Let’s talk some local football.

Let’s run it back and get updated on what happened here in our Southwest Montana football world this past weekend. It was relatively quiet here in Butte, but a busy weekend throughout the treasure state.

Both Butte High and Butte Central’s football teams were on the road this past Friday. Butte Central boarded the bus for the first time this season as they rolled north to Whitefish. Butte High school was off to Vigilante field in Helena to take on Helena High school, the Bulldogs and the Bengals have had some outstanding games over the past couple of years, and this year was no exception. The common thread for both of our Butte teams this weekend seemed to be they both dug themselves out of holes.

The Maroons were down by 21 in the first half and fought back to make it a game, which on the road is never an easy task. The Maroons were within a score for the bulk of the second half but just couldn’t get make up the difference as the Bulldogs of Whitefish got the win over the Maroons 34-20. Whitefish goes to 2-1 with the win, the Maroons go to 1-2.

Butte High School had 5 turnovers and still had a shot at Helena High. If you have 5 turnovers in a game we should be talking about a running clock NOT about scoring after an onside kick! The Dogs proved you can never count them out, ever. For Butte High- Jace Stenson throws for 338 yards on 29 completions, with 4 TD’s and 4 Interceptions. Helena High goes to 2-1, (1-0 in Western AA)  with the win, the Bulldogs sit at 1-2, 0-1 in Western AA.

The other AA Games this week:

CMR rolls Belgrade 63-3

Capital takes down Flathead 51-14.

Bozeman with a big win over Great Falls High 24-14

Billings West gets their first win of the year- 16-15 over Gallatin

Glacier continues to roll, 55-14 over Big Sky

Missoula Sentinel with their 24^th straight win, 45-0 over Hellgate.

Billings Senior shuts out Skyview 30-0

Class A of note:

Dillon powers through Corvallis 45-6.

Hamilton with a nice win over Frenchtown 27-20.

Other Southwest Montana Games:

Jefferson takes down Whitehall  42-7

Cascade over Deer Lodge 52-14.

Ennis shuts out Sheridan  52-0.

Flint Creek stays undefeated taking down Lone Peak 50-19

Hot Springs with the win over Twin Bridges  40-6

Let’s talk College ball for a minute.

If I don’t start with Tommy Mellott I’ll lose my ‘Butte Card’, so let’s talk Tommy. The Cats rolled Morehead State 63-13. I spotted a quote on Twitter (the place we all go for the truth) that said Morehead wouldn’t finish over .500 in the Frontier conference… and I would probably agree. BUT THAT SAID.. Tommy had himself a football game. He was 27 or 41 (65%) passing for 441 yards and 4 touchdowns! He also wracked up 91 yards rushing on 21 attempts. All the kid does is win. Period.

Speaking of winning, The Griz rolled to a nice win on Saturday as well as they took down South Dakota 24-7. This University of Montana defense is a thing of beauty, truly. Seeing Anaconda powerhouse Braxton Hill stepping up and dominating is pretty damn fantastic to see.

Frontier Football

The Frontier Conference had a scheduled bye week that teams could fill with a game if they chose to do so. The only 2 teams that grabbed games were UM Western, and Eastern Oregon. Eastern had a late addition of Whitworth University, (Whitworth was originally scheduled to take on Montana Tech and pulled out of the game, and scheduled EOU) Whitworth had 4 takeaways in the game (1 Int, and 3 fumble recoveries) and rolled to a 33-7 win over the Mounties.

The Bulldogs of UM Western hosted Dickinson State in a home and away series with the Blue Hawks. Last year the Bulldogs got the win in Dickinson 42-30. This year in Dillon the Dogs take the W again with a 35-14 win. The Bulldogs led 21-14 at the half, and then slapped up 2 more touchdowns in the second half to run their record to 2-1 on the year. Both teams were nationally ranked coming into the ballgame, Western at 17, and Dickinson at 16^th nationally. From 2012 (the year they joined the conference, leaving after 2013) until this year, the Blue Hawks are 3-30 against Frontier Conference Schools.