BILLINGS -- Friday afternoon marks less than 24 hours from the moment Rocky Mountain College football players have been waiting for: regular-season game action.
The Battlin' Bears kick off Saturday at 1 p.m. against Carroll College at Herb Klindt Field in the Frontier Conference season opener for both.
It's a short regular season for league teams, which will play four straight Saturdays before crowning a champion to reach the national playoffs.
"I think you're going to see a team that plays extremely hard," Bears head coach Chris Stutzrien told MTN Sports this week. "Our team is going to be prepared, going to be ready. Our coaches have done a good job and it carries over into practice and the weight room and I think they're ready to go hit somebody else."
"It feels weird, we've been waiting so long for this," said senior Drew Korf, who will see time at quarterback with Nate Dick. "We've gone through so many different workouts and so many weird things that we had to adapt to and overcome. It feels good that it's all finally materializing and we're about to get a chance to go out there and play against somebody besides Rocky."
Rocky's games are home against Carroll, at College of Idaho and at home against Eastern Oregon before closing at MSU-Northern.
"We play four quality opponents, two of them are ranked right now," Stutzriem said. "I think Carroll College should be in the rankings. They're a really good football team, they finished really well. They've got a lot of weapons coming back offensively."
"Carroll is always very consistent, they're known for getting guys in the right place," Korf said. "Whether it's young guys or old guys, they're always very disciplined and they play well. They've got a new defensive coordinator and some new coaches that came in, so we've just got to worry about us and go play our game."
Fans are not allowed on campus for any of this spring's Frontier Conference football games but can watch RMC live online via Rocky's website at www.gobattlinbears.com.
