Playoff football on the Hi-Line

While a majority of the teams playing high school football in Montana saw their seasons conclude last week, for a select group of teams, including Big Sandy and Chinook, the second season starts this weekend, as playoffs begin for every classification but Class AA.

Both Big Sandy and Chinook will open the postseason Saturday, however, they will do it on opposite ends of the state. Big Sandy, the second seed from the Six-Man North Division in Class C, will host White Sulphur Springs, the third seed from the West. Chinook, on the other hand, which is the fifth-playoff team out of the Northern C in 8-Man football, will travel to Fairview, the third-ranked team in the state and the Eastern C champion. Both games will kick off at 1 p.m.

"It's going to be exciting," Big Sandy head coach Chuck Terry said. "I think we will have a lot of people there. The community has been great supporting us all season and we should have another good crowd. We are trying to change the culture and this is all part of that."

The Pioneers come into the playoffs with 10 guys on their roster, but in their starting six, there are five juniors and just one sophomore. That sophomore is running back Kade Strutz, who also starts on defense. Yet what Strutz is more known for is his ability to run the football. This season, in seven games, he rushed for 1,600 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also knows a thing or two about playoff football, as he rushed for more than 300 yards and six touchdowns in a first-round win last year in Big Sandy over Richey-Lambert.

"We like to play power football," Terry said. "We want to run the ball and wear people down. But one thing about that and having a lot of size, we don't have a lot of speed, so we have to find a way to get stops."

Big Sandy has scored 63 points or more in four straight games, but the Pioneers are also facing a team that is scoring 42 points per game. Slowing down the Hornets will be key, yet as long as Big Sandy can run the ball like it has been, averaging more than 300 yards per game, it should have a good shot at emerging victorious.

"They run the ball well," Terry said. "Their linebackers move pretty well but if we just do our thing and take care of our assignments, we will be fine."

Big Sandy is heading into Saturday's game as a favorite and possibly even as a darkhorse in the Six-Man playoffs. Chinook, on the other hand, will arrive in Fairview as a massive underdog against the third-ranked Warriors. The Beeters, who are led by quarterback Trajan Hannum and running back Sam Dumas, will have their hands full with a Fairview team that is 9-0 and beat its opponents by an average of 40 points per game. Only one team, Circle managed to lose by fewer than 30 points and that came in a season-opening loss by the score of 40-28.

Alex Schriver, who plays quarterback for the Warriors is one name to watch. Another is wide receiver Carson Cayko. On the ground, Fairview has a couple of options led by Cody Asberg, who had touchdown runs of 77 and 79 yards last week.

Fairview has been a consistent playoff contender over the past few seasons and made it to the quarterfinals of the 8-Man playoffs a season ago, beating Great Falls Central before losing to Drummond. Following Chinook's 12-8 win over Chester-Joplin-Inverness, the Sugarbeeters, who are 5-4, will be back in the playoffs for the first time since winning the state championship in 2015.

Chinook and Fairview will also be meeting for the first time in the playoffs since the Beeters won back-to-back semifinal games over Fairview in 2014 and 2015. Kickoff for that game Saturday will be at 1 p.m. Big Sandy will host White Sulphur Springs at the same time.