After two weeks of lackluster play in the first half, the Carroll College football team got things started off the right way Saturday afternoon.

The Saints (6-2, 4-2) rolled up 340 yards and 19 points in the first half en route to a 29-6 win over Montana State-Northern (0-8, 0-6) in front of a full house at Nelson Stadium.

"We played well defensively and I am excited about that and we had 340 yards in the first half and I am excited about that," said Carroll coach Mike Van Diest.

The Saints have two reasons to be excited about the outcome Saturday. First, the win ended a two-game losing streak. Second, it put them firmly back in the hunt for a fourth straight Frontier Conference title. Montana Tech beat the University of Montana-Western 19-9 Saturday in Butte. Tech is 4-1 in conference play while Western is 5-2. The Saints have two conference games remaining.

They face Rocky Mountain on Saturday in Billings and then host the Orediggers on Nov. 13.

The Saints, however, had to take care of the Lights on Saturday to entertain thoughts of conference championships and post season play.

They did so with an offense in the first half that looked very similar to the high-powered Saints offense earlier in the season.

Carroll used a bruising running game and an effective short-passing attack to move the ball down field.

Carroll scored on their third drive of the game, mixing the run and pass. Zach Bumgarner hauled in passes of 36 and 14 yards to keep the Saints offense moving downfield. Seven different players caught passes on the day for the Saints.

"We have more than one receiver," Van Diest "We have one great receiver in Kevin McCutcheon, but the other guys are good too."

McCutcheon had a 19-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter and Grosulak had two touchdown runs as the Saints went up 19-0 at halftime.

The Saints ran 42 plays to 24 for the Lights, whose only bright spot was intercepting Tyler Emmert three times.

Both interceptions set up the Lights in Saints' territory, but Northern came up dry each time.

MSU-N botched a field goal attempt on their first foray into Saints territory, when holder Neil Crandell couldn't handle the snap and was forced to heave a prayer into the end zone.

On the second occasion, a sack by a host of Saint tacklers on quarterback Kyle Samson pushed the Lights back into a fourth-and-16 situation on the Carroll 33.

Northern coach Mark Samson decided against going for the long field goal and went for it on fourth down. Northern running back, Don Saisbury was pushed out three yards short of the first-down marker and the Saints took over on downs.

"Our offense is struggling," Samson said. "Every week we find it hard to put drives together."

Carroll sacked Northern quarterbacks seven times in the game. Shirley had 2.5 sacks in the game.

"Their defense will always keep them in the game," Samson said of Carroll. "They fly around the ball and they are quick."

The Saints' defense was put to the test in the second half as they were out on the field a majority of the third and fourth quarters and only gave up one touchdown.

That score was a 4-yard pass from Kyle Samson to Nick Arnold late in the fourth quarter when the outcome was no longer in doubt.

The Saints outgained the Lights 414-217.

Grosulak finished with 131 yards rushing and Bumgarner had 81 yards receiving.

Saints 29, Lights 6

MSU-N 0 0 0 6 -- 6

Carroll 6 13 3 7 -- 29

First quarter

CC -- Ryan Grosulak 5 run (kick failed) 1:44

Second quarter

CC -- Kevin McCutcheon 19 pass from Tyler Emmert (pass failed) 6:52

CC -- Ryan Grosulak 11 run (Marcus Miller kick) 1:53

Third quarter

CC -- FG 28 Marcus Miller 2:58

Fourth quarter

MSU-N -- Nick ARnold 28 pass from Kyle Samson (pass failed) 5:08

CC -- John Barnett 3 run (Miller kick) 1:49

CC MSU-N

First downs 22 13

Rushing yards 157 79

Passing yards 257 138

Total yards 414 217

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties 5-46 1-11

Possession time 27:43 30:26

Sacks 8-53 0-0

Individual statistics

Rushing: Carroll -- Grosulak 24-123; Emmert 4-16; Barnett 4-14; Bowman 2-7; Northern -- Saisbury 15-53; Nickel 7-26; Largent 1-21; Nelson 2-0; Samson 19-39.

Passing: Carroll -- Emmert 17-30-1 236; Barnett 2-5-210. Northern --Samson 15-25-1 138. Crandell 0-2-0 0.

Receiving: Carroll -- Doak 5-78; Bumgarner 4-81; McCutcheon 4-60; Michaelis 2-12; Grosulak 2-15; Wigen 1-11. Northern -- Arnold 6-63; Saisbury 5-29; Nelson 2-25; Wirtzberger 2-21.