TOWNSEND — The Bigfork Vikings are still unbeaten. It wasn’t pretty, but Bigfork took care of Townsend Friday night on the road, 21-14, in a non-conference Class B football game.
“It’s a long trip. Townsend knows that, they’ve been to us three times in a row,” Bigfork head coach Todd Emslie said. “Every time we’ve played Townsend it’s been a battle. This is a quality football team, it’s a quality coaching staff. These boys play hard, they always play hard. This is exactly what we need in our season. We need a game just like this, and I’m very proud of our kids.”
Townsend opened the scoring by taking its opening possession for a touchdown in less than three minutes. Kameron Rauser caught a bubble screen from Tyson Racht and the all-state sprinter took off down the sidelines for a 60-yard touchdown, leaving the Viking defense in his wake.
Bigfork answered on its ensuing possession. Facing 4th-and-goal from the Townsend 2-yard line, Bigfork turned to senior tailback Randy Stultz. Stultz shrugged off a pair of would-be tacklers in the backfield before finding a hole around the right side for six.
Stultz’s second touchdown run of the night was set up by a Townsend turnover. Racht was flushed to his right before releasing an errant throw that found the hands of Bigfork defensive back Colton Reichenbach inside Bulldog territory. A few plays later, Stultz burst 25 yards up the gut to extend the Vikings’ lead to 14-7.
Leading by the same margin late in the third quarter, Bigfork extended its lead. Anders Epperly threw a strike to Luke Schmit, who took the slant pattern 49 yards to the house to give the Vikings a 21-7 lead. Townsend would score with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard pass from Racht to Aaron Geisser, but Bigfork recovered the onside kick and took a knee to polish off the victory.
Bigfork’s record improves to 6-0, while Townsend falls to 4-3.
Class B football scores
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Bigfork 21, Townsend 14
Big Timber 52, Three Forks 13
Colstrip 34, Red Lodge 13
Deer Lodge 54, Thompson Falls 50
Eureka 29, Florence 27
Fairfield 68, Harlem 0
Glasgow 36, Wolf Point 7
Jefferson 22, Whitehall 0
Malta 36, Cut Bank 24
Manhattan 34, Columbus 0
Missoula Loyola 42, Anaconda 6
Roundup 44, Conrad 15
Shepherd 26, Baker 22
