By A close loss to the nation’s second-ranked team wrapped up the season for the Carroll College Fighting Saints. On November 19, in Des Moines, Iowa, at the NAIA championship the Saints lost 17-14 to Grand View University.
The Saints ended the conference games with an 8-2 conference record and an 8-3 overall.
Going into the game, the Saints were ranked 14th and were facing the number two team in the nation. Even with a tough matchup, the Saints held off the Vikings and neither team scored in the first quarter.
Carroll took an early lead in the second half after scoring on a pop pass connection between Jack Prka, a sophomore from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Tony Collins, a senior from Fort Worth, Texas. Prka was excited to bring some forward motion to the game.
“The play was pretty awesome, Tony made a great catch and it was fun to make a connection in such a big game,” said Prka.
The Saints would score once more before trailing the rest of the game until the Vikings took over finishing with a 17-14 loss for Carroll.
After playing his last game as a Saint, Jaden Harrison, a senior wide receiver from St George, Utah, described the season as a success.
“It was awesome to see a bunch of guys coming together and buying into the culture, we got better each week and it paid off in the end,” said Harrison. “It was good to come together as brothers and find success at the end.”
While the end of the season left them with a loss, the Saints finished the conference games as the Frontier Conference Champions.
The team had started off the season in a great position after beating the 2021 conference champions Montana Western.
The Saints broke many barriers throughout the season, one accomplishment was the win against Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, which had not been done since 2001. They also won eight games during conference play, the most since 2014.
