Butte Central speeds by Wildcats
COLUMBIA FALLS - In a high school football matchup between Class A's biggest and smallest schools Friday night, the little one dominated.
Butte Central senior quarterback Matt Ritter rushed for 93 yards, three first-half touchdowns and passed for 191 yards to help lead the Maroons to a 40-14 victory over Columbia Falls.
With an enrollment of 132 kids, Butte Central totaled 425 yards of offense and held Columbia Falls (enrollment 878) to just 100.
The Wildcats only points came on a 95-yard kickoff return from senior Scott Palmer and a 4-yard touchdown plunge by Steven Brennan after the Maroons muffed a punt inside their own 5-yard line.
Adam Fine, a 5-foot-7, 165-pound speedy senior running back for BC, ran for 106 of his 139 yards in the second half and scored three second-half touchdowns. He had just 15 rushing attempts for a 9.3-yard average. He also caught four passes for 47 yards.
Between Fine's blazing speed and Ritter's Madden video game-type jukes on offense, the Maroons gained 18 first downs compared to C-Falls' six.
"They have ton of speed," C-Falls coach John Thompson said. "Both Ritter and Fine make all kinds of things happen. They are flat-out quick. That's tough to simulate in practice. They're tough to prepare for. We play a 3-5 defense and put in a slight adjustment to try and contain some of their speed. But they've got great athletes and did a heck of a job. Hats off to them."
Ritter, a four-year starter, completed 13 of 28 passes (46 percent) in the Maroons' spread option Utah package attack. He now has 312 yards rushing with 12 touchdowns in three games along with 631 passing yards and two touchdowns.
"This is our third year running that offense," BC coach Don Peoples Jr. said. "It utilizes the speed of our quarterback and he throws the ball real well out of it."
Trailing 6-0 late in the first quarter, Ritter made something out of nothing when he recovered a shotgun snap that flew over his head and hit Casey Norbeck for a 20-yard completion from 27 yards behind the line of scrimmage. On the next play, he cut back three times en route to a 16-yard touchdown run.
"They had the momentum early and he made some great plays - a couple of broken plays - to get us back into it," Peoples said. "He's a great player. He makes things happen."
Ritter took control of the game in the second quarter with a couple of crazy runs and scored two more touchdowns to give the Maroons a 20-6 halftime lead.
Palmer's kickoff return and Wilson's amazing second and third efforts for the two-point conversion put the game at 20-14. But then Fine took over for BC.
As good as the BC offense was, it was its defense that ruled the game.
"We never got untracked on offense," Thompson said. "They had guys coming to the ball and guys taking care of responsibilities. When we look back on film, we'll identify the mistakes we made and learn from this loss. We'll adjust."
The Maroons held Columbia Falls standout junior running back Josh Wilson to just 32 yards on 16 carries. He did, however, have a 64-yard touchdown called back in the third quarter on the Wildcats' first play from scrimmage after Palmer's kickoff return. All told, the Wildcats had 55 yards on 35 carries.
"We were real concerned with their running backs," Peoples said. "They ran hard. They had that one long touchdown called back. That showed his athleticism. But our kids did a good job rallying to the ball and forcing them to pass and then we had good success in our pass coverage."
C-Falls starting quarterback Mackey Nolan completed just three of 12 passes (25 percent) for 35 yards.
Butte Central improved to 3-0 while Columbia Falls fell to 1-1.
Butte Central 7 13 13 7 - 40
Columbia Falls 6 0 8 0 - 14
First Quarter
CF - Steven Brennan 4 run (kick blocked), 8:17.
BC - Matt Ritter 16 run (Ritter kick), 2:02.
Second Quarter
BC - Ritter 17 run (Ritter kick), 10:16.
BC - Ritter 2 run (kick failed), 0:38.
Third Quarter
CF - Scott Palmer 95 kickoff return (Josh Wilson run), 11:46.
BC - Matt Fine 1 run (run failed), 9:27.
BC - Fine 31 run (Ritter kick), 2:52.
Fourth Quarter
BC - Fine 2 run (Andy Ritter kick), 10:13.
BC CF
First Downs 18 6
Total Yards 425 100
Rushes-Yrds 39-234 35-55
Passing Yrds 191 45
Comp-Att-Int 13-28-1 4-15-1
Punts-Avg. 2-38.5 6-35.8
Kickoff Ret. 3-55 5-151
Punt Ret. 0-0 1-(-11)
Int. Ret 1-0 1-0
Sacked-Yrds Lost 6-22 2-11
Penalties-Yrds 12-90 7-45
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 2-2
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - BC, Adam Fine 15-139, Matt Ritter 18-93, Gene Taylor 2-7, Andy Ritter 4-(-5); CF, Josh Wilson 16-32, Michael Hader 4-21, Steven Brennan 5-9, Chase Fairbank 1-9, Mackey Nolan 7-2, David Wilson 1-1, Scott Palmer 1-0.
PASSING - BC, M. Ritter 13-28-1-191; CF, Nolan 3-12-1-35, Mitchell Wassam 1-3-0-10.
RECEIVING - BC, Taylor 5-86, Fine 4-47, Casey Norbeck 2-32, Jake Hogart 2-26; CF, Chase Grilley 2-13, Brennan 1-28, Palmer 1-4.
Missed Field Goals - none.