By George Ferguson/Havre Daily News Sports/gferguson@havredailynews.com
Week number two of high school football is now in the books. In Hi-Line action this week, the Chester Coyotes picked up a very important Northern C win over Centerville on Friday night. On Saturday, the J-I Rams also picked up their first win of the season while other area schools struggled against elite opponents.
On Friday night, the Poplar Indians spoiled the Harlem Wildcats home opener. The two former conference rivals met for the first time as a nonconference game with the Indians edging the Wildcats, 22-12.
Poplar shut out the Wildcats for the first three quarters, taking a 22-0 lead into the fourth period. Harlem started to mount a comeback when Craig Adams scored from seven yards out early in the fourth quarter. Monty Snow Jr. also threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Bigby to draw Harlem to within 10 points, 22-12.
But the Wildcats fourth quarter comeback ended there. The loss dropped Harlem to 1-1 on the season.
Harlem will resume play on Friday night when it travels to Broadus.
The Chester Coyotes' season is off to a very strong start. Less than a week after knocking off defending Northern C champion Big Sandy on the road, Chester opened their home portion of its schedule with a hard-fought 28-24 win over the Centerville Miners.
The Miners shut the Coyotes out in the first half, 12-0, and led 18-6 heading into the fourth quarter. But the Coyotes stormed back in the fourth period behind two TD runs from Matt Wicks and a 22-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Kevin May to Zach Ramberg. Patrick Wicks paced the Coyotes on the ground as he carried the ball 30 times for 163 yards.
Chester (2-0) will continue its difficult opening stretch of games with a visit to conference favorite Belt Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the growing pains of a rebuilding season continued for the Big Sandy Pioneers on Friday night as they fell 44-20 to the Belt Huskies in Big Sandy.
The two teams played to a 14-14 tie after the first quarter. Big Sandy's first score came when quarterback Lawrence Jappe hit Kyle Danreuther on a 13-yard touchdown pass. Jappe then tied the game on a 52-yard TD run later in the quarter.
Despite the first quarter stalemate, the Pioneers had no answer for Belt quarterback Trevor Daer. Daer scored twice in the first quarter and he accounted for six TD"s overall. The Huskies outscored the Pioneers 30-6 after the first quarter.
The loss to Belt drops the Pioneers record to 0-2 on the season. They will be back on the road to face the Heart Butte Warriors on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon in Northern Six-Man action, the J-I Rams rebounded from a season-opening loss at Rocky Boy by edging past the Brockton Warriors, 38-36.
The Rams had to come from behind twice in the game and went ahead for good when Craig Miller accounted for his sixth score of the day finding Riley Smith for a 15-yard TD pass. In all, Miller had three TD passes to Smith and also caught one pass from Smith for a score. Miller also found the endzone on a 14-yard run and a 30-yard interception return.
J-I is now 1-1 and will travel to the Geyser Wranglers on Saturday.
The Rocky Boy Stars jumped out to an 27-6 lead at home on Saturday against the heavily favored Geyser Wranglers, only to see the lead evaporate in the third quarter in a 60-33 loss.
Leading 27-23 at the half, the Stars surrendered 37 unanswered points in the second half. Colton Montes sparked the Stars scoring on runs of 35 and 12 yards. He also returned a kickoff 71 yards for a touchdown.
The Stars (1-1) will travel to Highwood on Saturday.
In Box Elder, the host Bears gave up 41 first-half points to defending state champion Geraldine in a 54-30 loss.
The Tigers raced out to a 27-6 lead and tacked on 14 more points in the second to build a 41-12 halftime lead. Box Elder tried to mount a comeback in the second half, scoring on three straight possessions in the third quarter. But it was too little, too late, as the Tigers held the Bears scoreless in the fourth quarter.
The loss to Geraldine dropped Box Elder's record to 0-2 on the season. The Bears will host the Lambert Lions on Saturday.
Both the KG/Blue Sky Eagles and Hays Lodge Pole Thunderbirds also dropped conference games on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles (1-1) fell 53-0 at Highwood and will host Geraldine on Saturday. The T-Birds were routed by Hobson-Moore-Judith Gap 30-7. Hays-Lodge Pole (0-2) will host Valier on Friday night.
