Eureka, Bigfork win Class B football openers
EUREKA — Class B state champion Eureka opened the 2017 football season Friday night by thumping Cut Bank 41-0.
Quarterback Garrett Graves had three touchdown passes — 43 and 65 yards to Brenton Pluid and 25 yards to Jake Kindel — and completed the scoring with a 3-yard run in the third quarter.
Kindel also ran 3 yards for a score and Chet McCully had a 5-yard TD run for the Lions.
Eureka outgained Cut Bank 318 yards to 66.
Graves was 8 of 18 passing for 184 yards.
McCully rushed for 61 yards on 10 carries and Pluid had two receptions for 108 yards.
“Our kids executed really well and did some really good things,” Eureka coach Trevor Utter said.
“I was pleased.
“We didn’t do any crazy,” he added.
“Base defense, base offense. We were able to run the ball, throw the ball and our defense dominated.”
Eureka plays at Conrad next Friday.
Cut Bank 0 0 0 0 — 0
Eureka 13 14 14 0 — 41
E — Jake Kindel 3 run (Simon Granberg kick)
E — Brenton Pluid 43 pass from Garrett Graves (kick failed)
E — Chet McCully 5 run (Granberg kick)
E — Kindel 25 pass from Graves (Granberg kick)
E — Pluid 65 yard pass from Graves (Granberg kick)
E — Graves 3 run (Granberg kick)
Bigfork 23, Shelby 19
SHELBY — Bigfork used a safety and a punt return for a touchdown to rally past Shelby in the Class B opener for both schools.
Bigfork defender Chase Chappuis tackled a Shelby player in the end zone for the safety. On the next play, Shelby elected to punt, rather than kickoff, and Austin Varner returned it 65 yards for the TD. He added an extra-point kick to complete the scoring with 9:10 left in play.
Bigfork QB Augie Emslie had touchdown passes of 76 yards to Logan Taylor and 12 yards to Anders Epperly.
Bigfork rolled up 311 yards of total offense to 288 for Shelby.
Emslie was 9 of 30 passing for 206 yards. Taylor rushed for 83 yards on 25 carries and also led the way in receiving with two catches for 101 yards.
Bigfork is back in action next Friday at home versus Anaconda.
Bigfork 0 14 0 9 — 23
Shelby 7 0 6 6 — 19
S — Wyatt Brusven 35 pass from Aaron White (Brusven kick)
B — Logan Taylor 76 pass from Augie Emslie (Austin Varner kick)
B — Anders Epperly 12 pass from Emslie (Varner kick)
S — Zach Torgerson 3 run (kick failed)
S — Brusven 1 run (pass failed)
B — Chase Chappuis tackles Shelby player in end zone
B — Varner 65 punt return (Varner kick)
Darby 68, Troy 6
TROY — Dylan Parks ran for three touchdowns, threw for two and caught two more to power Darby to a lopsided Class C season-opening victory over Troy in Western Division play.
Parks had scoring runs of 29, 9 and 2 yards.
His TD receptions from Nelson Smith were for 21 and 65 yards.
He connected with Smith on scoring strikes of 13 and 17 yards.
Darby led 48-6 at the half.
Smith also passed for two more touchdowns — 28 yards to Drake Horvath and 25 yards to Dylan Schlatlan.
Hunter Leighty scored on a 50-yard scamper in the second quarter for Troy.
Darby 26 22 6 14 — 68
Troy 0 6 0 0 — 6
D — Dylan Parks 29 run (run failed)
D — Nelson Smith 13 pass from Parks (Smith run)
D — Drake Horvath 28 pass from Smith (run failed)
D — Parks 9 run (run failed)
D — Horvath 26 run (pass failed)
T — Hunter Leighty 50 run (run failed)
D — Parks 65 pass from Smith (Parks run)
D — Smith 17 pass from Parks (run failed)
D — Parks 21 pass from Smith (pass failed)
D — Dylan Schlatlan 25 pass from Smith (run failed)
D — Parks 2 run (Parks run)
Hamilton 47, Whitefish 10
WHITEFISH — Bridger Bauder ran for 197 yards and a touchdown and scored again on a punt return as Hamilton jumped out to a quick lead and routed Whitefish at Memorial Field.
The Broncs scored in less than three minutes to start the game and raced out to a 27-0 lead by the end of the first quarter against a young Whitefish squad.
“They scored every time they touched the ball,” Whitefish head coach Chad Ross said. “We made some freshman and sophomore mistakes.”
Ross’ message to his team after the battering was simple.
“The biggest improvement is going to come from Week 1 to Week 2,” he said. “You have to believe in yourself when no one does.”
Though they’d rather forget the night as a whole, there were a few bright spots for the Bulldogs, primarily in the rushing game.
Luke Schwaiger rushed for 86 yards on 14 carries, and his brother, Jack Schwaiger carried seven times for 85 yards.
Carver Gilman nailed a 43-yard field goal for the Bulldogs.
Whitefish will look to bounce back next Friday at 7 p.m. in a trip to Frenchtown.
“We’ve got to get better, and I think we can. You can’t win a championship in August,” Ross said.
“Believe in our kids, believe in our system and I think we’ll do OK.”
Hamilton 27 13 7 0 — 47
Whitefish 0 3 0 7 — 10
H — Carson Rostad 16 run (Bridger Bauder kick)
H — Bauder 85 run (Bauder kick)
H — Camron Rothie 15 pass from Rostad (Bauder kick)
H — Bauder 35 punt return (kick failed)
H — Ty Chouinard 15 pass from Rostad (kick failed)
W — Carver Gilman 43 field goal
H — Chouinard 32 pass from Rostad (Bauder kick)
H — Declan O’Brien 11 run (Bauder kick)
W — Mark Anderson 7 pass from Justin Conklin (Gilman kick)