HELENA — Ahead of No. 25 Carroll College’s home opener Saturday night against No. 11 Montana Tech, MTN Sports' Jonny Walker sat down with Fighting Saints head coach Troy Purcell.
A full transcript from the video interview is available below:
MTN Sports: First game of the season, first shutout of the season, and first start of the season for your new quarterback, Kaden Huot. What did you see out of him and the offense?
Troy Purcell: (Huot is a) tremendous leader, and he wants to be the best. And so, we didn't help him out on the first play. We missed a pass protection responsibility and had him scrambling on the first play.
So, you know you get a quarterback that hasn't played in a while and you give him the first one, and he's got to scramble for his life and complete a nice ball. So, it just shows he has the athleticism and the ability to be very, very successful.
MTN Sports: Looking ahead to this weekend, you get to get back at home. How much of an advantage is the home atmosphere here at Carroll College?
Troy Purcell: Yeah, night game – it’s unbelievable. I don't have the percentages of wins and losses in the back of my head, but I know it's been a lot. You know, there's been a lot of success here since Nelson Stadium has been built in 2001.
And as I hear the coaches that come onto our staff from other ones, and they say it's a very, very exciting place to play. The cannon and everything else, the boom, boom and all that and the stands and the tailgating and the party atmosphere and the legacy and the tradition here is fun.
MTN Sports: Montana Tech, obviously a top-25 team in the country this season. Do you see this game as an opportunity for the Carroll College Fighting Saints to prove how good they are this year?
Troy Purcell: Yeah, definitely. They beat the No. 5 team in the nation (Montana Western). So, they deserve the ranking right now — it's very, very high because they proved it. And so, we got a long ways to go, you know, to get up into the rankings. We're at 25 or whatever it is. So, we're just trying to make sure our assignments are sound and keep it close in the fourth quarter and find a way to win.
MTN Sports: How important is it for a team, for a program, to get a matchup against a team as good as Tech this early in the season?
Troy Purcell: It’s really important for the ranking part of it. You find out, in NAIA football, you got to win early, win in the middle and win late. And if you can have some ranked people along the way, that helps you in getting high in the ranking as the season goes on.
