DILLON - The Carroll College football team stands alone.

The No. 2 Saints (10-0 overall, 9-0 conference) clinched the outright Frontier Conference title for the 10th straight year, fighting through illness and a wicked wind at Vigilante Field to beat the University of Montana Western 26-10 on Saturday.

"This team, I'm so proud of them," Saints head coach Mike Van Diest said. "We have a lot of great players and while we don't have the national player of the year or the conference player of the year - and we don't get the player of the week very often - we do have the team of the week and the team of the year.

"I'm very proud of this junior and senior class."

With the cold and flu season ravaging the team's ranks, the Saints needed an assortment of players to step up into starting roles. Junior center Andy Fjeseth, fighting the flu, started for about a series before giving way to Nick Petrusha. Meanwhile, senior running back Gabe Le added kickoffs to his multiple duties, replacing Tom Yaremko.

"Last night we talked about this morning, it's not about who isn't here today, it's about who is here," Van Diest said. "Guys like Lat Wipplinger and Chance Demarais and Petrusha, all the guys that stepped up and played did a tremendous, tremendous job."

With two starting receivers - juniors Christian Prosperie and Corey Peterson - absent because of illness, junior quarterback Gary Wagner turned much of his attention to a few standbys, namely junior tight end Bubba Bartlett and his running backs.

Bartlett, who fought through a few flu-like symptoms of his own - finished with a team-high five receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns. But the big surprises came from Demarais and Wipplinger. Demarais, who powered his way to 89 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries, also added his first touchdown ever through the air on a 2-yard boot play. Following Bartlett's 15-yard touchdown catch on Carroll's first drive of the game, Demarais' score put the Saints up 14-0 with 1:03 left in the first half.

"It's nice getting that first one under your belt," Demarais said. "I just had to chip the guy that was blitzing and get into the open."

Wagner was particularly proud of the play, having stolen Demarais' first chance at a receiving touchdown earlier in the season.

"It really felt good," Wagner said of the end zone completion. "We ran that same play at Rocky and I ended up running it in even though Chance was wide open."

Western answered with a 49-yard drive capped by a 36-yard field goal by Mackenzie Crossley to finish out the half. Despite having one of the top passing offenses in the country - the Bulldogs averaged 255.1 yards passing per game heading into the contest - Western completed just one pass in the first half and finished with 125 yards in the game.

Starting quarterback Micah Mamiya completed 11-of-22 passes with one interception. Backup Jeff Logan didn't complete either of his two pass attempts.

Even with the wind at their backs, the Bulldogs' first scoring drive consisted of five run plays, three by running back Charlie Dotson to start, and one failed passing attempt.

"Dotson's a big guy," said Saints senior linebacker Mac Gordon. "In my mind he's the hardest runner in the conference."

Dotson collected 25 yards on the drive, but finished with just 63 yards on 13 carries.

With a 14-3 lead at the half, the Saints came out gunning, completing passes to four different receivers before ending the opening drive with a 25-yard touchdown toss to Bartlett at the 9:44 mark. Saving the drive, however, was a diving catch on third-and-2 by Wipplinger.

Usually relegated to blocking downfield, the sophomore receiver picked up the slack left by Peterson and Prosperie, getting five catches for 46 yards in the game.

"I'll do whatever," Wipplinger said. "They do a good job of mixing and matching our receivers."

With a 20-3 lead - Connor Janhunen kicked the PAT on Bartlett's score wide left - the Saints settled on running the ball for much of the rest of the game and counted on their defense and special teams to make the big plays.

The defensive counterparts didn't disappoint. Junior cornerback Mike Waldenberg picked off a long bomb by Mamiya, which hung up in the blustery wind before falling short of its target.

When the fade route did work in the fourth quarter - with the wind at the Bulldogs' backs - for a 40-yard reception by Western all-conference receiver Craigh Cornelius, the Saints responded with a forced fumble and a recovery 6 yards from their end zone.

With momentum on their side, the Saints drove 94 yards, thanks in part to a 46-yard carry by Demarais on third-and-21. While defenders appeared to have wrapped up the running back at the line, Demarais broke free and barreled down the right sideline, getting caught 5 yards short of the end zone. Four plays later, he rushed in from the 1-yard line for his second touchdown, and Carroll's final, of the game.

Facing a defense mostly made of backups, Mamiya connected with Kahai Sevilla on a 25-yard pass into the end zone with three seconds left in the game. A subsequent onside kick failed.

Wagner completed 21-of-31 passes for 215 yards in a very balanced offense. Le added 85 yards rushing and junior John Camino put up 29 in a rushing game that picked up 201 yards.

The Saints head to Eastern Oregon, which rallied from a 20-0 deficit in the second quarter to beat MSU-Northern 37-20 on Saturday, next weekend. The No. 23 Mountaineers (8-3 overall, 8-2 conference) are fighting for a chance at the playoffs, and could make it with a win over the Saints.

"We've still got one more game and a long trip ahead of us," Gordon said.

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@

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