HAVRE — Kaden LaPlaunt threw five touchdown passes, Eli Nourse scored five times and No. 18-ranked Montana Western beat MSU-Northern 49-35 on Saturday at Tilleman Field.
In what was the Bulldogs' season opener, LaPlaunt threw all five of his scoring passes in the first half, four of them to Nourse. Nourse also caught a first-half touchdown throw from Sam Wulff.
Nourse finished with nine receptions for 170 yards while LaPlaunt completed 15 of 21 passes for 272 yards. Jakob Humphrey carried the ball 19 times for 108 yards as the Bulldogs rolled up 618 yards of total offense.
LaPlaunt's 1-yard touchdown pass to Nourse on the final play of the second quarter helped put UM Western ahead 44-7 at halftime. But MSU-Northern didn't go quietly.
The Lights scored 28 points in the second half, including 21 in the fourth quarter, to make the score respectable. Malakhi Statler threw three long touchdown passes after intermission, all to Isaiah Woodley.
Statler finished 21-of-38 passing for 362 yards. Woodley had a huge day receiving, with eight catches for 232 yards — an average of 29 yards per reception.
With the victory, UM Western started the year 1-0 while MSU-Northern slipped to 0-2.
