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Football Roundup: Bridwell, Wildcats Wallop Stevensville

Glacier defeats Bozeman with late TD; Bigfork holds off Ronan

By Dillon Tabish
Columbia Falls coach Jaxon Schweikert talks to his team during practice. Beacon File Photo

Columbia Falls 70, Stevensville 21

Dakota Bridwell passed for seven touchdowns and Braxton Reiten notched five scores as the high-powered Wildcats rolled over Stevensville.

Bridwell matched his Class A record for touchdowns in a game while connecting on 22 of 31 passes for 382 yards. Reiten finished with five catches for 109 yards and four TDs along with a kickoff return touchdown. Bryce Fagerland had two catches for 69 yards and a pair of scores and Trevor Hoerner had four catches for 90 yards and one TD. Wyatt Green rushed nine times for 61 yards and a TD. Brandon Karberg went 10-for-10 on extra points.

All together, Columbia Falls piled up 509 yards of offense while holding Stevensville to 250 yards.

The Wildcats (2-0) hit the road to play Hamilton (1-1) on Friday.

Glacier 49, Bozeman 45

Quarterback Tadan Gilman connected with Scout Willcut on an 8-yard game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds remaining as the Wolfpack defeated the defending state champs in exciting fashion on the road.

Glacier trailed Bozeman 39-20 late in the third quarter when Gilman led the comeback. Gilman connected on a 25-yard TD pass to Jackson Pepe with 1:16 left in the third. The two-point conversion was good and Gilman continued his passing prowess in the fourth, finding Patrick O’Connell for a pair of TDs and then Wilcutt for the win.

Drew Turner rushed for 218 yards and three touchdowns for Glacier, which tallied 583 yards of offense. Gilman added 120 yards on 14 rushes. Sam Barber had 14 tackles for the Pack and Willcut had an interception.

Glacier (2-0) hosts its home opener against Helena Capital (0-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday at Legends Stadium.

Bigfork 44, Ronan 30

Matt Farrier combined for three touchdowns and the Vikings improved to 2-0 with a strong win over Ronan.

Farrier swapped into the quarterback role and connected on a 20-yard TD pass to Anders Epperly in the second quarter. Farrier added an 84-yard kickoff return TD and a 5-yard rushing TD to lead the Vikes. Randy Stultze returned a fumble for a touchdown in the first quarter and Austin Varner caught another pair of TDs from quarterback Augie Emslie.

Bigfork (2-0) hosts Conrad (1-0) on Friday at 7 p.m.

Polson 24, Hamilton 10

Tanner Wilson passed for four touchdowns as the Pirates defeated the Broncs in their season opener.

Wilson connected with Matthew Rensvold on a pair of TD strikes, including a 33-yarder in the first quarter. Cadis CHowning caught a 52-yard TD pass and Hayden Smith added a 13-yard scoring reception.

Polson (1-0) hosts Corvallis (1-1) on Friday night at 7 p.m. Corvallis defeated Frenchtown 29-28 last week.

Dillon 47, Whitefish 0

In a rematch of last year’s Class A state title game, the Beavers came out on top, blanking the Bulldogs in a big way.

Dillon used a well-balanced attack to cruise past Whitefish while the defense limited Bulldogs quarterback Derek Kastella to 29 yards passing with two interceptions. Spencer Moore rushed three times for 28 yards to lead Whitefish’s run game while Sawyer Silliker had 33 yards receiving.

Graden Greenslade led Dillon with 120 yards rushing on seven carries and two touchdowns while quarterback Troy Anderson rushed for 85 yards and passed for another 52.

Whitefish (0-2) hosts Browning (0-2) on Friday at 7 p.m.

Helena 47, Flathead 14

Ryan Arnston erupted for six touchdowns as the Bengals rolled past the Braves in Legends Stadium.

Arnston tallied 152 yards rushing on 21 carries and another 47 yards receiving. Helena piled up 423 yards of total offense while limited Flathead to 182 yards and only seven first downs.

Blake Counts scored both of the Braves touchdowns on the ground. Quarterback Bridger Johnson was 9-of-16 for 168 yards and an interception. James Flannigan had five catches for 118 yards and Seth Adolph caught four passes for 50 yards. Eric Reyna rushed three times for 22 yards.

Flathead (0-2) travels to Great Falls (1-1) on Friday. Braves head coach Kyle Samson will be squaring off against his father, Mark, who is in his first year as head coach of the Bison.