LIVINGSTON — In Livingston on Saturday night, the Livingston Rangers began their first varsity season in two years and they had the tough task of taking down the defending Class A champion, the Laurel Locomotives.
Laurel started the game with a great kickoff return. A few plays later they capitalized. Junior running back Camden Johnson took a handoff up the middle inside the 10-yard line for a touchdown. After the extra point, Laurel led 7-0.
Four minutes later, Laurel quarterback Kyson Moran hit his receiver Dalton Boehler for an 18-yard touchdown pass. 15-0 Locomotives after the 2 point conversion.
Still in the first quarter, almost two minutes later. Beau Dantic took a handoff up the gut and then bounced it outside and he went 53-yards to the house untouched. That put Laurel up three scores, 21-0.
A few minutes into the second, Moran had all day to throw and he heaved a pass to Konnor Gregerson who made the catch and ran into the endzone. 28-0 Laurel.
Locomotives dominated this one 47-0, showing no signs of slowing down after their 2020 championship.
White Sulphur Springs vs. Big Sandy:
In what's likely to be a playoff matchup later in the year, the White Sulphur Springs Hornets routed the Big Sandy Pioneers 46-33 to open the season.
The Hornets were the first team to get on the board when Shaw Davis was able to find an edge from about 35 yards out and rifled his way into the endzone to put the Hornets up 8-0 early, but Big Sandy's Kody Strutz went for the game's longest touchdown run of the day shortly thereafter. Strutz rattled off a nearly 50-yard run to get the Pioneers on the board but opted for a one-point conversion leaving the Hornets in the lead, 8-7.
Both teams were fighting tooth and nail defensively, matching touchdown for a touchdown until late in the first half when the Pioneers were able to take their first lead of the game on a busted play where Brandon Cline found lineman Lance Rutledge over the middle with a pass to bring the score to 21-20 in favor of the Pioneers with about 30 seconds left in the first half.
The Hornets opened the second half with a boom when Shaw Davis intercepted a Big Sandy pass for a pick-six to get the Hornets back into the driver seat, but it was to little avail as the Pioneers were able to score with about eight and a half minutes left in the third quarter. From there the Hornets found a groove and stuck with it, as Sam Davis connected with Shaw Davis and Andrew Gudmunson to make it 40-27.
Both teams would tack on another score apiece, but for the Pioneers it was too little, too late.
SCORES:
Class A
Laurel 47, Livingston 0
Class B
Harlem 60, Lodge Grass 52
Shepherd 28, Glasgow 14
8-Man
Chinook 40, Park City 24
Twin Bridges 70, Great Falls Central 12
Simms 38, Lone Peak 14
6-Man
Bainville 53, North Star 45
Broadview-Lavina 42, Wibaux 0
Custer-Hysham Rebels vs. Valley Christian
Froid-Medicine Lake 49, Roy-Winifred 13
Jordan vs. Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Grass Range-Winifred
Power-Dutton-Brady 56, Noxon 22
Sunburst 52, Centerville 33
White Sulphur Springs 46, Big Sandy 33
