THREE FORKS — Manhattan put its unbeaten record up against one-loss Three Forks in a Southern division showdown Friday night.
The teams traded punches early before the No. 2-ranked Tigers took command on the way to a 33-16 road win.
Manhattan took the game’s first lead on a long drive that was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Michael Stewart, and the Tigers were up 7-0 with 5:12 remaining in the first quarter.
Three Forks’ Sawyer Anderson picked off a pass at the end of the first quarter to keep the Wolves from falling down by two scores, which set up a short TD run by Kanon Reichman. Reichman then threw a two-point pass and Three Forks took an 8-7 lead with about 7:00 left before halftime.
But the Tigers responded with a 2-yard touchdown run by Kaysen Konkol and converted their own two-point try to jump back in front 15-8 with less than 4:00 left in the second quarter.
Manhattan got another key score just before intermission when Stewart found Landyn Benson with a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. The point-after kick missed, but the Tigers went into the break with a 21-8 advantage.
In the third quarter, Manhattan’s George Stenberg found the end zone on a 10-yard run to make the score 27-8. Konkol added another touchdown for the Tigers, this time from 8 yards, to extend the advantage to 33-8 in the fourth.
With the win, Manhattan improved to 7-0 overall and to 3-0 in the Class B South, while Three Forks slipped to 5-2 and 2-1 in the league.
Elsewhere in Class B …
No. 1 Malta 46, Wolf Point 8
No. 3 Jefferson 48, Big Timber 0 (Thursday)
No. 4 Florence 17, No. 5 Eureka 10
Baker 14, Colsrip 13
Fairfield 18, Cut Bank 14
Glasgow 43, Conrad 6
Huntley Project 32, Shepherd 6
Missoula Loyola 33, Thompson falls 14
Red Lodge 68, Roundup 6
Anaconda 40, Whitehall 0
