Pioneers look to cap off undefeated season with state title

The past four years have seen the Big Sandy Six-Man football team become one of the best teams in the state of Montana. But after four straight semifinal appearances, the Pioneers will finally play in the state championship game this weekend. The Pioneers will compete against a tough Broadview-Lavina team, so the Pioneers will have to be at the top of their game if they want to bring home their first state championship.

"We're going to come out and hopefully we can stop their running back and their quick passing game," Big Sandy head coach Larry Jappe said.

The Pioneers had a great season to reach this weekend's state championship. After losing in the semifinals for the third straight time last season, the Pioneers came out and dominated the competition.

Outside of a win by forfeit, the Pioneers dominated their eight other games to finish the regular season undefeated with a 9-0 record. No opponent could keep up with them as the Pioneers won by an average margin of 56.9 points a game. The closest game in the regular season for Big Sandy was a 46-6 win over White Sulphur Springs in the season opener.

The Pioneers have a deep bench with many players contributing over the course of the season. Big Sandy had many standout players this season including Kody Strutz, Braydon Cline, Rusty Gasvoda, Lane Demontiney and Lance Rutledge to lead the team, but Jappe believes the team's depth was the biggest key to the Pioneers' success this fall.

"We've just been playing as a unit. Everyone's been doing their jobs. One week, one kid might have two or three touchdowns and the next, he's blocking so the next kid can get two or three touchdowns," Jappe said. "There's obviously a couple of standouts on our team but, for the most part, everyone just has been doing their jobs."

The Pioneers have faced more adversity this postseason. After a 61-6 win over Savage to start the playoffs, the Pioneers ran into trouble against Custer-Hysham-Melstone. In the first half, the Pioneers lost Strutz to injury, which Jappe believes took them out of their tempo. The Pioneers withheld a comeback in the second half to hold on to win, 25-20, but it was the toughest challenge they had faced all year long.

"We came out flat (in the second half) and let them get back in the game and that was probably the most adversity that we've seen," Jappe said. "But after a full week of practice, we got right back on track and we're just pretty deep with our second strings and we were able to fill those shoes."

The Pioneers demonstrated their depth as they dominated in the semifinals with a 40-8 win over Bridger. Along with overcoming the adversity from the previous weekend, the Pioneers had finally made it to the state title game after losing in the semifinals the previous three years.

But if the Pioneers want to cap off an undefeated season with a state title, they will have to defeat Broadview-Lavina. Like the Pioneers, the Pirates are undefeated and have dominated most of their competition. Just last week in the semifinals, Broadview-Lavina defeated defending state champion Froid-Lake to make it to the championship game.

If the Pioneers can defeat the Pirates, it would be the perfect ending for the careers of this senior class as players such as Strutz, Rutledge and Cline have led the Pioneers to new levels of success. If they can finally break through to win a state championship, it would be the perfect way to celebrate all that they have done for the program.

"These kids have worked really hard to get here," Jappe said. "Hopefully our defense plays as good as they have all year and hopefully our offense comes out on all cylinders and just keeps doing what we've been doing."

The Big Sandy Pioneers will kick off the Six-Man football state championship game against Broadview-Lavina this Saturday at 1 p.m. in Big Sandy.