Hi-Line Football Roundup: Hi-Line's big three dominate again

The Chester/J-I Hawks and the Chinook Sugarbeeters have been on a collision course all season long. The two teams will meet this Wednesday in what will be the de facto Northern C championship game.

But, this past weekend, in each team's final game before their showdown at Hoon Field, both the Hawks and the Beeters took care of conference foes to set up a highly-anticipated matchup of two of the five undefeated teams remaining in 8-Man football.

In Chester, the Hawks battled the Simms Tigers Friday night, who entered the game with a 4-1 record with their one loss coming at the hands of Chinook a few weeks prior. And while Simms gave C/J-I a tougher fight than most have this season, the Hawks still prevailed 64-44.

Both offenses went up and down the field as each team got an outstanding performance from its starting running back. Justin May, an All-State running back for C/J-I, finished the game with five total touchdowns, including two kickoff return touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown.

Jake Bloom of Simms countered with four touchdowns of his own, three rushing and one receiving. Bloom's last score came near the end of the first half and trimmed the Hawks lead to 35-24 at intermission.

Yet, May scored two of his touchdowns in the third quarter to help expand C/J-I's lead to 57-30 at the end of the third quarter. Simms kept battling and pulled within two scores at 57-44 following a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives, but May answered with a 70-yard kickoff return for a score that put the game on ice.

"I knew it was going to be a fight going in," C/J-I head coach Jim Vinson said. "We know just from looking at our roster that we aren't very big, so we are going to have to use our athleticism. I told our kids all year long that at some point we are going to get into a shootout and we are just going to have to outscore the other team."

In addition to May's big day, Brandon Ricther also had another solid outing for the Hawks as he tossed three touchdowns passes, while also running for another. Brett Henke also made his presence felt with a 27-yard touchdown reception and a 26-yard touchdown run.

C/J-I (6-0) will travel to Chinook Wednesday night. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

Simms 6 18 6 14 — 44

C/J-I 7 28 22 7 — 64

SIMMS—Jake Bloom 3 run (pass failed)

C/J-I—Brett Henke 27 pass from Brandon Richter (Troy Harmon kick)

SIMMS—Bloom 9 run (run failed)

C/J-I—Justin May 70 kick return (Harmon kick)

C/J-I—May 41 pass from B. Richter (kick failed)

C/J-I—B. Richter 1 run (Harmon pass from B. Richter)

SIMMS—Bloom 62 run (pass failed)

C/J-I—Cory Richter 15 pass from B. Richter (Harmon kick)

SIMMS—Bloom 6 run (run failed)

C/J-I—May 36 run (B. Richter run)

SIMMS—Logan Rushton 3 run (run failed)

C/J-I—May 3 run (pass failed)

C/J-I—Henke 26 run (C. Richter run)

SIMMS—Rushton 51 run (pass good)

SIMMS—Rushton 15 run (run failed)

C/J-I—May 70 kickoff return (Harmon kick)

Chinook 50, PDB 12

While the C/J-I held up its end of the bargain in Chester Friday night, the Beeters traveled to Power to take on Power-Dutton-Brady and once again showed they may have the best defense in 8-Man football as they cruised to a 50-12 win.

Chinook came into the game allowing fewer than four points per game and even though PBD scored 12 points and became just the second team to score twice against the Beeters in five games, the defending Northern C champs are still surrendering just five points per game on the season.

The defense may have dominated but the offense also managed to score at least 50 points for the fourth time this season as quarterback Ian McIntosh threw three touchdown passes, two to Kenneth Pruttis and one to Jake Norby. Tate Niederegger also continued his stellar season with two more touchdown runs.

The Beeters (6-0) will battle C/J-I for Northern C supremacy in Chinook Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Chinook 14 24 6 6 — 50

PDB 0 0 6 6 — 12

CHI—Ken Pruttis 60 pass from Ian McIntosh (McIntosh run)

CHI—Pruttis 13 pass from McIntosh (pass failed)

CHI—Tate Niederegger 2 run (Jake Norby pass from McIntosh)

CHI—Norby 11 pass from McIntosh (Niederegger pass from McIntosh)

CHI—Owen Powell 2 run (run failed)

PDB—Lucas Kalanick 23 pass from Chase Rosmiller (run failed)

PDB—Rosmiller 3 pass from Seth Kitchin (pass failed)

Box Elder 80, Westby-Grenora 26

Chinook and C/J-I may be garnering a lot of attention, but when it comes to Class C Six-Man football, no one is hotter right now than the Box Elder Bears.

The Bears, who played a rare non-conference game last Saturday, hosted traditional power Westby-Grenora and steamrolled the team known as Mon-Dak by the score of 80-26.

All season long the Bears' offense has been unstoppable and it was the same story Saturday, as the Bears scored 28 points in the first and second quarters to jump out to a 56-14 halftime lead. Brandon The Boy threw six touchdown passes in the win, while Shane Ketchum reached pay dirt five times with three rushing touchdowns, one touchdown reception and one kickoff return for a score.

Pernell Morsette also caught two touchdowns passes in the win, while Bodis Duran added two scores, one rushing and once receiving. Elias Duran and Jerrod Four Colors also caught touchdown passes in the rout.

Box Elder (7-0) will host Augusta Wednesday before traveling to Denton to take on Denton-Geyser-Stanford in a game that will decide the North Division championship on Oct. 24.

Westby-Grenora 8 6 6 6 — 26

Box Elder 28 28 16 8 — 80

BE—Pernell Morsette 15 pass from Brandon The Boy (Bodis Duran kick)

BE—Shane Ketchum 29 run (PAT failed)

BE—Elias Duran 25 pass from The Boy (PAT failed)

BE—B. Duran 1 run (B. Duran kick)

WG—Daulton Holecek 5 pass from Jeremiah Paine (Paine kick)

BE—B. Duran 17 pass from The Boy (B. Duran kick)

BE—Ketchum 19 pass from The Boy (B. Duran kick)

BE—Ketchum 65 run (PAT failed)

BE—P. Morsette 15 pass from The Boy (PAT failed)

WG—Cleve Garman 28 pass from Paine (PAT failed)

WG—Garman 77 run (PAT failed)

BE—Ketchum 77 kickoff return (B. Duran kick)

BE—Jerrod Four Colors 35 pass from The Boy (B. Duran kick)

WG—Brian Field 18 pass from Paine (PAT failed)

BE—Ketchum 28 run (B. Duran kick)

DGS 42, North Star 7

In another important Six-Man North Division matchup Saturday, the North Star Knights welcomed DGS to Rudyard for a conference battle with playoff implications. Yet, North Star simply wasn't up to the task of taking down DGS, which defeated the Knights by a final score of 42-7.

DGS scored three touchdowns in the first half to take a 21-0 lead but early in the third, the Knights started to battle back and were within 14 following a 21-yard touchdown run by Gavin Spinler. But, that was as close as North Star would get and three second-half touchdowns by DGS turned a close game into a blowout.

The Knights (2-4) are still alive for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division but just barely. At this point, they would need to win their final two games against Heart Butte and Valier, while at the same time getting at least two losses from both Sunburst and Geraldine-Highwood before the end of the season.

North Star will pay a visit to Heart Butte Wednesday night in a must-win game.

DGS 8 13 8 13 — 42

North Star 0 0 7 0 — 7

DGS—Conner Bokma 16 run (Tyler lee kick)

DGS—Kade Woodhall 37 run (PAT failed)

DGS—Bokma 13 pass from K. Woodhall (Lee run)

NS—Gavin Spinler 21 run (Payton Peterson run)

DGS—K. Woodhall 5 run (Lee kick)

DGS—Rhet Woodhall 5 run (PAT failed)

DGS—Bokma 4 run (Keaton Prtsman pass from K. Woodhall)

Sunburst 61, Big Sandy 13

In other action from the Six-Man North Division, the Big Sandy Pioneers hosted Sunburst Friday night and with their own playoff hopes hanging by a thread, Big Sandy was eliminated from the playoff race thanks to a 61-13 beat down at the hands of Sunburst.

Sunburst jumped out to a 26-0 lead before the Pioneers got a pair of touchdowns from Josh Solf and Lawrence Alderdice in the second quarter to keep the game competitive. At the half, Sunburst led 32-13. But the Miners outscored the Pioneers 29-0 in the second half to come away with an impressive 48-point victory.

Big Sandy (2-5) has been eliminated from playoff contention and has just one regular-season game remaining. That game will come Oct. 23 when the Pioneers will travel to Geraldine/Highwood to close out the 2015 season.

Sunburst 6 26 22 7 — 61

Big Sandy 0 13 0 0 — 13

SB—Jackson Nagy 11 pass from Paul Ehlers (kick blocked)

SB—Nagy pass from Ehlers (kick failed)

SB—Treyton Pickering 34 pass from Ehlers (Jordan Williams pass from Ehlers)

SB—Nagy 18 pass from Ehlers (Williams pass from Ehlers)

BS—Josh Solf 35 run (kick failed)

SB—Nagy 10 pass from Ehlers (kick failed)

BS—Lawrence Alderdice 31 pass from Zachary Works (Jordan Schwarzbach pass from Works)

SB—Pickering 26 pass from Nagy (Christian Bloch run)

SB—Safety, Williams tackled ball carrier in end zone

SB—Nagy 58 kick return (PAT good)

SB—Michael Buckley 38 run (run failed)

SB—Cody Smith 11 run (Smith run)

Glasgow 35, Harlem 0

Elsewhere along the Hi-Line on Friday night, the Harlem Wildcats, fresh off their first win of the season, paid a visit to the Glasgow Scotties in Class B 11-man action.

Unfortunately for Harlem, the Scotties simply proved to be too much for the Wildcats and scored 35 first-half points to put the game out of reach. The Wildcats (1-5) will travel to Malta on Friday night to take on the Mustangs. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.

Harlem 0 0 0 0 — 0

Glasgow 20 15 0 0 — 35

Glasgow—Lane Nickels 32 yard interception return ( Cache Younkin Kick)

Glasgow—Trent Herbert 1 yard run (Kick Failed)

Glasgow—Benji Phillips 8 yard run (Younkin Kick)

Glasgow—Ethan Etchart 4 yard pass from Herbert (Kick Failed)

Glasgow—Safety

Glasgow—Phillips 36 yard pass from Herbert (Younkin Kick)

Fairview 62, HLP 24

The Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds traveled to Fairview last Friday night in Eastern C 8-Man action and lost for the sixth time this season against a talented Fairview squad by the score of 62-26.

The T-Birds are still looking to end their losing streak and will try again Saturday when they will host Circle at 1 p.m.