MSU-Northern football still has a lot of work to do in order to play competitive Frontier Conference football. New Media Broadcasters caught up with head coach Jerome Souers, who outlined what he liked about his performance in the most recent loss at home to Montana Western and also said what the Lights need to work on in the final weeks of the season.
“(I’m) very disappointed, but not discouraged,” Souers said. “I think it’s important to remember that we’re on an improvement curve every week. We have to get better.”
“We have to seek improvement, not just in schemes, but in fundamentals,” Souers continued. “Some of those things take time. When (Western’s) guys (were) out there, we seemed to function a lot better (in that game)”
“We just need to continue to grow and mature. Our guys are still showing heart and character,” Souers said. “They’re working hard. They’re keeping the fight going.”
Northern’s next challenge will be a road trip to Butte to battle Montana Tech. The Orediggers are in an NAIA playoff hunt right now and have been playing stellar football in all three phases of the game. Souers gave his critiques on Tech and said what his team will be challenged by to try and seek improvement in all phases of the game.
“They’re a very physical team. They play an aggressive style of football,” Souers said. “We’re going to see a team that’s balanced that can run it (and) can throw it. Defensively, they’ll get after you.”
“We play tentative early in games and we need to come out harder and more assertive,” Souers continued. “That comes with confidence. We’re not starting games out well recently against these top-tier teams.”
“If we want to (start out well), we’ve got to be in it early,” Souers said. “We’re going to get tested in the secondary. We’re going to get tested at (defensive) line and the linebacker spots. We’ve got to get our option (offense) cooking.”
Northern (0-8) will be in Butte to face No. 10 Montana Tech (7-2) on Saturday at 1pm. Listen to a feed on KPQX-92.5FM and HiLineToday.com.
