MANHATTAN — For the second consecutive year, Manhattan is the Southern B football champion.
The second-ranked Tigers, who finished as the Class B state runners-up last fall, clinched the South division title Friday night by pulling away from No. 3 Jefferson for a 37-19 win. Manhattan is now 8-0 overall and 4-0 in conference play with the regular-season finale next week at Columbus.
After giving up a 1-yard touchdown to Jefferson running back Luke Oxarart in the first quarter, Manhattan scored 30 unanswered points to take control.
Michael Stewart threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Landyn Benson on fourth down to bring Manhattan back within 7-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Tigers took the lead in the second on a short TD run by Kaysen Konkol to cap a long drive started by a Chance Fenno interception. Manhattan led 14-7 at halftime.
The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and marched down the field for another score — this one coming on an 11-yard run by Brayden Zikmund — to go up 22-7 going to the fourth.
George Stenberg added another Manhattan touchdown and two-point conversion in the fourth before Jefferson scored to finally break the Tigers' scoring streak.
Jefferson fell to 6-2 overall this season, with the losses coming to No. 1 Malta and now No. 2 Manhattan. The Panthers are 3-1 in the Southern B and finish out their regular season with a home game against Townsend next week.
Elsewhere in Class B …
No. 1 Malta 45, Cut Bank 16
No. 4 Florence 45, Thompson Falls 14
Baker 22, Shepherd 8
Columbus 30, Three Forks 26
Conrad 33, Wolf Point 20
Eureka 38, Whitehall 0 (Thursday)
Glasgow 32, Fairfield 6
Huntley Project 36, Roundup 0
Joliet 49, Colstrip 7 (Thursday)
Missoula Loyola 28, Anaconda 6
Townsend 59, Big Timber 6
