DILLON — John Mears had a rough idea of how close he was getting, but he wasn't actively tallying points in his mind as he closed in on program history.
But Montana Western's redshirt senior kicker still managed to make some during the Bulldogs' 56-14 road win over MSU-Northern on Nov. 2.
The final score provides a pretty obvious hint — the Bulldogs amassed eight touchdowns in their drubbing of the Lights, giving Mears eight opportunities to add a point to his stat sheet with him entering the game three points shy of the team scoring record. He converted all eight of those point-after attempts and in doing so brought his career total to 272, the most of any player in Western history.
"I wasn't necessarily keeping track but people were telling me," said Mears. "I guess I was keeping track a little bit but not that much."
Those kicks helped him surpass the previous mark of 266 points set by former Western kicker Eric Zahler in 2004.
It was a big accomplishment for the Belgrade product, but he said he's more focused on what his fourth-ranked team can do as the final two games of the regular season loom and the Bulldogs then look ahead to the postseason.
"I wanna see where this season goes," said Mears. "I think the team aspect of it is a lot greater accomplishment. Let's say we win the conference this year or even make a deep playoff run, I think that would mean a lot more than my record."
While Mears is focused on the team rather than his individual feat, his head coach was more than willing to praise his achievement.
"Truly a guy that's earned everything that he's got," said Ryan Nourse. "Just the hard work and the determination and the focus. He's just been a huge part of our team for so long. And this year in particular he's been a really clutch player for us."
While Mears has proved what he can do with his right leg the past four seasons, he's still looking to grow and realizes that, in his role, there is a razor-thin margin for error.
"I think just the mental aspect and you can always get better," said Mears. "But I think with kicking, if you're just a fraction off where you want to hit that ball, you might miss by 20 feet."
The Bulldogs (7-1 overall, 5-1 in Frontier Conference play) will look for Mears to continue churning out points as they gear up to host No. 14 Carroll College this Saturday in a pivotal conference clash.
The Saints (7-1, 6-0) would clinch the conference title with a win while a Western victory would pull the Bulldogs into a tie with Carroll with one game remaining in the regular season.
Western has already earned a pair of top-15 victories at home this season over College of Idaho and Montana Tech. Those wins should provide a burst of confidence as the Bulldogs aim to make it 3-for-3 against top-15 opponents.
"We know how to win," said Nourse. "That being said, I think our opponent feels the same way. And kudos to them, they've had a wonderful season. So I expect nothing more than a four-quarter battle against the Saints again."
Western and Carroll kick off on Saturday at noon.
