HAVRE - Chalk one up for the defense.

The undefeated Carroll College football team forced four turnovers - thanks to two Brian Strobel interceptions - scored a defensive touchdown and picked up its first shutout of the season in a 32-0 rout of MSU-Northern Saturday.

The No. 2 Saints (7-0 overall, 6-0 Frontier Conference) held the Lights (2-5, 1-5) to just 147 offensive yards and pummeled competing quarterbacks Matt Reyant and Jeff Van Ness for five sacks. It was Carroll's first shutout since beating the Lights 37-0 on Oct. 25, 2008.

"It was a great feeling," said senior defensive end Mike Ogrin. "That was what we set as our goal for this week. We hadn't gotten a shutout this whole season and we were set to do it."

With an 18-0 lead midway through the third quarter, the defensive line once again made a big push and, with the help of strong safety Ted Morigeau, Ogrin was able to high-step his way out of the end zone with a fumble recovery and the second touchdown of his career.

Morigeau blitzed Reyant, a Capital High graduate who was starting for just his second collegiate game, and stripped him of the ball a few yards in front of the end zone.

"The ball was on the ground and I dove on it," Ogrin said. "It was a little scrum and I was lucky enough to get on it."

When he popped up, Ogrin did a quick kick in the air not unlike his touchdown celebration on an interception return at Eastern Oregon in 2008.

"I saw it last year at Eastern Oregon, and it probably wasn't much better this year than it was last year," said Carroll head coach Mike Van Diest.

Van Diest was particularly proud of his defense's ability to stop the team's leading rusher, Ty Cochrell, by holding the running back to just 36 yards on nine carries and the Lights to 41 yards total.

"I thought the key today was we shut down their running game," Van Diest said. "We gave up a couple runs in their pro set and we need to do a better job of spilling the football and tackling. But for the most part they didn't have the option game."

The Saints' offense, meanwhile, overcame some dropped passes on third downs to roll away with 366 total yards and three touchdowns on a balanced attack.

Carroll's second drive of the game went 42 yards and 13 plays - including a fourth-down, 8-yard pass to sophomore receiver Matt Ritter - before true freshman D.J. Smetana's 33-yard field goal put his team up 3-0.

Ritter, who has been used mostly to take the direct snap in the Saints' "Wildcat" formation, had his best catching performance of the season, leading the squad with 48 yards on four receptions.

Still, it was junior receivers Christian Prosperie and Corey Peterson that hit paydirt for the Saints and helped them pull away.

Prosperie's touchdown catch came on a 29-yard play-action pass from Wagner to the middle of the end zone. It was the first offensive touchdown of the game and gave the Saints a 10-0 lead with 11:00 left in the first half.

Two series later, Wagner took the snap on third down, turned to his left and hit Peterson 18 yards downfield and wide open in the near corner of the end zone.

The play was, perhaps, a reward for a block Peterson put on Northern cornerback (Luke McKinley) when Wagner scrambled out of bounds six plays earlier.

As the quarterback broke away from the pocket on third down, junior running back John Camino leveled a defender first before the 5-foot-8, 170-pound Peterson put a shoulder into McKinley at full speed, sending the 5-10, 205-pound corner toppling backward.

"I saw one of them happen, and I really wanted to kind of stop and turn back and look to see if he was OK," Wagner said. "I never, ever thought Corey would do that. But it just shows how hard they'll work to get a couple extra yards, because all I got was four extra yards after that hit."

And the first down to save the drive.

After Peterson's touchdown, Carroll quickly ran a fake field goal for the two-point conversion, shuffling most of their players to the left of the center before shuffling them back and passing to junior linebacker Thomas Dolan to make it 18-0.

Freshman running back Chance Demarais followed up with a 23-yard touchdown run to finish the scoring. He ended up with 57 yards on six rushes while Camino led the squad with 65 yards on 11 carries and Le added 64 on 13 carries.

While the Saints' offense was rolling, Strobel, Mike Waldenberg and the Carroll defense were putting up big stops in their own red zone.

Waldenberg got the first pick of the game, ending Northern's final drive of the first half with 14 seconds left on the clock. He pulled down the toss on the Saints' own 25.

Strobel's two picks came as Van Nest was aiming for the end zone.

The first came after Van Nest dropped a snap on third down and was sending a desperation shot in the third quarter. The second came after Strobel broke through the line for a sack on the previous play and helped the Saints hold onto their shutout.

Van Nest finished with 94 yards on 6-of-14 passing. Reyant completed 5-of-14 attempts for a total of just 12 yards.

Wagner finished with 16 completions on 27 attempts for 155 yards. Junior tight end Bubba Bartlett finished with 39 of those on six catches.

No matter how close the Lights' offense got to their defense's end zone, Carroll's offensive counterparts never had to worry about the outcome.

"We don't talk about it, I know the defensive players would love to have (a shutout)," Van Diest said. "We've come close and given up some fourth-quarter scores this year. They stood up and made some great plays late in the game."

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@

helenair.com