BILLINGS -- Carroll College trailed Rocky Mountain College 14-3 after the first quarter of Saturday's Frontier Conference battle at Herb Klindt Field on the campus of Rocky Mountain College, but the Fighting Saints outscored Rocky 48-3 over the final three quarters for a decisive 51-17 win.
Carroll opened the scoring with a 19-yard field goal by Stephen Powell to go up 3-0, but Rocky answered back on its second play from scrimmage. Third-string quarterback Kamden Brown, who is replacing Drew Korf after Korf broke his hand, sold a play-action fake before hitting Lucas Overton for a 72-yard score.
After forcing a Carroll three-and-out, Rocky, aided by a pass interference call on second and 28, drove into Saints territory. Allen Williamson then pushed Rocky's lead to 14-3 with a 20-yard scamper up the gut.
But that was the end of the good news for Rocky on Saturday.
The Saints got themselves back in the game in a hurry in the second quarter. At the Rocky 10-yard line, Carroll quarterback Devan Bridgewater motioned out of the backfield, as Matthew Burgess took the snap out of the Wildcat formation. Burgess shed a tackler inside the 5-yard line and scored to bring Carroll within 14-10.
Carroll forced another Rocky punt but was forced to start the drive from its own 13-yard line. The Saints went on a 12-play, 87-yard drive that Bridgewater capped with a quarterback sneak from inside the 1-yard line, giving Carroll its first lead of the game.
The Saints offense wasn't done in the first half, though. The Saints gained possession with 7.7 seconds left after forcing a Rocky punt, and it took just two plays for them to light up the scoreboard again. After a 2-yard pass and a timeout, Carroll had 3.1 seconds remaining in the half on the Rocky 42-yard line. Bridgewater then uncorked a Hail Mary to the end zone as time expired, and Kyle Pierce, last week's hero against Montana Western, came up with the tipped pass in the back of the end zone to give Carroll a 24-14 lead at halftime.
Carroll kept its foot on the gas in the second half. The Saints outscored Rocky 21-3 in the third quarter to see its lead balloon to 45-17 with 15 minutes to play. Another Carroll touchdown in the fourth quarter capped the scoring.
The Saints racked up 225 rushing yards on 34 attempts and had five rushing touchdowns. Carroll averaged 7.8 yards per play compared to Rocky's just 4.7 for Rocky.
Carroll College improves to 4-3 (4-3 Frontier Conference) and will visit MSU-Northern on Nov. 2. Rocky Mountain College falls to 3-5 (2-5) and will visit Montana Western on Nov. 2.
