Central Montana Sports Round-Up with Karl Koontz

As the regular season for small school football nears the halfway point the standings are coming into focus at least a little bit.

There was plenty of action this past weekend and of course KMON Radio was in the thick of it, taking in a couple 6-man games that provided lots of entertainment. The lights shined bright on Friday night in Valier when the defending state champions from Big Sandy came to town and on Saturday the show travelled to Teton County for a battle between Highwood and Power-Dutton-Brady.

Friday night Chris Kelly was joined by her son Brandon Fry in Valier for an important game in the Northern 6-man division. They had a blast working together for the first time and the game did not disappoint. The Pioneers of Big Sandy, riding a 15-game winning streak came calling against the Panthers, who were 1-0 in conference play entering the fray. Valier put a scare in the visitors early, grabbing a 6-0 lead in the first period, but the experience of Big Sandy paid off as they took control of a back-and-forth game in the second half on their way to a 38-14 victory. Big Sandy lost a lot to graduation last year, and leaned heavily on senior Lane Demontiney, one of the best athletes in the division, to secure the win. The victory keeps Big Sandy apace with Chester-Joplin-Inverness for tops in the division. Those two teams will tangle the last week of the season, probably for a divisional trophy and a #1 seed in the statewide playoffs.

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Saturday afternoon Chris and Karl Koontz headed back up I-15 for Homecoming festivities in Power. The Power-Dutton-Brady Titans hosted the Highwood Mountaineers in a nonconference. Highwood was coming off a short week of practice, as their game against Centerville last Friday was interrupted by a couple injuries and had to be completed Monday. This game followed the pattern of the night before, with the underdog starting of hot before being reeled in as the game went. Highwood scored on the first play of the game behind a Ryder Zanto 66-yard run. Then the Mountaineers forced a punt and scored again to take a 16-0 lead in search of their first win on the season. However, the depth and skill of the Titans began to show on a very warm day and through the second and third quarters the home team outscored Highwood 35-6 to take control of the contest. The Mountaineers hung around though and closed the gap to 14 points late, but a failed attempt on 4th down allowed the Titans to run out the clock to log a 48-34 triumph. Aiden Reeve threw five TD’s in the game and Trent Sturgill scored five times in the win.

Here are the results from the weekend:

8-Man                                                                                           6-Man

Chinook 56 Harlem 28                                                         Centerville 54 GFCC 19

Belt 76 Rocky Boy 0                                                            DGSG 44 Hobson-Moore 22

Ennis 57 Simms 28                                                             Harlo-Ryegate 56 Roy-Win 20

Cascade 46 Lone Peak 8                                                   Box Elder 55 Sunburst 6

Choteau 58 Deer Lodge 14                                                Big Sandy 38 Valier 14

Christian 50 Flint Creek 26                                                 PDB 48 Highwood 34

Seeley-Swan 42 Sheridan 12

Here’s the slate of games on tap for this coming weekend:

8-Man                                                                             6-Man

*Cascade @ Choteau                                                *Roy-Winifred @ Centerville

Simms @ Manhattan Christian                                  Harlo-Ryegate @ DGSG (Stanford)

Flint Creek @ Ennis                                                  GFCC @ Highwood

Seeley-Swan @Lone Peak                                       Hobson-Moore @ Heart Butte

Deer Lodge @Sheridan                                            Big Sandy @ Box Elder

Belt @ Shelby                                                           CJI @ Valier

Fort Benton @ Chinook                                           Power-Dutton-Brady @ North Star

Chris and Robin McKnight are headed to beautiful Choteau Friday night to bring you all the live coverage of the 8-man game between Badgers of Cascade and the Bulldogs. Kickoff is set for 7:00.

Then Saturday Chris and Karl are off to Centerville for a big 6-man showdown between the Miners and the Roy-Winifred Outlaws. This game, which starts at 2:00 should have serious playoff implications. Keep up with all the action on the Central Montana Radio Network, KMON 560 am on air or streaming and on the KMON app!