Black and Blue batter Bitterroot

The Kalispell Black and Blue rugby team continued its dominant start to the season, routing longtime rival Bitteroot 59-17 on Saturday at Evergreen Junior High.

The Black and Blue (2-0) set the tone off the opening kick, as freshman Tanner Russell caught the ball on the 5-meter line and slipped the Bitterroot defense for 80 meters before offloading to Matt Gash-Gilder for the final 20 meters and a scoring try just seconds into the match.

Within the next 10 minutes, Kalispell had tries from Paxton Boyce and Sam Mann, with Jacques Eve scoring a try just minutes later to give the Black and Blue a 26-0 lead.

Bitterroot got on the board before halftime, scoring on a kick and a try to trim the lead to 26-10 at half.

The Black and Blue retook control after the break, with tries from Garett Rieke, Hunter Rauthe, Eve and Russell to stretch the lead to 45-10.

Bitterroot scored a long try to cut into the lead but a second try from Rauthe iced the win for Kalispell.

Earlier in the day, the Black and Blue high school girls team won a pair of sevens matches against defending state champions Bitterroot.

Down 5-0 in the opener with a minute to play, Payge Boyce ran 90 meters to the try zone to tie it. Clara Vandenbosch nailed the conversion to give Kalispell a 7-5 victory.

Boyce and Taylor Henley scored tries in the second game with Vandenbosch making the difference in the game by hitting both conversions to give the Black and Blue a narrow 14-10 victory.