Hi-Line Football: Pioneers win Six-Man North title; Beeters, Horns roll

Kade Strutz started and finished a fourth straight Six-Man North conference championship for the Big Sandy Pioneers. Friday night in Big Sandy, the top-ranked Pioneers faced their biggest challenge of the season when they hosted fifth-ranked Power-Dutton-Brady.

Yet, in their regular season finale, the Pioneers proved too tough as they turned away the Titans 46-29.

The night started with a 45-yard TD run by Strutz, but the Titans were hanging tough at 12-8. However, the Pioneers got a couple touchdowns from Parker Proulx to take a 24-8 lead into halftime, and while the Titans closed the gap late, Strutz ripped off a 39-yard run in the fourth quarter to seal the win, and another perfect regular season for the Pioneers, who are now 6-0, and will await the Six-Man playoffs later this month.

Strutz rushed for 201 yards and Proulx added 100 more on the ground for the Pioneers.

PDB 8 0 6 15 - 29

Big Sandy 12 12 0 22 - 46

BS - Kade Strutz 45 run

PDB - Lehnerz 58 pass from Wildham

BS - Proulx 43 run

BS - Strutz 27 run

BS - Kody Strutz 28 pass from Proulx

PDB - Lehnerz 6 ein

BS - K. Strutz 1 run

PDB - Erickson 10 run

PDB Feldman 3 pass Wildham

BS - K. Strutz 39 run

Fort Benton 37, Simms 18

Like Big Sandy in Six-Man, the Fort Benton Longhorns needed to get over this biggest test of the season to wrap up the Northern C title Friday night.

And while the Simms Tigers gave the Longhorns all they could handle, it wasn't enough as the top-ranked Longhorns moved to 6-0 with a 38-18 win at home.

The game was tight in the first half as Hayden Diekhans scored on a 56-yard run, but the Horns led just 8-6 at halftime. In Simms kept things close in the third quarter, too. But, a Billy Ullery kickoff return for a touchdown, and back-to-back scores by Jace Thompson helped the Longhorns pull away in the fourth stanza, and secure the No. 1 seed in the Northern C for the second straight season.

Simms 0 6 6 6 - 19

Fort Benton 8 0 16 14 - 38

FB - Diekhans 56 run

SIM - Leach 13 run

FB - Hayden Axtman 1 run

SIM - Hinderageer 32 pass from Links

Ullery - 75 kickoff return

SIM - McDowell 20 pass from Links

FB - Jace Thompson 19 run

FB - Thompson 11 run

Chinook 60, Choteau 28

In another huge Northern C game Friday night, the Chinook Sugarbeeters honored their seniors by not only bashing the Choteau Bulldogs, but also keeping their playoff hopes intact.

Chinook took care of the Bulldogs 60-28 last Friday night at Noon Field, setting up a seeding game Friday night.

The Sugarbeeters got three touchdown passes by Benton Elliot, while the Chinook ground game was equally as good. The Beeters also used a big first half, leading the Bulldogs 46-14 at halftime, to improve to 4-2 on the season. Elliot finished the night with 161 yards through the air, while the Beeters rushed for 216 yards on the ground.

Belt 58, CJI 20

The tough season for the Chester-Joplin-Inverness Hawks continued Friday night as CJI fell to the Belt Huskies 58-20. The game was not originally scheduled, but Belt reached out to the Hawks after the Huskies' game with Rocky Boy on Monday was canceled. That game was the second time the meeting between the Huskies and Stars had to be canceled.

CJI fell to 1-4 on the season, and will wrap up the season this weekend.

More games called due to COVID-19

This past week also saw four more games called off due to COVID-19. North Star's Six-Man game against Heart Butte was canceled, bringing the Knights regular season to an end. Box Elder's home finale with Sunburst was also canceled. Harlem's Northern B game against Fairfield was canceled, as was Rocky Boy and HLP games.