The high school football regular season is quickly approaching its conclusion, and every local teams is in the running for the postseason.
Here’s a quick roundup of week seven action:
Flathead 38, Butte 10
The state’s leading rusher, Flathead senior Josh McCracken, kept up his torrential pace on Friday night inside Legends Stadium, rushing for four touchdowns to lead the Braves to a momentous homecoming victory over Butte.
McCracken finished with 152 yards on 17 carries. He has 943 yards this season. With three games remaining in the regular season, he is in the chase for a school record for rushing yards in a season. Lex Hilliard, who is an assistant coach at Flathead, rushed for 1,384 yards as a sophomore in 2000. McCracken also ranks first in the state for rushing TDs with 12.
As has been the story all season, Flathead benefited from more than McCracken’s skills on Friday. Keaton Krantz put the Braves on the board with a 25-yard interception return in the first quarter. The Braves added a safety in the second quarterback before McCracken stormed to four scores.
Flathead quarterback Bridger Johnson was 11 for 19 with 165 yards passing.
The Braves (5-2) host Helena Capital (5-2) on Friday. Flathead is one of four teams at 5-2, alongside Capital, Glacier and Helena. Bozeman dealt Billings Senior its first loss of the season on Friday and both squads are now 6-1 atop the Class AA standings.
Glacier 28, Great Falls CMR 15
Quarterback Leif Ericksen passed for a touchdown and rushed for another as the Wolfpack won their fourth game in a row.
Ericksen connected with Thomas Trefney on a 63-yard touchdown in the third quarter to break a 7-7 score. Trefney added another TD, a 1-yard run, in the third quarter to give Glacier a 21-9 lead. The senior back finished with 122 yards off 26 carries. He ranks second in the state for rushing with 838 yards. He’s also second in touchdowns with 11, one behind Flathead’s McCracken. Ericksen added an insurance TD, a 15-yard run, in the fourth. He finished 14 for 25 with 203 yards passing.
Patrick O’Connell scored a 2-yard TD in the first for Glacier.
The Wolfpack (5-2) travel to Butte (1-6) on Friday before returning to Kalispell for a pivotal crosstown matchup with Flathead on Oct. 23.
Whitefish 47, Columbia Falls 7
Senior Luke May passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more as the Bulldogs stormed past the Wildcats.
May was 17 of 25 for 189 yards passing. He connected with Tyler Cote on two TDs and found Jed Nagler for another score. Cote added a third score, running 68 yards for a fourth-quarter TD.
Whitefish erupted for 34 points in the second quarter and led 37-0 at halftime.
Chris Park rushed for 118 yards on only eight carries for Whitefish. Haley Nicholson hit a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter.
Bryce Fagerland scored Columbia Falls’ lone touchdown, a 68-yard interception return in the fourth.
Whitefish (6-1 overall, 2-0 in conference) hosts Frenchtown (3-4, 0-1) in Northwestern A action on Friday night. The Bulldogs wrap up the regular season at home against Hamilton on Oct. 23.
Columbia Falls (2-3, 0-1) hosts Polson (3-3, 1-1) in conference action before traveling to Frenchtown to finish the regular season on Oct. 23.
Bigfork 56, Libby 0
Jonathan Landon combined for three touchdowns and Matt Farrier added a pair as Bigfork routed Libby in a Western 7B matchup.
Landon passed to Adam Jordt for a 37-yard TD and Matt Farrier ripped off a 51-yard scoring run as Bigfork jumped ahead 28-0 in the opening quarter. Landon also caught a 19-yard TD pass from Augie Emslie.
Jordt returned a punt 65 yards for a score and Landon returned a fumble recovery 36 yards for the TD. Farrier added a 6-yard scoring run.
Randy Stultz and Gabriel Broughton capped Bigfork’s scoring with TD runs of 72 yards and 3 yards, respectively.
Bigfork (3-3, 1-1) hosts Eureka (3-4, 2-1) in Western 7B action on Friday. The Vikes wrap up the regular season at home against Troy on Oct. 23.
Libby (0-5, 0-3) travels to Choteau on Friday.
Polson 28, Butte Central 14
Matthew Rensvold scored a pair of touchdowns and the Pirates took down the Maroons.
Rensvold caught a 32 yard pass from Tanner Wilson and scored in the opening quarter. He added a 2-yard TD run in the third quarter to give Polson a 20-6 lead. Wilson added an insurance score in the fourth, a 62-yard run.
Colton Cole scored Polson’s other TD, a 1-yard run in the first quarter.
Polson (3-3, 1-1) travels to Columbia Falls (2-3, 0-1) on Friday.
Eureka 48, Troy 16
Austyn Sherwood passed for five touchdowns to lead the Lions past the Trojans in Western 7B action.
Sherwood connected with Jacob Nowakowski for two TDs and also found James Dunn, Brenton Pluid and Bryant Little for scores. Pluid also rushed in a score, as well as Garrett Graves.
Sean Opland scored both of Troy’s TDs on the ground.
Eureka (3-4, 2-1) travels to Bigfork (3-3, 1-1) for a conference matchup.
Troy (1-5, 1-1) hosts Thompson Falls (4-3, 2-0) on Friday in a conference showdown.