DILLON — Kee Christiansen rushed for five touchdowns Friday and Dillon staved off a second-half Frenchtown comeback for a wild 42-34 victory in the first-round of the Class A football playoffs.
Dillon, the No. 3 seed from the Western division, won its eighth straight game to improve to 8-1 and advance to the second round next week.
It didn’t take long for the Beavers to jump ahead. Fielding the opening kickoff, Eli Nourse sped to a 90-yard touchdown return to give this team a 7-0 advantage.
Frenchtown was threatening to tie the game later in the first, but Dillon’s defense came up with an interception inside the 5-yard line. The Beavers then marched 95-plus yards, capped by a 1-yard touchdown keeper by Christiansen and a 14-0 lead.
The Broncs answered, though, when Carter White took the ensuing kickoff back 90 yards to the end zone to make it 14-7. Bbut the Beavers were later able to increase their lead to 21-7 on another short TD run by Christiansen.
Nourse continued his impactful play when he intercepted a pass to end Frenchtown’s opening drive of the second half. That led to a third TD keeper for Christiansen and a 28-7 Dillon lead with 7:14 left in the third.
After Caden Hansen intercepted another pass for Dillon, Christiansen scored his fourth TD of the night — from 1-yard again — and it was 35-7.
The Broncs didn’t go quietly, as White scored on a hook-and-ladder and then caught a TD pass from Eli Quinn to make it 35-21 with 8:50 remaining.
Michaud made it a 35-28 game when he hauled in a 50-yard TD catch and then got the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead, but a Cooper Anderson interception ended that possession with four minutes left. That set up a 42-yard TD scamper by Christensen, his fifth score of the night.
The Broncs scored on the final play of the game but it wasn’t enough to come all the way back. Frenchtown, the No. 5 seed from the West, ended its season with a 6-4 mark.
