'Cats cream Cowboys

COLUMBIA FALLS — Austin Green and Columbia Falls physically dominated Miles City in a 48-8 victory on Saturday afternoon in the Class A football quarterfinals.

Green scored four rushing touchdowns and had another passing as the Wildcats advanced to the semifinals for the second straight season. Columbia Falls will travel to Sidney next week.

The Wildcats dominated from the start, with senior Logan Kolodejchuk bulling for 12 yards over a pair of Cowboys defenders on the first play from scrimmage. Wildcats junior Colton McPhee finished the drive off seven plays later with a 16-yard run after flattening a linebacker two yards into the run and charging ahead for a score.

Green intercepted Miles City’s second pass of the day to end the Cowboys’ first drive, then orchestrated a 13-play drive, punching in his first running touchdown of the day to give Columbia Falls a 14-0 lead.

Miles City managed to gain just 31 yards for the rest of the game as Green pushed the Wildcats’ halftime lead to 28-0, running around left end for a 24-yard touchdown and tossing a 5-yard pass to Ben Windauer with three seconds left in the second quarter. Green ran for touchdowns on Columbia Falls’ first two drives in the second half and intercepted his second Miles City pass just after that, setting up a short touchdown run for backup running back Easton Sempf.

Miles City got on the board late, blocking a Columbia Falls punt and falling on it in the end zone with two minutes to play.

“We executed like coach wanted,” Green said. “We had two weeks to prepare for these guys and I think it showed on the field.

“We knew they were going to come in and load the box. We felt we had the men up front to get it done. We just loaded the backfield and let them have it. They were manhanding them up front.”

Green finished with a team-high 154 rushing yards and four touchdowns and was 10 of 13 passing for 122 yards and a touchdown. McPhee had 15 carries for 98 yards, Kolodejchuk five rushes for 48 yards and Windauer four catches for 50 yards. Columbia Falls finished with 465 yards of total offense.

“(Green’s) been doing that all year long, Colton McPhee, Logan Kolodejchuk, those three guys running the ball is as good as it gets in the state of Montana,” Wildcats coach Jackson Schweikert said. “Then that O-line is amazing run blockers. They take a lot of pride and it’s a brotherhod. It’s fun to watch.”

Miles City finished with 95 total yards as a team, just 8 yards coming after halftime.

“I thought we played good,” Schweikert said. “They’re a really good team, a really physical team, and they’ve been on a roll. We’re pretty tough defensively, that’s for sure, and we’re smart offensively. Our kids adjust and do good stuff.”

“Our kids are tough and physical and we’re really hard to run the ball on.”

Sidney beat Dillon 38-22 on the eastern border of the state on Saturday, setting up a meeting with the Wildcats for the second straight year. Columbia Falls beat the Eagles 35-20 in Sidney last season.

Miles City 0 0 0 8 — 8

Columbia Falls 7 21 13 7 — 48

First Quarter

CF — Colton McPhee 16 run (Auguste Emond kick), 9:04

Second Quarter

CF — Austin Green 2 run (Emond kick), 10:19

CF — Green 24 run (Emond kick), 6:25

CF — Ben Windauer 5 pass from Green (Emond kick), :03

Third Quarter

CF — Green 1 run (kick blocked), 7:55

CF — Green 11 run (Emond kick), 3:33

Fourth Quarter

CF — Easton Sempf 9 run (Emond kick), 10:13

MC — Kon Speelmon punt block recovery in end zone (Tristan Hirsch run), 2:27