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FOOTBALL SCORES (9-5)

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FOOTBALL SCORES (9-5)

FOOTBALL SCORES (9-5)

BIGFORK 15 HAMILTON 59;
COLUMBIA FALLS 42 BROWNING 0;
LIBBY 32 FRENCHTOWN 34;
POLSON 12 DILLON 42;
RONAN 20 CORVALLIS 30;
WHITEFISH 16 BUTTE CENTRAL 6

Baumgartner, Wildcats demolish Browning in opener
Posted: Saturday, Sep 06, 2008 - 12:36:28 am MDT
By JOE SOVA/Northwest Montana News Network

COLUMBIA FALLS - Stephen Baumgartner scored four first-half touchdowns, two on long runs, leading Columbia Falls to a 42-0 blitzing of Browning in the Wildcats' season opener on a cool, windy Friday night.

On the Wildcats' first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff, Baumgartner - a speedy 180-pound senior - came in motion to the left and took a handoff from quarterback Mackey Nolan. He turned the corner, getting a key block from lineman Nathan Woods, and raced 62 yards to the end zone.

Browning, which had been shut out by Corvallis by the same 42-0 score in the opening week, gave the ball right back when Dustin VonFeldt intercepted a Bill Blackman pass on the Indians' first offensive play. After an exchange of possessions, John Woody rambled 32 yards to give the Wildcats a first down at the Browning 28-yard line. On third-and-15, Nolan connected with Kyle Howell for 23 yards and a first down at the 8. On the next play, Nolan scored on a keeper. VonFeldt's two-point conversion run gave Columbia Falls a 14-0 lead midway through the opening period.

A face mask penalty by the Indians kept a Wildcat drive alive after a Browning punt. Mitchell Wassam, who shared quarterback duties with Nolan, went 14 yards on a keeper - setting up a 40-yard touchdown jaunt by Baumgartner. His first two scores came on Columbia Falls' bread-and-butter play, the 37 power.

It went from bad to worse for the Indians as Mike Macijunas stormed in and blocked a Browning punt on its next possession. Baumgartner scooped up the ball in stride and ran 37 yards for his third touchdown of the contest with 31 seconds left in the first period. Nolan's kick made it 28-0.

Browning's best chance to score came in the second quarter as the Indians drove to the Wildcat 14-yard-line. But a procedure penalty and bad shotgun snap helped keep the Indians out of the end zone.

Later in the period, Tanner Perry picked off a Blackman aerial at the Columbia Falls 45. A 27-yard pass from Wassam to Quenton Hegel set up Baumgartner's fourth touchdown, a five-yard run.

"I wanted to have a good game," Baumgartner smiled after the Wildcat win, "but I didn't think it would be this good."

Baumgartner, who had 131 yards rushing, credited his teammates for their blocking in enabling him to score three touchdowns.

"I couldn't have done it without blocking," he said.

Hegel intercepted another long Blackman pass with 24 seconds left before halftime. Nolan, back at quarterback, found a seam up the middle and scooted 89 yards downfield, breaking a tackle at the Browning 10-yard-line. Tony Sinclair made a touchdown-saving tackle and Columbia Falls' lead remained 35-0 at halftime.

VonFeldt scored the Wildcats' sixth touchdown on a 37-yard zigzag to the end zone midway through the third period.

"It was a great start to the season," CFHS head coach John Thompson said. "A lot of kids got on the field. We executed pretty well. We didn't have any turnovers. We saw some kids in a competitive setting."

Browning 0 0 0 0 - 0

Columbia Falls 28 7 7 0 - 42

CF - Stephen Baumgartner 62 run (pass failed)

CF - Mackey Nolan 8 run (Dustin VonFeldt run)

CF - Baumgartner 40 run (Nolan kick)

CF - Baumgartner 37 return blocked punt (Nolan kick)

CF - Baumgartner 5 run (Nolan kick)

CF - VonFeldt 37 run (Nolan kick)

Brown CF

First downs 6 9

Rushing yards 334 46

Passing (com-att-int) 6-19-3 3-7-0

Passing yards 59 86

Total yards 370 132

Whitefish shuts down BC offense
By The Montana Standard Staff - 09/06/2008WHITEFISH - A balanced offense and a stiff defense boosted Whitefish to a 16-6 win over Butte Central in a non-conference Class A high school football game Friday night.

The Bulldogs got two touchdown receptions from Aaron Tkachyk and turned away several Maroons scoring tries. The TD passes were of 34 yards from backup quarterback Mac Roche and 29 from starting QB Alex Elespuru. Whitefish also scored on a 21-yard field goal by Kyle Knox.

Butte Central's score came in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard pass to Casey Norbeck from Andy Ritter. The play was set up by a 58-yard pass to Norbeck from Ritter.

"We ran into a good football team," BC head coach Don Peoples Jr. said. "Our kids played awfully hard. And we made some mistakes. But Whitefish is a pretty darn good football team."

Butte Central forced four Bulldogs turnovers in the first half, but was unable to capitalize on any of them as the Whitefish defense protected its territory.

"We just couldn't get into the rhythm offensively at all," Peoples said. "We had a bunch of penalties that really hurt our momentum."

The Maroons had a touchdown nullified just before halftime. Whitefish bobbled a punt into the end zone. It was covered by a BC player. However, the officials called the play dead on an inadvertent whistle before the recovery.

"Those things happen," Peoples said, shrugging off the could've-been. "I think it was a real good learning experience for us. We had some growing pains tonight and it was good for us to have a tough ball game against a really good team like that. We can take advantage by identifying our mistakes and moving forward."

Norbeck caught five passes for 100 yards and Gene Taylor carried seven times for 34 yards to lead the BC offense. Ritter completed nine of 24 passed for 145 yards. He suffered three interceptions.

Ritter intercepted a pass while playing safety.

Jesse Strunk carried 20 times for 108 yards for Whitefish and Elespuru connected on 11 of 19 passes for 115 yards. Matt Whitehead intercepted two passes to spark the Bulldogs' defense. Tkachyk caught five passes for 143 yards.

Butte Central, now 1-1 for the season, will play its first home game of the season next weekend when the Maroons are home against Columbia Falls on Saturday evening at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. Whitefish is also 1-1 for the season and will play at Frenchtown next Friday.

Butte Central 0 0 0 6 - 6

Whitefish 0 7 0 10 - 16

First Quarter

No scoring.

Second Quarter

WHI - Aaron Tkachyk 34 pass from Mac Roche (Kyle Knox kick), 6:56.

Third Quarter

No scoring.

Fourth Quarter

WHI - FG Knox 21, 11:51.

BC - Casey Norbeck 7 pass from Andy Ritter (pass failed), 10:31.

WH - Tkachyk 29 pass from Alex Elespuru (kick failed), 4:51

BC Whi

Rushing-yards 15-39 39-206

Passes 9-24-3 14-22-1

Passing yards 145 195

Total yards 184 401

Punts-avg. 5-34.4 5-37.8

Fumbles-lost 3-3 3-2

Penalties-yards 7-45 7-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Butte Central, Gene Taylor 7-34, Andy Ritter 5-14, Casey Norbeck 2-(-3), Jonathan Richards 2-(-6). Whitefish, Jesse Strunk 20-108, Tanner Benedict 14-68, Alex Elespuru 3-25, Daniel Simmons 2-5.

Passing - Butte Central, Ritter 9-24-3-145. Whitefish, Elespuru 11-19-1-115, Mac Roche 3-3-0-80.

Receiving - Butte Central, Norbeck 5-100, Taylor 2-31, Richards 1-7, Phil Antonioli 1-6. Whitefish, Aaron Takchyk 5-143, Derek Crittenden 1-17, Kyle Knox 2-12, Matt Whitehead 1-20, David Fauntleroy 1-9.

Beavers shipwreck Pirates
By Bill Foley - 09/06/2008DILLON - Bryce Carver's biggest play Friday night at Vigilante Field probably came on his worst play.

After Polson junior Joe Andrews picked off a Carver pass and sprinted toward the end zone in the first quarter, Carver ran Andrews down and made a touchdown-saving tackle at the Dillon

9-yard line.

Two plays later, Carver was racing again, this time for an 85-yard touchdown to put the Dillon Beavers ahead for good in a 42-12 season-opening rout of the non-conference Polson Pirates in a game highlighted by one big play after another.

"I screwed up a little but," Carver, the reigning offensive MVP of the Southwestern A, said. "But coach always teaches us to battle back and line 'em up one at a time. We got the fumble and ended up getting a touchdown out of it."

The fumble came on first-and-goal when Tanner Strozzi sacked senior quarterback Craig Bagnell and knocked the ball to teammate Matt Sawyer at the 15.

The turnover was one of three turnovers forced by the Beaver defense. Tyler Dyk recovered a fumble and Trevor Rehm picked off a pass that was - at least - the second biggest play of the game.

Rehm, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound defensive end, jumped up to snag a Bagnell swing pass to a running back and raced 70 yards for a touchdown to put Dillon up 27-6 with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in

the second quarter.

The pick-six came at just the right time to stop the Pirates' momentum after a Polson touchdown and a quick turnover.

"They were rolling on us," Carver said. "Then that big goofball jumped up and got it and ran for the teeder."

Carver, the lone returning offensive starter from last year's team that played for the state title, was easily the offensive MVP of the game, but he had a lot of accomplices.

Carver ran 10 times for 144 yards, including a 34-yard scamper that made it 14-0 Dillon. He also passed for 235 yards and three touchdowns.

Carver threw a 19-yard TD pass to Toby Shepherd, a 10-yard scoring strike to Strozzi and a 3-yard score to Garret Banning.

Shepherd, a 5-11 junior, hauled in six passes for 179 yards.

"Toby came out and played really great today," Carver said. "He surprised a lot of people. I'm so proud of him. He's been doing great in practice. We've been waiting three weeks to come out and play. Finally we got a chance to come out and show our stuff."

Travis Rehm, Kyle deGolia and Hunter Johnson also caught Carver passes. Sam Parke caught a pass from backup quarterback Pete Walde.

The game started about a half hour late because the Polson bus broke down on the way to the game. The 35-point mercy rule had the clock running continuously for most of the second half.

Junior running back Tim Rausch ran for 134 yards on 16 carries to lead the Pirates, who fell to 1-1. Rausch's big night included a 22-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Andrews scored on a 5-yard run with 3:56 left in the game to take the mercy rule out of play.

Dillon threatened for another score, driving to the Polson 3 on a 55-yard run by senior Brandon Robinson. But Walde took three knees to kill the clock.

"I had a little bit of nerves coming out here because we were a little inexperienced," Carver said. "But these kids came out and played awesome. It was a lot of fun tonight."

The win was quite the statement for the Beavers since coach Terry Thomas said he expects the Pirates to be one of the top two teams to beat in west.

"They're probably going to end up winning the (Northwestern A)," Carver said. "They're really good. I'm glad we came out here and got this one out of our system."

Polson 0 6 0 6 - 12

Dillon 14 28 0 0 - 42

First Quarter

Dillon - Bryce Carver 85 run (kick failed), 6:59

Dillon - Carver 34 run (Travis Rehm from Carver), 4:00

Second Quarter

Dillon - Toby Shepherd 19 pass from Carver (Carver kick), 8:59

Polson - Tim Rausch 21 run (kick failed), 7:08

Dillon - Trevor Rehm 70 interception return (kick failed), 5:52

Dillon - Tanner Strozzi 10 pass from Carver (Travis Rehm from Carver), 3:26

Dillon - Garrett Banning 3 pass from Carver (Carver kick), :32

Fourth Quarter

Polson - Joe Andrews 5 run (kick failed), 3:56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Polson, Rausch 16-134, Craig Bagnell 8-(-8), Trae Fouty 4-21, Andrews 4-13. Dillon, Carver 10-144, Sam Parke 10-16, Evan Helle 3-10, Pete Walde 3-21, Brandon Robinson 1-55, Matt Merenz 1-1.

PASSING - Polson, Bagnell 9-25-1-83. Dillon, Carver 13-21-1-235, Walde 1-3-0-2.

RECEIVING - Polson, Ryan Kelley 3-24, Ty Fouty 2-11, Rausch 1-21, Kyle Bagnell 1-12, Andrews 1-6, Trae Fouty 1-9. Dillon, Shepherd 6-179, Travis Rehm 2-7, Kyle deGolia 1-14, Strozzi 1-10, Hunter Johnson 1-16, Banning 1-3, Parke 1-2.

Hamilton hammers Bigfork in season debut
by STACEY LISHOK - Ravalli Republic
Hamilton senior Brady Anderson wraps up Bigfork's Travis Knoll during the Broncs' 59-15 win over the Vikings Friday in Hamilton. STACEY LISHOK n Ravalli Republic
Friday night's feature presentation in Hamilton was the Eric Brangoccio show as the Broncs beat Bigfork 59-15 in their season opener.

Brangoccio carried the ball 15 times and found the endzone six times as Hamilton hammered the Vikings in a offensive showdown.

"I thought our offensive line played really, really well," head coach Steven Weston said. "I thought the whole team played real hard."

The Broncs kicked the ball off to Bigfork to start the contest and the Vikings never got past their own 30-yard line on their first possession.

Bigfork kicked the ball back to the Broncs and after a hard hit on returner Allen McCarty the Broncs started from their own 40-yard line.

In their first snap of the game, Brangoccio ran 54 yards into the endzone and Hamilton had a 7-0 lead.

"We knew Eric could do that. He was kind of in Ryan (Turley's) shadow but we knew coming in here he was going to be a strong, tough kid," Weston said. "When you have Brady (Anderson) in front of you, it makes a huge difference."

On the Vikings next possession, Travis Knoll answered Hamilton's score with a 65-yard run of his own. Bigfork attempted a two-point conversion and though it was good, a block in the back penalty brought it back. Bigfork threw for another successful conversion and took an 8-7 lead.

After Bigfork kicked off to Hamilton and McCarty returned the ball for a first and 10 from the 38, Brangoccio broke free for a 61-yard touchdown and a Bronc 13-8 advantage.

Brangoccio added another score with just over two minutes left in the first quarter and Bigfork answered, returning the kickoff 83-yards for a 21-15 game.

On the ensuing kickoff, McCarty returned the ball 78-yards for another Bronc score.

"We gave up a couple of big plays early," Weston said. "We looked a little out of sync early but as the game got going we looked better every play. We're really young in the secondary and that showed but we're going to work on it and go with what we've got."

By halftime, Hamilton had a 47-15 lead.

Brangoccio scored three more times on a five-yard run, a 12-yard run and a 32-yard carry and finished with 274 yards.

Hamilton's Paul Donaldson finally scored on an 11-yard run after his first trip to the endzone was brought back due to an illegal block.

The Broncs threatened the endzone again as time ticked off the running clock but backup quarterback Ryan Parke took a knee and Hamilton claimed the 59-15 win.

Hamilton totaled 434 yards on the ground and took advantage of two of Bigfork's four fumbles.

"Eric (Brangoccio) ran great, Brady (Anderson) ran great. We didn't have any yards passing because we didn't need to throw," Weston said. "We're real excited with this first game."

The Broncs' next game is at Ronan Sept. 12.

Bigfork 15 0 0 0 - 15

Hamilton 28 19 12 0 - 59

H - Eric Brangoccio 54 run (Tyrel Exner kick)

BF - Travis Knoll 65 run (pass good)

H - Brangoccio 61 run (kick failed)

H - Brangoccio 6 run (Brangoccio run)

BF - Carson Sneed 83 kickoff return (Lyle Eike kick)

H - Allen McCarty 78 kickoff return (Exner kick)

H - Brangoccio 5 run (kick failed)

H - Brangoccio 12 run (Exner kick)

H - Paul Donaldson 11 run (kick failed)

H - Brangoccio 32 run (kick failed)

H - Dillon Wood 8 run (kick failed)

Corvallis 30, Ronan 20

At Ronan, the Southwestern A Blue Devils got a big night from running back Matt Smith and rallied to beat Northwestern A Ronan.

The Chiefs (0-1) went up 20-8 at the end of the first quarter on three touchdown passes from senior quarterback Mike Fisher to Matt Detwiler. He finished 17 of 24 for 225 yards and a pair of interceptions.

Drew Zeiler got Corvallis (2-0) on the board with an 89-yard kickoff return. Rodee Anderson added a 24-yard TD catch from Jordan Waldo, Shae Gingerich returned an interception 43 yards for a score and Waldo capped the scoring with a 3-yard run.

Smith carried 10 times for 125 yards for the Blue Devils.

Corvallis 8 8 14 0 - 30

Ronan 20 0 0 0 - 20

R - Matt Detwiler 43 pass from Mike Fisher (Tyson Noyes pass from Fisher)

C - Drew Zeiler 89 kickoff return (Matt Smith run)

R - Detwiler 7 pass from Fisher (run failed)

R - Detwiler 20 pass from Fisher (pass failed)

C - Rodee Anderson 24 pass from Jordan Waldo (Austin Byron run)

C - Shae Gingerich 43 interception return (kick failed)

C - Waldo 3 run (Smith run)

Frenchtown 34, Libby 32

At Libby, Frenchtown thwarted Libby's two-point conversion to tie the game with a minute to play to take the nonconference win between teams expected to compete for their league crowns.

Cody Kirk rushed 23 times for 196 yards for the Broncs, including what turned out to be the winning points on a 5-yard run with 4:00 to play.

"It was a big victory for this group, as young and inexperienced as we are," Frenchtown coach Steve Pinsoneault said. "To come up here and snatch a win ... it's unbelievable."

Joel Fuller was 27-for-45 for 411 yards through the air for the Loggers, including five TDs and four interceptions.

"I felt our defensive front collapsed the pocket and got him on the run a little in the second half," Pinsoneault said of Fuller. "I take my hat off to my team, they played with a lot of heart."

Jonny Dilworth added 106 yards on 13 carries in the Broncs' Wishbone offense.

Conner Benson led Libby on the ground with 148 yards on 10 carries.

Frenchtown 7 14 7 6 - 34

Libby 7 19 0 6 - 32

F - J.D. Undem 22 run (Richard Weber kick)

L - Kelly May 3 pass from Joel Fuller (Conner Benson kick)

L - Colton Cannon 40 pass from Fuller (Benson kick)

F - Cody Kirk 45 run (Weber kick)

L - Benson 17 pass from Fuller (kick failed)

F - Undem 65 pass from Daniel Aichlmayr (Weber kick)

L - Charlie White 13 pass from Fuller (run failed)

F - Aichlmayr 1 run (Weber kick)

F - Kirk 5 run (kick failed)

L - White 35 pass from Fuller (pass failed

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