BILLINGS — In one of the biggest games of the year in Class AA between unbeaten teams, Bozeman Gallatin put its stamp on the No. 1 ranking with an impressive victory.
Grant Vigen threw five touchdown passes, Reese Dahlke rushed for 190 yards and a TD, and the top-ranked Raptors put away No. 3 Billings West 39-21 on Thursday at Daylis Stadium.
By virtue of the win, Gallatin improved its overall record to 8-0 and moved to 6-0 in the Eastern AA with one week left in the regular season. West, taking its first loss of the year, is now 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
The Raptors struck late in the first when Carter Dahlke took a screen pass from Grant Vigen on a fourth-and-3 play and raced 25 yards for a touchdown. The extra-point try failed, and Gallatin had a 6-0 lead at the end of the quarter.
Gallatin scored on another fourth-down play — and on another pass from Vigen to Dahlke, this time from five yards — in the second quarter to build their lead. A two-point try was unsuccessful, so the Raptors were up 12-0 with under 5:00 to play before half.
West was able to cut into its deficit with 2:27 remaining in the second quarter as Malachi Claunch ran it in from 1-yard out, making the score 12-7.
But Vigen threw his third TD pass of the half after that, an 8-yarder to Bode Naffziger, to make it a two-possession game again at 18-7 after the point-after kick was blocked.
Reese Dahlke showed his skills for Gallatin early in the third quarter when he burst through the line, broke a tackle and raced 81 yards for a touchdown to help put the Raptors up 25-7. Prior to that, Gallatin’s defense stopped the Golden Bears on fourth down on their first possession of the second half.
The Raptors turned it into a rout later in the third on Vigen’s fourth TD throw, this time a short rollout pass to Tommy Springman for a 32-7 advantage.
After Colt Johnson hit Elias Bonner with a touchdown throw for West to end the third quarter — the first of two scoring connections between them — Vigen hit Carter Dahlke on a 10-yard TD pass (again on fourth down) midway through the fourth.
Vigen finished with 207 passing yards with five TDs and one interception. Johnson had 235 yards and two touchdown but was picked off twice. The Golden Bears had three giveaways on offense.
Reese Dahlke averaged 6.3 yards on 30 carries. Carter Dahlke caught nine passes for 102 yards. Claunch finished with 107 rushing yards on 17 attempts for West.
Elsewhere in Class AA …
No. 2 Helena Capital 57, Kalispell Flathead 17
No. 4 Kalispell Glacier 35, No. 5 Missoula Big Sky 7
Bozeman 35, Belgrade 13
Great Falls CMR 19, Billings Senior 13
Helena 13, Butte 10
Missoula Sentinel 35, Missoula Hellgate 7
