The Blitz: Friday’s high school football highlights (Sept. 15)

• Billings West 51, Billings Senior 7: Drew McDowell tossed three touchdown strikes and Malachi Claunch scored three TDs, including a 38-yard run, and the Bears clobbered their crosstown rivals. Matt Ludwig caught two TD passes and ran for a third, and Kentucky commit Jacob Kauwe booted a 42-yard field goal. Senior got its lone TD in the fourth quarter on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Oakley to Maclain Burckley.

• No. 1 Bozeman 35, Great Falls 7: The top-ranked Hawks took care of business, scoring 21 first-half points while shutting out the Bison and cruising to their fourth win. Harley Bianchi caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Kellen Harrison and rushed for 84 yards and his second TD. Brady Casagrande scored on an 11-yard run, and Harrison added a touchdown run in the third quarter. Riley Collette tossed a 68-yard bomb to Cole Azar for Great Falls (2-2). The Hawks rolled up 195 yards rushing and 171 yards through the air; Harrison went 12-of-15 passing for 162 yards. Rocco Lencioni didn’t have a touchdown but led the Hawks in receiving with eight catches for 132 yards.

• Helena Capital 63, Missoula Hellgate 2: Merek Mihelish passed for 188 yards and three scores, and also ran for 99 yards and two more scores, as the Bruins crushed the Knights. Mihelish hit Daniel Larson from 57 yards out on the first play from scrimmage and then found Dylan Almquist from 16 yards away for a 21-0 first-quarter lead. Capital rushed for 247 yards and averaged nearly 9 yards per carry. On defense, James Byron had a 91-yard interception return for the Bruins.

• No. 4 Kalispell Glacier 35, No. 5 Helena 7: Kash Goicoechea bulled his way for three rushing touchdowns and Kobe Dorcheus rushed for 106 yards and a score as the Wolfpack (3-1, 1-1) got off the mat from their stunning loss at Butte to rout the Bengals (2-2, 1-1). Goicoechea scored Glacier’s first three TDs for a 21-7 lead just before halftime. Dorcheus put Glacier up by three scores with a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter and the Wolfpack put away the game with an 83-yard pass from Jackson Presley to Cohen Kastelitz. Tevin Wetzel’s 2-yard rushing score in the first quarter tied the game briefly for Helena.

• No. 2 Bozeman Gallatin 54, Great Falls CMR 6: The Raptors‘ deep and diverse offense was on full display as they rolled to their fourth straight win. Quinn Clark scored on a pick-six and grabbed a pair of touchdown passes. Reese Dahlke rushed for three scores, including a 28-yard burst, and showed his versatility with a pair of touchdown passes. Grant Vigen threw three touchdown strikes, including a 71-yard toss to Carter Dahlke. The Raptors led 27-6 after the first quarter and went up 54-6 by halftime.

• Missoula Sentinel 46, Kalispell Flathead 7: Riley Allen ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more as the Spartans (3-1, 2-0) overpowered the mistake-prone Braves (1-3, 0-2). Jaxon Allery returned a pick-6 41 yards for Sentinel, one of five interceptions. Flathead’s only score came on a 21-yard pass from Brett Pesola to Caleb Riley.

 • No. 2 Lewistown 31, Lockwood 7: McKay Shobe threw a pair of TD passes and ran for another as the Golden Eagles handed the Lions their first loss of the season. Jace Dunkel hauled in one of Shobe’s TDs on a 40-yard play. Aiden Manning added a 27-yard field goal. Tyce Casterline rushed for Lockwood’s lone touchdown in the first quarter.

• No. 5 Billings Central 26, Laurel 21: Thomas Norman’s 1-yard plunge in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference as the Rams outlasted the arch-rival Locomotives. Ayden Salter rushed for 126 yards and Adam Balkenbush tossed a TD pass for Billings Central.

 • Corvallis 53, Butte Central 0: Gideon Boswell set the stage with an 84-yard punt return for an early 14-point lead and then followed up with a 54-yard run return to paydirt as the Blue Devils throttled the Maroons on the way to their first 4-0 start since 1987. It was more than the Blue Devils’ defense needed; they’ve allowed six points for the entire season. Bennett Boelman highlighted the ‘D’ with a fourth-quarter interception return for a TD. Aydan Mayn added two TDs for Corvallis, which last made the playoffs in 2018.

• Glendive 21, Havre 20: Kohbe Smith’s 80-yard kick return in the third quarter put the Red Devils up 21-10, and the Blue Ponies’ 10-point rally in the fourth wasn’t quite enough. Carter Amsler threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half to Aiden Zody-Cayco and Jason Silha for Glendive. Ciaran Courtnage matched his counterpart with TD strikes to Rhett Wertheimer and Tre Gary, and Ty Golie kicked a 30-yard field goal. The win was Glendive’s first of the season.

• No. 3 Eureka 51, Fairfield 0: AJ Truman tossed a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for a third, and Caden Pecora, Jesse Day, Josh Lambertsen and Timothy Schmidt rushed for scores — Schmidt’s went for 27 yards — as the Lions dismantled the Eagles for their fourth straight win. Eureka has won its first four by a combined score of 182-6; three of those wins were shutouts.

• No. 1 Florence-Carlton 77, Conrad 0: Mason Arlington tossed four touchdown passes, two to Drew Wagner and two to Tyler Abbott, as the high-flying Falcons obliterated the Cowboys with a 56-point first half. Abbott also returned an interception 40 yards to cap a 35-point first quarter and hauled in a 17-yard scoring strike in the second quarter. Wagner was perfect on 11 extra-point kicks.

• No. 7 Valley Christian 38, Superior 26: Daniel Stoltsfus threw two TD passes and scored two of the game’s last three touchdowns, both on the ground, as the Eagles rallied with the final 22 points to overtake the Bobcats. Stoltsfus’ 35-yard run to close the third quarter brought Valley Christian within 26-24 before Elijah Fisher put the Eagles ahead on a 5-yard run with 10:49 to play. Stoltsfus then served up the dagger with a 2-yard run with 3:01 left. Jaxon Green scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter and then hit Lucas Kovalsky for a 65-yard strike for Superior. Kovalsky also had a 55-yard rushing TD and led his team with 14 tackles.

• Wibaux 30, No. 2 Circle 28: Wyatt Ree rushed for three touchdowns and Will Ree ran for the other two as the Longhorns earned their biggest triumph yet in their return to 8-Man, shutting down the high-powered Wildcats. Wyatt Ree, who ran for 132 yards, scored both first-half touchdowns, from 2 and 7 yards out, and added his third on a 1-yard run at the end of the third quarter. Will Ree, who went for 157 yards on the ground, scampered in from 6 yards out early in the third quarter and then scored the game-winner from 7 yards away with 3:05 to go. Will also had three pass receptions, and Wyatt two.

• No. 3 Ennis 57, No. 6 Simms 28: Clintin Buyan threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more, and Chaz Veland rushed for three scores as the Mustangs won a showdown between unbeaten with the Tigers. Buyan ran for both scores in the second half as Ennis outscored Simms 34-8. Cole Kramer caught an 8-yard TD pass and also kicked a 26-yard field goal for the Mustangs. Vance Wingard did his part with three rushing TDs as well. For Simms, Scotty Sivumaki caught three touchdown passes, two from Hudson Rohrer. Austin Naude chipped in with a touchdown pass followed by a rushing score in the third quarter.

• No. 9 Choteau 58, Deer Lodge 14: Nate Gunderson ran for 224 yards to lead the Bulldogs’ (3-1, 3-1) punishing ground game in a rout of the Wardens (0-4, 0-4). Asher Clayton and Roan Stott evenly split another 102 yards on the round as Choteau racked up 343 overall and jumped to a 44-0 halftime lead.

• No. 5 Arlee 16, St. Ignatius 0: Kendall O’Neil threw a pair of touchdown passes and the Warrior defense did the rest, keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard as Arlee won its fourth straight. Kaiden Ostby hauled in a TD pass for Arlee. 

• No. 1 Fairview 61, Poplar 12: Tyler Tjelde tossed four touchdown passes in the first half — two to Brock Schlothauer — and Tyler Loan threw for two TDs, caught another and returned an interception 17 yards for a TD for the Warriors (4-0, 2-0), who led 45-0 at halftime. Deacon Gackle also had a big day for Fairview, catching scoring tosses and also earning a safety. Troy Karst capped the scoring with a 70-yard kick return. Poplar (1-2, 0-2) got on the board in the third quarter on a 3-yard run by Greg Berg and scored again in the fourth on a 1-yard plunge by Kameron Reum.

• In Thursday’s other 8-Man game, Chinook (1-2, 1-1) roughed up Harlem (1-3, 1-2) 58-26.

• Custer-Hysham-Melstone 87, Bridger 45: Layne Duncan threw for a school-record nine touchdowns – all by the middle of the third quarter – as the Rebels won a shootout with the Scouts. Duncan also ran for a score. Custer-Hysham-Melstone led 59-29 at halftime and had 73 points entering the final 10 minutes.

• No. 4 Harlowton-Ryegate-Judith Gap 56, No. 3 Roy-Winifred 20: Bergen Mysse scored five times – four in the first half — and Gabe Dill tossed three TD passes as the Engineers blistered the Outlaws in a matchup of ranked teams. Dill’s passes went to Landon Martin, Angus Glennie and Mysse. Glennie’s evening included an interception return of 24 yards for a score.

• No. 10 Shields Valley 46, Reed Point-Rapelje 0: Ian Danielson rushed for four touchdowns and caught a fifth quarter QB Robbie Anderson as the Rebels remained undefeated by pounding the Renegades. Shields Valley raced to a 24-0 lead after one quarter and coasted from there.

• Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine 44, Hobson-Moore 22: Tyce Smith and Axel Becker connected for four touchdown passes for the Bearcats (3-1, 1-0), who led 30-8 at halftime and cruised from there. Smith and Becker had scoring passes of 10, 17, 60 and 26 yards, and Smith also had a 9-yard rushing score. Kaleb Morris scored Hobson-Moore’s (2-2, 0-2) first TD and Jackson Swanz had a 21-yard TD pass.

Editor’s Note: To have games included here, submit scores and scoring details to 406mtsports.myteamscoop.com.