The Battlin’ Bears will be heading to Glendive to play Division II University of Mary.
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The Rocky Mountain College football team has its season opener set.
The Battlin’ Bears will get the Randy Bandelow era started in Glendive for a neutral site matchup with Division II University of Mary on Thursday, Aug. 27, the Rocky athletic department announced on Thursday. The Week 0 contest is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Oakland Athletic Complex at Perham Field.
This will be the first time since 2008 that the two teams will meet. Rocky and UMary faced each other 14 times from 1988 through 2005 while the Marauders were a member of the NAIA’s North Dakota College Athletic Conference (NDCAC). UMary has an 11-3 edge in the series.
UMary has some ties to not only Montana, but to Rocky itself. Bandelow, who’s in his first year at the helm, spent three seasons with the Marauders (2016-19) in multiple different coaching positions, including as an outside linebackers coach, while also being a graduate assistant. Rocky offensive coordinator Nick Voorhees also began his collegiate coaching career at UMary (2017-18), coaching receivers and running backs.
The Marauders’ coaching staff also features multiple connections to the Treasure State, led by head coach Shann Schillinger, a Baker native and former Griz football player. Former Grizzlies Eli Alford (linebackers and special teams) and Van Cooper Jr. (running backs/recruiting coordinator) have joined him. Former Montana State and Glendive standout Mike Person, who retired from the San Francisco 49ers in 2020, is coaching the offensive line and is the run game coordinator. Bozeman alum and former Boise State receiver Tanyon Bissell is in charge of wide receivers and is the pass game coordinator.
The game against UMary rounds out Rocky’s nonconference schedule. The Battlin’ Bears also play at College of Idaho (noon on Saturday, Sept. 5), at Montana Western (time TBA on Saturday, Sept. 19) and home against Carroll College (6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26).
The Battlin’ Bears’ Frontier Conference East Division schedule, which are all on Saturdays, consists of home games against Valley City State (1 p.m. on Oct. 3), MSU-Northern (1 p.m. on Oct. 24) and Dakota State (noon on Nov. 7) and away contests at Dickinson State (time TBA on Oct. 17), Montana Tech (time TBA on Oct. 31) and Mayville State (time TBA on Nov. 14).
Rocky is coming off a 4-6 season where it went 4-2 in Frontier Conference East Division play for third in the division.