HELENA, Mont. - For the second year in a row, the No. 4 Carroll College Saints football team opened up its season by keeping Black Hills State out of the endzone.

The Saints' defense picked off two passes by Black Hills State freshman quarterback Drew Hodgs, while Carroll's John Barnett hooked up with receiver Travis Browne for two touchdowns, finishing off the No. 10 Yellow Jackets 17-0 in Nelson Stadium on Saturday.

The Saints opened up their season last year by traveling to Spearfish, and beating Black Hills State 28-3 on the Yellow Jackets' home field. Carroll didn't change its stance this time around as it harassed Hodgs, pummeled running backs and held the Yellow Jackets to 157 total offensive yards.

"Their offense only mounted one drive and that was late in the game," said Saints head coach and defensive coordinator Mike Van Diest. "We were able to hold them, and I thought our No. 1 guys and some of our key backups had a great day."

Meanwhile, Barnett was finding Browne all over the field and hit eight different receivers to go 19-for-23 with 199 yards. He gave up one interception along with his two touchdown passes.

Browne made eight of those snags for 110 yards.

"That was our whole game plan. We wanted to come out and establish that we could pass," said Barnett, a senior this season. "We came out gunning and I wasn't pin-point accurate, but I was getting the job done."

Barnett hit Dan Lovin twice in a row to start off Carroll's first drive. After junior running back Sean Herrin carried twice for 17 yards - including a 14-yarder on first down - Barnett overthrew Lovin and tight end Marshall McEwen, causing Carroll to settle for a 40-yard field goal.

The two missed passes were the only ones Barnett gave up in the first half. He went

11-for-13 for 98 yards to start the game.

Black Hills continued to run the ball - and the clock - to mount a short drive, even converting on a fourth-and-one situation with a quarterback sneak.

Still, Carroll held them to a punt, and with 3:39 left in the quarter started a 93-yard drive that ended with the first touchdown by Browne.

Barnett took his time on the drive, making short passes to McEwen and Herrin just out of the backfield. The Saints' quarterback stiff-armed a chasing defender to get off a last-second pass that McEwen took for a few yards. Herrin took a short screen pass for extra yardage when he evaded one tackle, then dragged a linebacker who had clung on to the back of his jersey 4 yards for the first down.

Herrin, who stepped into the starting role at running back after all-conference selections Ryan Grosulak and Jed Thomas graduated at the end of last season, ended the game with 72 yards rushing on 18 carries and collected 15 yards through the air.

The play that capped the scoring drive came when Browne found an open area in the Yellow Jackets' defense and Barnett made a perfect pass that only Browne could pull down with his fingertips.

"I was feeling open," Browne said of the coverage all game. "We go against our (defense) every day, who I think is the best in the country.

"Going against them just makes us better and better each week."

Still, the Yellow Jackets started to make adjustments toward the end of the first half and even got in scoring range.

The Saints subbed in backup quarterback Gary Wagner, who went 1-for-2 for 9 yards and gave up an interception on a second-down play.

Black Hills' Darrell Neiman pulled down the ball and was able to get some yards, but a penalty for a block in the back brought the Yellow Jackets back to the 42-yard line. They were able to reach a third down on three straight up-the-gut runs, and then a pass interfence call brought them to the 20. Two overthrown passes and a 3-yard run kept them at field goal distance, but Kraig Tafoya missed his first of two field goal attempts for the Yellow Jackets.

The second half became a battle of the defenses as the Saints were blanked for the first time in the third quarter.

Dwayne Brown intercepted a Barnett pass intended for McEwen, but then two big plays by Carroll linebacker Brandon Day kept the Saints in the clear. Day met Black Hills running back Tanner Ehrlich at the line for no gain, then pulled down an interception on Carroll's 33-yard line.

Turnovers and penalties played big roles on both sides of the ball game. Carroll had nine penalties that gave up 69 yards, while the Yellow Jackets had seven for 36 yards.

For Black Hills' head football coach John Scott, the loss was just an extension from last year's disappointing start.

"Even at half time we said, 'It's third quarter, what are we going to do?'" Scott said. "We were carrying over not only this year's game, but a year ago."

The team that ended up 8-3 and won the Dakota Athletic Conference Championship last season was unable to pick up a touchdown.

Stopping them was a tough defense that only blitzed twice, Van Diest said.

"Each time we blitzed, they picked it up and threw the ball pretty well. We'll have to go back and look at our blitz package," he said.

Meanwhile, the linebacking corps got its fill from its newest starters. Gordon started for the first time and had the second most tackles behind Owen Koeppen (10) with nine.