach of Western.

Battlin' Bears to Watch
  • Ethan Hurst: The sophomore defensive lineman who totalled 8.5 sacks last season, tallied 1.5 sacks in the win against Northern, his first since the victory against Southern Oregon to begin the season. Hurst is tied for fifth in the conference with 2.5 sacks this season. Hurst will look to contain the dual-threat Jund in Dillon this weekend. 
  • Wyatt Brusven: The redshirt junior linebacker continues to make an impact all over the field, tallying two tackles for loss against Northern to give him four on the season, while also being 10th in the country in punting average.

History: Since 1990, the Battlin' Bears are 26-32 against Montana Western. Their most recent matchup was an overtime thriller in which the Bulldogs ended up on top 50-42. Nathan Dick threw for four touchdowns and accounted for over 300 yards total through air and on the ground combined in the defeat. 

Social Media: Follow @BattlinBears on twitter for live updates as the game goes on.
 
Print Friendly Version