CALDWELL, Idaho — Needing a win to earn a share of the Frontier Conference title, Carroll leaned on the strength of its defense and got more than enough from quarterback Jack Prka.
The Saints held the College of Idaho to two field goals and got three touchdown passes from Prka to beat the College of Idaho 21-6 on Saturday and earn a split of the league crown and earn the Frontier's automatic berth the the postseason (based on defensive points allowed).
Carroll limited the Yotes’ offense to 268 total yards and forced three turnovers to win its fifth consecutive game and post its second shutout in the past four weeks.
Offensively, Prka threw for 275 yards and had TD passes to Chris Akulschin, Cameron Rothie and Tony Collins. Akulschin finished with seven catches for 133 yards.
With the win, Carroll improved to 8-2. College of Idaho is also 8-2, which forced a tie atop the Frontier standings on the last weekend of the regular season.
Carroll and the rest of the NAIA will learn its playoff positioning on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the Frontier ...
Montana Western 44, Rocky 21
BILLINGS — Jon Jund threw for 337 yards and four touchdowns, Reese Neville rushed for 182 yards and two scores and Montana Western blew past Rocky 44-21.
Trey Mounts and Isaiah Thomas each had more than 100 receiving yards and caught two touchdowns apiece for Western, which improved to 6-4 in the Frontier and 7-4 overall.
Rocky dropped to 6-4 with the loss.
Trent Nobach threw for 334 yards on 34-of-53 passing for the Battlin’ Bears. Joseph Dwyer caught a TD pass, and Andrew Simon finished with nine receptions. Zaire Wilcox rushed 18 times for 74 yards and a touchdown.
No. 20 Montana Tech 49, MSU-Northern 6
HAVRE — Kaleb Winterburn rushed for 122 yards and two touchdown, Jet Campbell threw for two scores and No. 2 Montana Tech routed MSU-Northern 49-6 at Tilleman Field.
Jet Campbell threw first-quarter touchdowns to Trevor Hoffman and Kyle Torgerson as the Orediggers two a 14-0 lead. Blake Thelen also threw a TD pass to Torgerson in the first half.
Winterburn carried the ball 23 times and averaged 5.3 yards per rush. He scored on a 15-yard run in the first quarter and on a 4-yard run in the third.
Alaric Greil retuned an interception for a score for Tech’s defense. Landers Smith added a 2-yard TD run for the Orediggers in the fourth.
Kaden Nelson made two field goals for Northern.
Tech improved its record to 7-3 while MSU-Northern finished its season with a 0-10 mark.
Eastern Oregon 21, Southern Oregon 14
ASHLAND, Ore. — Eastern Oregon scored three unanswered touchdowns to beat Southern Oregon 21-14.
Andrew James threw touchdown passes to Blake Davis and Jonah Blackham in the second quarter, then found Dew Reyes early in the fourth as EOU came back to win.
James finished with 282 passing yards, while Davis had 101 receving yards.
Levi Durrell got most of the snaps at quarterback for Southern Oregon. Durrell stakes SOU to a 14-0 lead with a touchdown run and a TD pass in the first quarter.
