Cats crunch Dogs, 56-7
COLUMBIA FALLS — It was all Wildcats as Columbia Falls cruised to a 56-7 Northwest A Conference football victory Friday night over rival Whitefish.
Colten McPhee returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and went on to rush for 172 yards on nine carries and three more scores — 8, 4 and 80 yards.
Columbia (5-1 overall, 4-0 league) held a commanding 35-7 lead at the half.
Whitefish (1-6, 1-3) scored in the second quarter on a 6-yard pass from Chad Queen to Mark Anderson.
Columbia Falls had 403 yards of total offense (377 rushing and 26 passing) to 95 yards for Whitefish (45 rushing nd 50 passing).
Logan Kolodejchuk, who had a touchdown run of 10 yards in the opening quarter, also broke the century mark in rushing with 104 yards on 11 carries.
Tanner Grove and Devron Harris had interceptions for Columbia Falls.
“We played lights out,” Columbia Falls head coach Jaxon Schweikert said. “It’s been like that all year with our 1-2-3 punch of McPhee, Logan Kolodejchuk and Austin Green.”
Green passed for a touchdown and run 22 yards for another.
The kickoff return was the first of the season for Columbia Falls.
Whitefish 0 7 0 0 — 7
Columbia Falls 28 7 7 14 — 56
CF — Colten McPhee 80 kickoff return (Auguste Emond kick)
CF —McPhee 8 run (Emond kick)
CF — McPhee 4 run (Emond kick)
CF — Logan Kolodejchuk 10 run (Emond kick)
CF — McPhee 80 run (Emond kick)
W — Mark Anderson 6 pass from Chad Queen (Carver Gilman kick)
CF — Ben Windauer 14 pass from Austin Green (Emond kick)
CF — Green 22 run (Emond kick)
CF — Parker Greene 41 run (Emond kick)
Ronan 12, Libby 8
LIBBY — Ronan scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and held off a late push from Libby to remain in the playoff hunt.
The Chiefs opened the scoring on a long touchdown pass and quarterback Eric Dolence gave the team a 12-0 halftime lead on a short touchdown run.
Libby’s freshman quarterback, making his first start, threw for 273 yards and a touchdown, but three interceptions cost the Loggers valuable chances at points.
Ronan can claim the second playoff spot from the Northwest with a win at Browning next week.
Ronan 0 12 0 0 — 12
Libby 0 0 0 8 — 8
R — Ezekiel Misa 30 pass from Eric Dolence (kick failed)
R — Dolence 2 run (run failed)
L — Tanner Wood 8 pass from Beagle (Chandler Bower pass from Beagle)
Eureka 37, Deer Lodge 0
DEER LODGE — Defending Class B state champion Eureka completed regular-season play with a perfect record by thumping Deer Lodge.
Eureka (7-0, 5-0) also won the Western B regular season title as well.
Garrett Graves passed for three touchdowns — two going to Bryant Little (26 and 34 yards) — and ran 1 yard for another. Eureka held a 23-0 lead at the half and scored in every quarter.
Eureka had 182 yards passing and 212 rushing to 31 passing and 64 rushing for Deer Lodge (0-7, 0-5).
The Lions are idle next week. Playoff action begins the weekend of Oct. 27-28.
Eureka 14 9 7 7 — 37
Deer Lodge 0 0 0 0 — 0
E — Chet McCully 1 run (Simon Granberg kick)
E — Bryant Little 26 pass from Garrett Graves (Granberg kick)
E — Safety (James Williams tackle)
E — Graves 1 run (Granberg kick)
E — Brenton Pluid 13 pass from Graves (Granberg kick)
E — Little 34 pass from Graves (Granberg kick)
Missoula Loyola 30,
Bigfork 14
MISSOULA — Scotty Twite passed to Cooper Waters for a 12-yard touchdown and returned a fumble 35 yards for another touchdown, both in the fourth quarter, to carry Missoula Loyola (4-3, 3-1) past Bigfork in a Western B contest.
Bigfork scored on a 77-yard pass from Augie Emslie to Logan Taylor and a 42-yard pass to Anders Epperly.
It was the first loss of the season for Bigfork (4-1, 3-1).
Bigfork 0 7 7 0 — 14
Loyola 0 7 7 16 — 30
B — Logan Taylor 77 pass from Augie Emslie (Austin Varner kick), 2:53
ML — Scotty Twite 66 run (Austin Ogilvie kick), 2:35
ML — Ryan Tirrell 1 run (Ogilvie kick), 5:14
B — Anders Epperly 42 pass from Emslie (Varner kick), :54
ML — Ogilvie 29 field goal, 6:08
ML — Cooper Waters 12 pass from Twite (kick blocked), 1:12
ML — Twite 35 fumble recover (Ogilvie kick), :55