Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
The long wait for the return of high school football along the Hi-Line came to an end this weekend, as teams from all along the hi-line took the field for their respective season-openers. Chinook looked to erase the memories of a winless season when the Beeters traveled to Sunburst on Friday night in search of a seasonopening win. Unfortunately, Sunburst had other plans in mind, routing the Beeters by the score of 48-15. Sunburst jumped out to a 20-0 lead, following back-to-back touchdown runs. Then Sunburst blew the game wide open, when Shane Turner recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to put the Refiners ahead 27-0 at halftime. The Beeters got on the board in the second half when Max Hofeldt returned a kick 60 yards for a touchdown. Greg Qualls also caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Reed, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Refiners, who got a total of four rushing touchdowns from Clark. Clark also totaled 147 rushing yards to go along with his four touchdowns in the win for the Refiners. Chinook (0-1) will now prepare to host defending Class C state champion Centerville on Friday night. The Big Sandy Pioneers got stuck with the unpleasant task of welcoming the Simms Tigers back to Class C football on Friday night in Simms. And all the Tigers did in their first game as members of the Northern C conference, was demolish the Pioneers by the score of 20-8. Big Sandy struck first, taking an 8-0 lead, but the Tigers answered quickly with a 47-yard touchdown run by Willie Vandenboss to trim the lead to 8-6. Simms then took its first lead of the game in the second quarter when John Curtis connected with Ryan Leonard on a 10-yard touchdown pass, making the score 14-6. Then in the third quarter, the Tigers got some help from their special teams returning a blocked kick for a touchdown to seal the win. Big Sandy (0-1) will visit C/J-I on Friday night. In a Northern C conference game, the Chester/J-I Hawks welcomed conference foe Hays-Lodge Pole to Chester Friday night to officially open the new season. But it appeared that the Hawks were already in midseason form, cruising to an easy 52-6 defeat of the Thunderbirds. The Hawks jumped out to a 36-6 halftime lead behind the stellar play of quarterback Tyler Han, receiver Callan McKinley and running back Zack Melton. Han accounted for four touchdowns, connecting on touchdown passes to McKinley and Sean Dailey, as well as running for a pair of scores. Han also racked up 300 yards of total offense, with 157 through the air and another 143 on the ground. Melton added two rushing touchdowns for the Hawks in the win. The only score for the T-Birds came in the second quarter when Josh Blackelk scampered 55 yards for a score. The Hawks (1-0) will have another big Northern C game on Friday night when they host Big Sandy. Meanwhile, HLP (0-1) will host Sunburst on Saturday. Rocky Boy’s losing streak since entering Class C football was extended to 17 games on Friday night in Power, after Power-Dutton-Brady crushed the Northern Stars by the score of 48-18. Chad Sievers led the explosive Titan offense with 193 rushing yards to go along with three touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving. Rocky Boy got on the board in the second quarter, following a 13-yard touchdown pass from Cliff Singer to Rodney Turntoes, making the halftime score 24-6. However, the Titans scored three more times in the second half to push the lead to 48-6. Lindsey Eagleman added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, stemming from a 74-yard kickoff return and a 56-yard fumble return to make the final score 48-18. Rocky Boy (0-1) will go on the road to face Simms on Friday night. After starting last season 3-0, the Harlem Wildcats were looking for a repeat performance to open the 2007 season, but as it turned out the Malta Mustangs had a much different idea. The defending Class B state champion Mustangs dominated Harlem from start to finish in the season-opener for both teams Saturday in Malta. Chance Demarais had an incredible five rushing touchdowns in the first half, scoring on runs of 32, 7, 20, 6 and 59 to lead the Mustangs to victory. Demarais finished the game with 149 yards on just seven carries. Malta Quarterback Kazz Siewing also got into the act with a 41-yard touchdown run, as did Jesse Young, who scored on a four-yard touchdown run. The only bright spot for the Wildcats was the play of quarterback Rick Haluszka, who completed 13-of-22 passes for 161 yards in the loss. Harlem (0-1) will look to rebound when the Wildcats host Fort Benton on Friday night. Saturday afternoon saw the North Star Knights make a triumphent return to Six-Man football. Adam Chvilicek had a phenomonal game, and got the Knights off to a roaring start, returning the game’s opening kickoff 55 yards for a score, as the Knights thumped the Geyser Wranglers 46-6. Chvilicek scored four touchdowns on the day, including runs of one and 46 yards. He also caught one of quarterback Zack Halter’s two TD passes. Halter also connected with Zack Rambo in the third quarter, and Josh Beaudry added to the scoring, reaching paydirt on an 18-yard run and scoring on an interception return for a touchdown. The Knights (1-0) will host Box Elder (1-0) on Saturday in Rudyard.
