It was quite a debut for the University of Montana's true freshman kicker Dan Carpenter. All the Helena High product did was make all five of his kicks and drill one kickoff into the end zone in the Grizzlies season opening 27-20 win over Maine.

Carpenter's effort earned the Big Sky's Special Team's player of the week award. He connected on field goals of 32 and 47 yards, and made three extra points.

n n n

Capital High grad and starting outside linebacker Shane McIntyre led the Grizzlies with eight tackles. McIntyre is one of three new linebackers for UM.

n n n

While Carroll College had the weekend off, they may have taken some solace in watching Notre Dame and Idaho State get dumped in their season openers. The Irish (20-17 losers to Brigham Young) and Bengals (38-24 losers to San Diego State) were part of a multi-team conspiracy that rubbed out the Saints scheduled game with ISU.

"I understand Notre Dame wants to start playing seven home games a year, so I'm thinking about calling coach (Tyrone) Willingham to get something scheduled for 2006," Carroll coach Mike Van Diest joked. "They don't even have to come back out here. Seriously, I know how things can trickle down in that situation, but it was a bit of let down for our kids, because it's always a challenge to play a team from the Big Sky Conference."

n n n

The Saints, by the way, are on the road for the next two weeks before their next game - homecoming versus Rocky Mountain College - at Nelson Stadium. Carroll with then play another two road games before ending their season with three of four at home not counting possible playoff games.

n n n

That homecoming game is the reason Carroll College men's basketball coach Gary Turcott will miss the United State Tennis Association Senior (Over 50) Regional Tournament in Boise. Turcott qualified with Helena's Larry Stanley for the event.

n n n

Saints incoming freshman basketball player Chad Vaculin recently received the prestigious Outstanding High School Athlete of Utah Award given to a multi-sport star every year. Vaculin was the centerfielder on the Class AA Juan Diego (Salt Lake City) High School championship baseball team. He quarterbacked the school's football team to a runner-up finish and led the hoop team to a third place finish. Juan Diego is a Catholic school and Class AA in Utah is the equivalent to Class A in Montana.

n n n

The Capital City powerhouse high school soccer teams are off to another solid start with Capital and Helena High teams winning three of their four season debuts. The lone loss was suffered by the reigning state AA champion Helena High boy's team, which narrowly fell 2-1 to Butte. The Helena girls made up for that with a 9-0 drubbing of the Bulldogs.

The Capital girls won 3-0 over Missoula Sentinel, while the boys took a 3-1 win.

n n n

Stat of the Week: The Minnesota Golden Gophers amassed 461 yards in the first half of their game with Toledo - a 63-21 win. Minnesota running backs Laurence Maroney (1,121) and Marion Barber III (1,196) are bidding to become the first backfield tandem to go over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. Maroney had 108 yards and Barber 78 against Toledo, but neither played in the second half of the rout.