Billings Central holds off Wildcats

The Daily Inter Lake

BILLINGS - Down eight points with three minutes left in the game, the Columbia Falls Wildcats recovered an onside kick and gave the undefeated Billings Central Rams a rare sense of nervousness in the Class A football quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.

But the decorated Rams defense took to field and forced a turnover on downs and secured the victory.

Billings Central, the defending Class A state champions, went on to win 27-13 after scoring an empty touchdown in the final minute.

Wildcat quarterback Mitchell Wassam gave his team a chance after finding Kaleb Johnson on a 15-yard touchdown pass with 3:05 left to make the game 21-13.

"I'm just really proud of the kid's effort," Columbia Falls coach John Thompson said. "We played well, especially in the second half."

The Wildcats trailed 21-7 at the break after Billings Central's Aleksei Grosulak scored three touchdowns, one coming off a 91-yard breakaway. Grosulak finished with 218 yards of rushing, but was held scoreless in the second half.

Wassam finished the game with 252 yards of passing and completed throws to nine different receivers. Johnson had three catches for 48 yards while Wayde Martinson made three for 33. Tanner Perry snagged two for 81 yards, Nathan Thompson had a pair as well for 31 yards.

The Wildcats had 263 total yards in the game and only had to punt four times.

The Rams extended their two-year win streak to 22 games. The last time they lost was November 11, 2006 to Frenchtown. The Rams play the Dillon Beavers (8-2) next Saturday, and with a win will host the state title game.

Columbia Falls 0 7 0 6 - 13

Central 14 7 0 6 - 27

First quarter

Central - Aleksei Grosulak 7 run (run failed) 7:41

Central - Grosulak 91 run (Kevin O'Brien run) 45.5

Second quarter

CF - John Woody 5 run (Mackey Nolan kick) 10:10

Central - Grosulak 5 run (Cody Linde kick) 40.9

Fourth quarter

CF - Kaleb Johnson 15 pass from Mitchell Wassam (pass failed) 3:05

Central - O'Brien 6 run (kick failed) 39.8.

CF Central

First downs 16 15

Rushes-yards 27-11 49-319

Comp-Att-Int 19-38-1 2-5-0

Passing yards 252 55

Total yards 263 374

Punts 4-36 5-24

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 3-25 9-64

Individual statistics

Rushing - CF: Stephen Baumgartner 11-14, Woody 3-9, Nolan 6-minus 1, Wassam 7-minus 11. Central: Grosulak 24-218, Tyler Hawkins 13-100, O'Brien 4-29, Max Tolstedt 3-minus 1, Cole Moller 1-minus 10, Cole Cattelan 4-minus 17.

Passing - CF: Wassam 19-38-1-252. Central: Cattelan 2-5-0-55.

Receiving - CF: Johnson 3-48, Wayde Martinson 3-33, Tanner Perry 2-81, Nathan Thompson 2-31, Baumgartner 2-31, Dustin VonFeldt 2-16, Quenton Hegel 2-8, Nolan 2-minus 2, Woody 1-6. Central: Hawkins 2-55.