Thompson rushes for 270 yards, Wildcats beat Polson
POLSON - Nate Thompson's 11-yard touchdown run with just under a minute to play lifted Columbia Falls past No. 3-ranked Polson on Friday 25-20 in a key Northwestern A football matchup.
Thompson rolled up 270 yards rushing on 43 attempts and scored the game's first TD on a 69-yard scamper in the opening quarter.
Polson quarterback Vince DiGiallonardo put the Pirates in front for the first time with his 5-yard touchdown run with 9:22 remaining in play.
Columbia Falls (3-3 overall and 2-0 league) outgained Polson (4-1 and 0-1) 410 yards to 314. The Wildcats ran the ball 63 times for 301 yards.
Correction: Thompson ran for 270 yards, not 280 as was previously reported. The Inter Lake was initially given incorrect information.
Polson had 211 yards rushing.
Columbia Falls 13 0 6 6 - 25
Polson 0 7 7 6 - 20
CF - Nate Thompson 69 run (Austin Barth kick)
CF - Cole Jones 7 run (kick failed)
P - Vince DiGiallonardo 51 run (Kyle Bagnell kick)
CF - Dan Jones 7 run (kick failed)
P - Sheldon Fisher 12 pass from DiGiallonardo (Bagnell kick)
P - DiGiallonardo 5 run (pass failed)
CF - Thompson 11 run (run failed)
Libby 38, Whitefish 25
WHITEFISH - Colby Rybar ran for three touchdowns as Libby (3-3 and 1-1) earned its first Northwestern A football victory by downing Whitefish (1-5 and 0-2).
Whitefish quarterback Connor Donahue had a big game. He was 24 of 46 passing for 415 yards and three touchdowns.
Jeremy Nielsen led the WHS ground game with 62 yards on 11 carries. Bulldog Gage Vasquez had 11 catches for 125 yards.
Libby 6 12 0 20 - 38
Whitefish 7 0 0 18 - 25
W - Logan Harwood 18 pass from Connor Donahue (Connor Ellis kick)
L - Colby Rybar 1 (kick failed)
L - Kody Berget 77 pass from Micah Germany (kick failed)
L - Corey Chapman 10 run (kick failed)
W - Jeremy Nielson 40 pass from Donahue (kick failed)
L - Kelly May 1 run (kick failed)
L - Rybar 14 run (Patrick Valentine kick)
W - Harwood 62 pass from Donahue (kick failed)
L - Rybar 39 run (Valentine kick)
W - Chris Forrest 70 run (kick failed)
Bigfork 42,
Thompson Falls 20
BIGFORK - Travis Knoll scored five touchdowns, two by air and three by land, as Bigfork stayed undefeated in District 7B action.
Knoll's touchdown receptions from quarterback Christian Ker (10 of 14 passing for 204 yards) covered 69 and 49 yards. Knoll's TD runs were 66, 3 and 35 yards.
Knoll ran for 192 yards on 16 carries and had four receptions for 133 yards.
Bigfork (4-1 and 3-0) trailed twice in the early going.
Thompson Falls 7 7 0 6 - 20
Bigfork 7 14 14 7 - 42
TF - Kevin Hagedorn 21 pass from Josh Hojem (Dominique Holt kick)
B - Travis Knoll 69 pass from Christian Ker (Dillon Charlebois kick)
TF - Nick Adler 30 run (Holt kick)
B - Knoll 66 run (kick failed)
B - Knoll 3 run (Knoll run)
B - Ker 3 run (Charlebois kick)
B - Knoll 49 pass from Ker (Charlebois kick)
B - Knoll 35 run (Charlebois kick)
TF - Cody Phillips 5 pass from Hojem (run failed)
Eureka 35, Plains 6
EUREKA - Quarterback Colin Gillard threw for two touchdowns and Chris Ibach ran for two more as Eureka (3-2 and 2-1) rolled over Plains (1-4 and 1-2) in District 7B play.
Gillard ran for 103 yards on 14 carries and was 9 for 15 passing for 141 yards.
Ibach had 93 yards rushing on nine carries.
Taylor Vaughn led the Lion defense with 12 tackles.
Plains 6 0 0 0 - 6
Eureka 12 8 15 0 - 35
E - Ryan Holder 36 pass from Colin Gillard (pass failed)
E - Chris Ibach 1 run (run failed)
P - Taylor Firestone 89 kickoff return (kick blocked)
E - Ibach 5 run (Holder pass from Gillard)
E - Bryce Bartmess 15 pass from Gillard (Bryton Guckenberg pass from Holder)
E - Taylor Vaugh 11 run (Holder kick)