HAVRE — Montana Western's football team handled business against MSU-Northern on Saturday, and the No. 4-ranked Bulldogs will now turn their attention to a pivotal home game last week.
Michael Palandri tossed three touchdowns, Jake Humphrey rushed for two scores and kicker John Mears became Western's all-time leading scorer as the Bulldogs rolled past the Lights 57-14 to improve to 5-1 in conference play.
With No. 21 Carroll College downing No. 8 Southern Oregon on Saturday to deal the Raiders their second conference loss, the upcoming game between the Saints and Bulldogs in Dillon next Saturday will be a critical matchup.
The Saints are 6-0 in Frontier Conference play while the Bulldogs are 5-1. A Carroll victory would give the Saints a two-game lead in the race toward the conference crown while a Western win would pull the teams into a tie.
Mears went 8 for 8 on PATs to bring his career total to 272, surpassing the record set of 266 set by Eric Zahler in 2004.
Dylan Shipley hauled in three passes for 116 yards and a touchdown while Coby Tanioka and Matthew Heer each had a touchdown reception.
On defense, Keegan Mufich led the Bulldogs with seven tackles, J.K. Shealy had a fumble recovery and Landon Charlton returned an interception for a touchdown.
The Saints and Bulldogs kick off in Dillon on Saturday at 1 p.m.
