VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Montana State-Northern needed three yards to keep its drive alive. Craig Merritt Jr. and Oliver Melin only gave the Lights one. Nine seconds later, Jonathan Hunter was in the end zone. The two plays turned a late defensive stand into the finishing touch on Valley City State's 35–21 White Out win Saturday at Lokken Stadium.
The Vikings had spent much of the afternoon trying to put the Lights away. Laggarius Marshell finished a 13-play opening scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, and Brayden Medeiros found Ryan French for a 15-yard score in the second quarter to make it 14–0. Northern answered just before halftime, cutting the lead to seven and giving the Vikings work to do coming out of the break.
That work started on third-and-12. Medeiros found Tyson Ball for 34 yards, turning a potential drive-ending down into a first down at the Northern 11. Two plays later, Jake Deutsch caught a 10-yard touchdown pass to put VCSU ahead 21–7. Fafo Lefano and Caleb Torke then sacked Northern quarterback Malakhi Statler on the same possession, helping the Vikings carry that lead into the fourth quarter.
When the Lights closed within seven again, Medeiros took the Vikings 80 yards in five plays. He capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Nick Mears with 4:44 remaining. Northern drove into Viking territory on its next possession before Merritt and Melin turned the Lights away on fourth down. Hunter took the next snap 47 yards for a touchdown, giving VCSU a 35–14 cushion with 2:46 left.
Hunter finished with 113 rushing yards, and Medeiros threw for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Mears led the Vikings with 60 receiving yards, and Walker Brondos made all five extra points. The win was Valley City State's first in Frontier Conference play this season and moved the Vikings to 2–7 overall and 1–4 in conference play.
What's next
Valley City State hosts No. 5 Montana Tech in its regular-season finale Saturday, Nov. 14. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Central at Lokken Stadium.
