Hi-Line Football Roundup: Beeters, Hawks roll; Bears stay unbeaten

While many teams along the Hi-Line began their 2015 football seasons Aug. 28 or Aug. 29, the Chinook Sugarbeeters were one team that waited an extra week. And after another dominant performance, it looks like the extra time practicing was well worth it.

The Beeters, who are the defending Class C 8-Man Northern Division champions, as well as the state runner-up from a season ago, got their conference title defense started off on the right foot with a dominant 54-0 thrashing of Centerville Saturday on the road.

And as strange as it seems, Chinook's first touchdown didn't come from the offense, it came from the defense as Travis Hamilton recovered a fumble to give the Beeters an early lead.

The defense, which was led by Kevin Young, was dominant not just on the first series but all day. Young, who registered three sacks in the win, which also made him the school's all-time leader in sacks, helped the Beeters shutout the Miners in their season-opener. Yet, the defense was not the only group that shined, as the Beeters proved to be dangerous on offense as well, particularly when it came to running the football.

After grabbing the 8-0 on Hamilton's score, the Chinook offense went to work and, thanks to touchdown runs from Derek Bell, Tate Niederegger and Owen Powell, the Beeters built a 30-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Beeters led 46-0, following two Bell touchdown runs in the second quarter and finally in the third quarter, backup quarterback Kade Friede connected with Jake Norby on a 12-yard touchdown pass in the game's final score.

The impressive win moved the Beeters to 1-0 on the season overall and in Northern C play. Chinook will be back in action Friday night when they will travel to Cascade for another conference showdown.

Chi 30 16 8 0 – 54

Cen 0 0 0 0 – 0

Chi—Travis Hamilton fumble recovery in end zone (Derek Bell run)

Chi—Bell 4 run (run failed)

Chi—Tate Niederegger 1 run (Bell run)

Chi—Owen Powell 3 run (Bell run)

Chi—Bell 2 run (Kade Friede run)

Chi—Bell 20 run (Kenneth Pruttis pass from Friede)

Chi—Jake Norby 12 pass from Friede (Powell run)

Chester/J-I 70, Belt 24

Another local 8-man team that was in action Friday night was the Chester/J-I Hawks as they played host to fellow Northern C foe Belt. And after an impressive win versus Fort Benton to open the season, the Hawks put together another good performance in a 70-24 domination of the Huskies, a playoff team from a year ago.

Brandon Richter opened the scoring with a pair of touchdown runs in the first quarter to put the Hawks up 14-6 after one. Then, in the second quarter, Richter added another touchdown run to go along with two TD passes, which put C/J-I in front 35-18 at the half.

Richter, who finished with an incredible eight touchdowns in the game, four rushing, three passing and one receiving, ran for two more touchdowns in the third quarter, then caught a touchdown from All-State running back Justin May. May also added a 44-yard touchdown run.

May was his usual self as well, rumbling for well over 100 yards and throwing a TD pass as well.

Cory Richter also had a big day for the Hawks, catching a pair of TD passes. C/J-I (2-0, 2-0) will look to continue its hot start in the Northern C Friday, when the Hawks travel to Power to do battle with Northern C opponent Power-Dutton-Brady.

Belt 6 12 6 0 – 24

C/J-I 14 21 20 15 – 70

C/J-I—Brandon Richter 7 run (Troy Harmon kick)

C/J-I—B.Richter 24 run (Harmon kick)

BELT—Harry Green 17 pass from Koltin Haugrose (pass failed)\

C/J-I—Cory Richter 28 pass from B. Richter (Harmon kick)

BELT—Green 25 pass from Haugrose (pass failed)

C/J-I—Brett Henke 12 pass from B. Richter (Harmon kick)

BELT—Jaren Maki 25 pass from Matt Metrione (run failed)

C/J-I—B. Richter 3 run (Harmon kick)

BELT—Metrione 2 run (Pass failed)

C/J-I—B. Richter 1 run (Harmon kick)

C/J-I—B. Richter 11 pass from Justin May (Harmon kick)

C/J-I—J. May 44 run (kick failed)

C/J-I—C. Richter 11 pass from B. Richter (Harmon kick)

C/J-I—Mitchell Fischer 5 run (Kobe Tran run)

Plentywood 30, Hays-Lodge Pole 0

In other 8-man action, this time from the Eastern C, the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds, who are led by head coach Shawn Mount, looked to put an end to their lengthy losing steak Friday night in Plentywood, but unfortunately, fell short of their goal thanks to a 30-0 loss.

The T-Birds, will try to get themselves into the win column this Saturday, when they will host Eastern C rival Scobey in their first home game of the 2015 season.

Hays-Lodge Pole 0 0 0 0 — 0

Plentywood 8 0 8 14 — 30

PW—Taylor Hilyard 2 run (Hilyard run)

PW—Hilyard 17 interception return (Hilyard run)

PW—Dylan Murry 11 run (pass failed)

PW—Bridger Wang 2 pass from Alex Wiens (Jesse Black run)

Simms 54, Fort Benton 26

The Fort Benton Longhorns played host to Simms in their first home game since their return to varsity action this season and, unlike their season-opening game, at least this time they got on the scoreboard.

The Longhorns, who opened the season with a blowout loss on the road against C/J-I, didn't fare much better in their home-opener as they fell to Simms by the score of 54-26. Fort Benton, which is now 0-2 overall and in the Northern C, will look to bounce back and notch its first win of the season this Friday, when the Longhorns will make the trek to Centerville to take on the Miners.

Sunburst 27, North Star 7

While there were plenty of 8-Man teams in action Friday night, Six-Man teams from the area also played Friday night and no team faced a more difficult matchup than that of the North Star Knights, who paid a visit to Sunburst.

The Knights, who rolled Big Sandy in a season-opening win, got a taste of their own medicine against the Refiners, who defeated North Star 27-7. Sunburst finished the game with four rushing touchdowns, which helped it build a 27-0 lead in the final stanza.

The Knights, who were held scoreless for much of the game, finally got on the board late with a Matthew Helmbrecht touchdown pass to Cade Chvilicek.Yet, it was too little too late for the Knights(1-1, 1-1), who will look to rebound from their first loss Sept. 19, when they will host the Box Elder Bears.

North Star 0 0 0 7 — 7

Sunburst 6 7 7 7 — 27

SB—Tim Jarvis 25 run (kick blocked)

SB—Paul Ehlers 2 run (Jackson Nagy pass from Jarvis)

SB—Ehlers 62 run (Mike Buckley pass from Jarvis)

SB—Nagy 54 run (Treyton Pickering pass from Jarvis)

NS—Matthew Helmbrecht 5 pass from Cade Chvilicek (Payton Peterson run)

Box Elder 34, Valier 16

The Box Elder Bears, who got the 2015 season off to a blistering start with a dominating 44-point win over defending Class C Six-Man state champion Geraldine/Highwood, continued their torrent start Friday night, with a 34-16 road win over Valier.

The win makes the Bears 2-0 on the young season and 2-0 in North Division play. They will now turn around and take on Sunburst on Saturday in a key game that will start at 1 p.m.

Shelby 58, Harlem 0

Saturday in Shelby, the Harlem Wildcats played their first football game under new head coach Kelly Mills, as they hit the road to take on the Coyotes, who easily did away with the Wildcats by the score of 58-0.

Harlem hung around for a awhile against the heavily favored Coyotes and found themselves trailing just 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Yet, Shelby poured on 26 points in the second quarter to make the score 40-0 at the half.

Harlem failed to engineer much offense in the second half either and finished the game with just 82 total yards, compared to 481 yards for the Coyotes. Harlem (0-1) will be back in action this coming Friday, when they will host Roundup in Harlem. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Harlem 0 0 0 0 – 0

Shelby 14 26 6 12 – 58

S—Brock Whitted 60 pass from Aaron White (pass failed)

S—Logan Watson 22 pass from White (Watson pass from White)

S—Colt Pederson 5 run (pass failed)

S—Zach Torgerson 9 pass from White (Pederson pass from White)

S—Pederson 27 run (run failed)

S—Pederson 32 run (pass failed)

S—Andrew Johnson 2 pass from White (kick blocked)

S—Wyatt Brusven 2 pass from White (kick failed)

S—David Kelleher 6 run (pass failed)

Big Sandy 58, Heart Butte 30

In other Hi-Line action Saturday, the Big Sandy Pioneers, traveled to Heart Butte in search of their first win of the Six-Man football season and thanks to an impressive performance from Zach Works and Josh Solf, they got it.

Works would throw four touchdown passes, two of them coming in the first quarter, to help lead the Pioneers to a 58-30 win over the Warriors. Yet, Works was not alone in his contribution as Solf also had a big day, scoring three rushing touchdowns on the ground in the win.

Laurence Alderdice also pitched in with a touchdown reception in the first quarter, as well as a pair of rushing touchdown in the second half, to go along with a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The Pioneers will look to make two straight Friday night, when they will host North Division powerhouse Denton-Geyser-Stanford. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.

Big Sandy 18 20 20 0 — 58

Heart Butte 12 0 6 12 — 30

BS—Eric Schwarzbach 20 pass from Zachary Works (kick blocked)

HB—Chasen Kipp 60 kickoff return (run failed)

BS—Lawrence Allderdice 30 pass from Works (kick failed)

HB—Kipp 55 run (run failed)

BS—Josh Solf 45 run (kick failed)

BS—Solf 7 run (kick failed)

BS—Schwarzbach 30 pass from Works (Solf run)

BS—Solf 8 run (Allderdice pass from Works)

BS—Allderdice 15 pass from Works (run failed)

BS—Duke Darlington 35 pass from Alldredice (Allderdice run)

HB—Matthew Hinkle 16 run (run failed)

BS—Allderice 45 run (Allderdice run)

HB—Kipp 32 run (run failed)

HB—Kipp 45 run (run failed).