Prep Football Eureka flies past Cut Bank
EUREKA — Eureka raced by Cut Bank 41-0 in its season home opener back in August.
Saturday’s result was much the same — by halftime.
The Lions scored just a minute into the game and took a 40-0 lead into the locker room at halftime on their way to a 40-6 win over the visiting Wolves on Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the Class B football playoffs.
“We wanted to jump on them quick and send that message that nothing has changed (since the beginning of the season),” Eureka head coach Trevor Utter said.
“To come out and just put it on quick was really encouraging.”
Brenton Pluid and Garrett Graves each had two scores in the opening quarter for the defending Class B champions. Pluid rushed for a 2-yard touchdown just 60 seconds into play, and Graves plunged into the end zone from a yard out less than five minutes later. They then connected on a 28-yard pass for a score to stretch the lead.
Graves threw two more touchdown passes in the second quarter, both to Bryant Little, to put the game away before intermission. All told, the all-state quarterback completed 9 of 15 passes for 147 yards and four touchdowns.
“Cut Bank came in with a plan to make us throw,” Utter said. “They stacked the box big time.
“We were kind of forced to throw the ball, which was good for us.”
Eureka (8-0) failed to score after subbing its second-string offense into the game to begin the third quarter, but the defense made sure the game was never close.
The Lions surrendered just 135 total yards to Cut Bank (3-6), an average of 2.6 per play.
“We started subbing some young guys in, so it was kind of a one-half game for our varsity kids,” Utter said. “They executed well.
“That’s not the end of the world. Kids aren’t happy to sit out the second half, but it was a good thing.”
Next up for Eureka is Manhattan (7-2), which defeated Roundup 33-28 in its first-round game on Saturday. The two teams last met in the 2012 playoffs, a 41-16 defeat for Eureka.
Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.
Cut Bank 0 0 0 6 — 6
Eureka 26 14 0 0 — 40
First quarter
E — Brenton Pluid 2 run (pass failed), 11:00
E — Garrett Graves 1 run (Simon Granberg kick), 6:18
E — Pluid 28 pass from Graves (kick failed), 4:08
E — Hank Dunn 25 pass from Graves (Granberg kick), 0:27
Second quarter
E — Bryant Little 26 pass from Graves (Granberg kick), 5:13
E — Little 11 pass from Graves (Granberg kick), 1:40
Fourth quarter
CB — Jr Seewald 15 run (kick failed), 1:25
Roundup 0 14 6 8 — 28
Manhattan 12 8 13 0 — 33
Man - Jake Dyk 9 run (kick failed)
Man - Cal Holgate 4 run (pass failed)
Rou - Brody Grebe 1 run (kick failed)
Rou - MaKale Kembel 11 run (Jared Robinson run)
Man - Holgate 80 reception from Dyk (Holgate run)
Man - Holgate 56 reception from Dyk (pass failed)
Man - Clay Johnson 1 run (Dalton Mitchell kick)
Rou - Kembel 6 run (pass failed)
Rou - Robinson 1 run (Kembel run)
Shelby 23, Bigfork 20
SHELBY — Bigfork scored the game’s first 12 points but only put up one touchdown in the game’s final 30 minutes as Shelby roared back for a win in a defensive slugfest in the first round of the Class B playoffs.
Shelby (6-3) made a 39-yard field goal with nearly five minutes remaining that proved to be the difference.
The two teams combined for just 500 yards of offense, and neither averaged more than four yards per play. The Coyotes threw four interceptions, while Bigfork tossed two.
The Vikings (6-2) struck first on a 38-yard run by Randy Stultz, who carried 34 times for 154 yards in the season-ending loss. They added six more points on a pair of Austin Varner field goals, but then Shelby’s offense started to heat up just as Bigfork’s cooled.
The Coyotes scored 20 unanswered points and held the lead until early in the fourth quarter, when Augie Emslie found Logan Taylor for a 30-yard touchdown pass. Stultz’s subsequent run for the two-point conversion tied the game.
Shelby advances to play undefeated Whitehall in the second round next Saturday.
Bigfork 0 12 0 8 — 20
Shelby 0 6 14 3 — 23
Second quarter
B — Randy Stultz 38 run (kick failed), 11:52
B — Austin Varner 20 field goal, 7:45
B — Varner 23 field goal, 5:18
S — B. Hansen 16 pass from A. White (kick failed), 1:21
Third quarter
S — Hansen 19 pass from White (W. Brusven kick), 9:25
S — Z. Torgerson 11 run (Brusven kick), 4:35
Fourth quarter
B — Logan Taylor 30 pass from Augie Emslie (Stultz run), 10:54
S — Brusven 39 field goal, 4:51
Shepherd 0 0 6 12 — 18
Whitehall 7 12 0 7 — 26
W: Braden Smith 23 pass from Max Feight (Brandon Gipson kick)
W: Cade Briggs 24 pass from Feight (kick failed)
W: Wyatt Alexander 56 pass from Feight (conversion failed)
S: Kohl Michels 3 run (conversion failed)
S: Michels 22 pass from Jake Trotter (conversion failed)
S: Trotter 15 run (conversion failed)
W: Alexander 42 pass from Feight (Gipson kick)