Bigfork High School wiped out a second-half deficit to knock off Manhattan 27-14 on Aug. 24 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium while Flathead High School got its highly anticipated campaign off to a strong start with a 42-21 road win at Butte as the high school football season began last week throughout the state.
The Vikings (1-0) trailed 14-13 in the third quarter before Randy Stultz ran three yards to the end zone and put Bigfork ahead 19-14. Logan Taylor sealed the win with a 17-yard interception return in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Anders Epperly threw for a touchdown and ran for another in his first start at the position.
Meanwhile in Butte, Jaden MacNeil’s debut as the Braves quarterback was a successful one as he led Flathead (1-0) to a comfortable season-opening win. Blake Counts scored a pair of touchdowns on screen passes and had a monster game overall, running for 247 yards on just 24 carries and accounting for more than 300 yards of total offense. MacNeil finished 13-for-22 for 142 yards passing and added 125 more on the ground. Anthony Jones caught five passes for 43 yards.
Glacier’s season also started Friday night, on the road against the two-time defending state champions, and the Wolfpack (0-1) had Billings Senior on the ropes after a Preston Blain 1-yard touchdown run with under a minute to go put Glacier ahead 26-21. But the Broncs answered swiftly and tallied the winning score with a 32-yard strike from Matt Plasterer to Oran Nash-Bergen in the waning seconds. Senior has now won 27 games in a row.
Whitefish (0-1) also came up short in week one, falling to defending state runner-up Hamilton on the road, 36-10. Carver Gilman caught a 51-yard touchdown pass from Mark Anderson and kicked a 36-yard field goal in a losing effort.
Columbia Falls, the defending Class A state champion, was idle.