HELENA — As No. 8 Carroll College can secure the Frontier Conference West division crown with a win over No. 15 College of Idaho on Saturday, MTN Sports' Jonny Walker sat down with Fighting Saints head coach Troy Purcell.
A full transcript from the video interview with Purcell is available below:
MTN Sports: It’ll be a top-15 matchup coming up in Nelson Stadium as Carroll welcomes the College of Idaho for the Frontier Conference West division crown. Could the stakes be any higher?
Troy Purcell: No, they couldn't. It's like every other game, but it's like no other game, you know what I mean? You work your whole year, 365 days, to have an opportunity like this. And to have it at home, it just makes it extra special.
And I’m proud of our guys and coaching staff to get it to this point. Now we've just got to get that one more, reach a little higher.
MTN Sports: I know when we talked at the beginning of the season, it felt like you guys were on the road constantly. You get your final two games at home. How helpful is it to get this game at home?
Troy Purcell: Yeah, it just happened to be the draw. You know, last year we're at Montana Western, and this year you have that baby in Nelson Stadium. It’s unbelievable. We couldn't write the script any better, I guess.
I liked the hard contest last week with Southern Oregon; they’re a very good football team. It woke us up and helped drive us to be even improved this week. And I think that happened, which is huge. But playing at home is huge. You know, having that opportunity at home is a great experience.
MTN Sports: College of Idaho, again, is a top-15 team in the country. They've got a really good win over Montana Western. What do they do well?
Troy Purcell: Caden Young is their slinger. They’ve got a good running game, but the offense is built around that quarterback. He’s a running-style quarterback. He’ll get the ball probably 15-to-18 times in this game. And so, we just got to make sure we know where he is at.
And they have an explosive run game. Their offensive line is good. Also,they're D-line is very fast. They've only allowed 75 rushing yards on defense as an average per game. And that's pretty incredible.
