HELENA, Mont. – Dustin Rinker rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns, leading Carroll College to their second-straight Frontier Conference title, stopping the College of Idaho, 69-12, at Nelson Stadium.
The Saints (9-1, 9-1 FC) scored the final 55 points of the game in securing the league's automatic berth to the NAIA Football Championship Series.
Carroll, ranked second in the latest NAIA Top-25 poll, rolled up 625 yards in total offense, with back-up running back Jordan Pine running for 117 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Mac Roche going 12-of-22 for 230 yards and three touchdown passes.
After stopping the Yotes (4-7, 3-7) on their initial possession, an Anthony Clarke 26-yard punt return set up Carroll in C of I territory. A Clarke 23-yard sprint set up a three-yard scoring run by Rinker for a 7-0 lead.
C of I answered with their best drive of the day, going 75 yards in 10 plays. A Ryan Texeira 31-yard run got the Yotes in Carroll territory, with a fourth down conversion on an Isaac Gonzalez eight-yard sweep setting up a Teejay Gordon two-yard touchdown run, getting the visitors within a point.
A 93-yard drive by the Saints early in the second quarter, capped by a Rinker two-yard touchdown gave the hosts a 14-6 lead, answered by a 58-yard touchdown pass by Gordon to Marcus Lenhardt, pulling C of I within 14-12.
From there, it was all Carroll – holding the Yotes to just 105 total yards the rest of the way. Two long Roche passes set up a Rinker touchdown to make it 21-12, with the signal caller finding Kyle Griffiths on two touchdown passes from 25 and 11-yards out to give the Saints a 35-12 lead at the half.
Carroll outscored the Yotes 34-0 in the second half, with four of their five scoring drives needing three plays or less.
NOTES: Texeira led the Yotes with 56 yards on nine carries, with Gordon rushing 13 times for 39 yards and his 15th touchdown of the season...Gordon was 7-of-11 for 118 yards through the air, finding Austin Diffey seven times for 56 yards…Lenhardt finished the season with 43 receptions and Diffey with 42 catches, the No. 2 and No. 3 marks in C of I history…the 69 points allowed by the Yotes was the most since an 80-0 loss to the University of Idaho in 1922.
