Box Elder knocks off fifth-ranked Augusta, Big Sandy still rolling

With the regular season winding down, several Hi-Line football teams picked up key wins this past weekend. The Box Elder Bears kept their playoff hopes alive with a stunning 44-42 upset over the fifth-ranked Augusta Elks.

The Big Sandy Pioneers had little trouble dispatching with Centerville, 66-15, while Chinook picked up its second win of the season over Poplar 18-0.

The Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds picked up their first win of the season over the Sunburst Refiners.

Because of Montana Education Association meetings, the Northern C Division and Northern six-man division will be playing all of their games today.

Box Elder 44 Augusta 42

The Box Elder Bears rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to knock off the No. 5 Augusta Elks Saturday afternoon in Box Elder and keep their Northern Six-Man playoff hopes alive.

After outscoring the Bears 20-12 in the second quarter, the Elks held a 34-22 lead at intermission. However, the Bears rallied to outscore Augusta 20-6 in the second half to pick up the 44-42 win.

Box Elder got three rushing touchdowns from tailback James Burns, including a 2-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that proved to be the game winner. Neal Rosette and Tyler Henry combined to throw three touchdown passes and Dane Healy also caught two TDs.

Box Elder (4-3) will host rival J-I today for a pivotal Northern six-man division showdown.

Chinook 18 Poplar 0

The Chinook Sugarbeeters have had trouble putting points on the board this season. But Friday night the shoe was on the other foot as the Beeters shutout the Poplar Indians 18-0 in District 2B action in Poplar.

The Beeters scored all 18 of their points in the first half, including a 12-point first quarter. Kelan Broadhead gave the Beeters all the offense they would need, scoring three times, all on the ground.

Broadhead opened the scoring for Chinook by breaking off a 34-yard TD run in the first quarter. Later in the period, Broadhead found the end zone again - this time from six yards out. Broadhead's second TD gave Chinook a 12-0 lead. He would tack on the game's final score when he scored from eight yards out in the second quarter.

Chinook is now 2-5 on the season and 2-3 in District 2B play. The Beeters will wrap up the regular season on Saturday night when they host the Malta Mustangs for senior night.

Big Sandy 66, Centerville 15

The No. 2 ranked Big Sandy Pioneers took one more step toward clinching a share of the Northern C regular season championship on Saturday afternoon by hammering the Centerville Miners 66-15 in Centerville.

Senior quarterback Gage Brumwell stole the show on Saturday as he was part of seven touchdowns as the Pioneers rode a 30-point first quarter outburst to the easy victory.

Brumwell's day began with a 29-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that gave the Pioneers a 7-0 lead. Later in the quarter Brumwell hit senior end Mason Ophus for his only TD pass. Then Brumwell took the contest over scoring five more rushing TDs. In all he scored on runs of 60, 19, 70, 19 and 15 yards.

The Pioneers also got another solid rushing day from tailback Skylar Pearson. Pearson scored on a six-yard run in the first period and Paul Reishus capped the game off by returning and intercepted Hunter Kerkes pass 50 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Big Sandy (7-0) will finish regular season play this afternoon when they host the Valier Panthers.

Hays-Lodge Pole 54, Sunburst 52

With just seconds left in the game, Lance Brockie stopped the Sunburst Refiners on a two-point conversion play to seal the first victory of the season for the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds Saturday afternoon in Hays as the T-Birds outlasted Sunburst 54-52 in Northern C action.

Trailing 38-6 in the third quarter, the Refiners scored 46 points in the game's final 24 minutes, including 28 in the fourth quarter. Late in the period Brockie threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dwight Flansburg to put the T-Birds ahead by 8 points. Sunburst answered on a 23-yard TD run to pull the Refiners to within two points before the attempted two-point conversion failed.

In all, Brockie threw three TD passes, including two to Flansburg. He also ran for a touchdown.

Hays-Lodge Pole (1-6) will finish regular season play on this afternoon when they host the top-ranked Belt Huskies.

Belt 46, KG/Blue Sky 21

The top-ranked Belt Huskies limited the Blue Sky/KG Eagles to just one touchdown in each of the first three quarters en route to a 46-21 win on Saturday afternoon in Belt.

The Huskies scored 22 points in the first quarter, while the Eagles were held to just seven points, which came off of a 30-yard touchdown run by Kaare Engebretson.

The Huskies added 12 more points in the second quarter and the Eagles answered only once on a three-yard run by quarterback Jeremiah Moog. The Eagles then managed to shut Belt out in the third quarter but could only muster one more touchdown from Levi Wendland.

Andy Sieversen and Zach Wall scored a combined six rushing touchdowns to lead Belt.

The Eagles (3-4) will finish up their Northern C regular season schedule today when they travel to Sunburst.

Highwood 46 J-I 24

The Highwood Mountaineers scored 24 points in the first quarter en route to a 46-24 win over the J-I Rams Saturday afternoon in Northern six-man action in Joplin.

Both teams scored in every quarter of the game, but the 24-point first quarter outburst by the Mountaineers proved to be too much for the Rams as they could manage just one touchdown in each quarter.

In the first half Matt Temple scored twice for the Rams, including runs of 60 and 10 yards. The Rams also scored on a 17-yard pass from Zach Ramberg to Jon Wolery in the third quarter. Ramberg capped off the scoring for the Rams in the fourth period with a late 15-yard TD run.

J-I (4-3) will travel to Box Elder to face the Bears this afternoon.

Geraldine 71 Rocky Boy 25

The Geraldine Tigers scored at least 20 points in each of the first three quarters en route to a 71-25 thrashing of the Rocky Boy Stars Saturday afternoon in Rocky Boy.

The Tigers scored 20 points in the first quarter and then tacked on 21 more in the second to build a 41-13 lead over the Stars. Geraldine put the game out of reach in the third quarter by scoring 20 more point.

Levi Clark and Michael Clark scored two rushing touchdowns to lead the Tigers in the win and both returned a kickoff for a touchdown, as well. Rocky Boy was also the beneficiary of a long kick return by Chad Wolfchild in the third quarter. Wolfchild also caught a TD pass and Bill Watson threw two TD passes to lead the Stars in the loss.

Rocky Boy (1-6) will host Brady this afternoon.