The football season came to cold conclusions in Whitefish and Bigfork on Saturday.
Kyle Harrington ran for 238 yards and three touchdowns to lead Butte Central past Whitefish 37-13 in the Class A semifinals at Memorial Stadium, eliminating the Bulldogs one game shy of the championship contest.
The Maroons (10-1) will host Dillon (9-2) next Saturday in the Class A finale. Dillon edged Billings Central 21-19 in the other Class A semifinal on Saturday.
The Bulldogs, appearing in their first semifinal game since 2002, scored on the first play of the game — a 72-yard TD catch by Jack Streibich — but the offense froze up after that. Quarterback Luke May finished 14-for-40 for 170 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Jed Nagler caught a TD just before halftime.
Nagler’s TD appeared to be the final play before half, but then the Bulldogs attempted an onside kick and the Maroons returned it for a score in the final seconds to grab a 28-13 lead and the defense went on to hold Whitefish scoreless in the final two quarters.
“It’s a huge stepping stone for all of our guys. They took a lot of pride in winning the conference first. We hadn’t won the conference in a long time,” Whitefish head coach Chad Ross said.
In the Class B semifinals, undefeated Huntley Project snapped Bigfork’s nine-game win streak, eliminating the Vikings 27-6.
Tucker Hould scored two touchdowns and Huntley Project had 352 yards of offense, while the defense contained Bigfork to 131 yards.
Quarterback Josh Sandry scored the lone TD for the Vikes, running 63 yards in the fourth.
Huntley Project (12-0) will take on Townsend (10-2) for the Class B championship next weekend. Townsend defeated Conrad 46-14 in the other semifinal game on Saturday.
The Vikings (9-2) were in the semifinals for the third time since 2010, when Bigfork won its first state championship.