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FOOTBALL RESULTS--(9-13)

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Butte Central takes down Columbia Falls

By Bruce Sayler - 09/14/2008

Butte Central's Casey Norbeck catches a pass in the first quarter against Columbia Falls at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. Sean Eamon Montana Standard

Butte Central played home run ball and Casey Norbeck batted cleanup.

"They were playing a lot of Cover-2 and I thought, with my speed, I could beat anybody in their secondary," the Maroons senior said after catching six Andy Ritter passes for a school-record 245 yards in his team's 26-19 non-conference Class A high school football victory over Columbia Falls at Bulldog Memorial Stadium Saturday night.

The haul included TD connections of 57, 87 and 78 yards. The last one gave BC some breathing room at 20-12 in the third quarter, and Norbeck had to out-jump and outwrestle a Wildcats defender to grab it.

"I ran a little slant and their guy took a nice inside (angle) on it," Norbeck said. "Andy threw the ball away from him and I had to make a little adjustment."

Norbeck snared it with two hands while pedaling backwards, and then spun as the defender fell, and raced untouched along the East sideline for the TD.

The last BC score came with 3:24 left in the third quarter when sophomore Jonathan Richards rumbled 18 yards for the touchdown. Richards was playing the position normally held by senior Gene Taylor, who was lost in the first half to a shoulder separation.

Butte Central head coach Don Peoples Jr. said the degree of seriousness of the injury is yet to be determined.

Columbia Falls fell behind 14-0 after one quarter on the first two Ritter-Norbeck strikes.

Columbia Falls then came back with two unanswered touchdowns in the second period to trail only 14-12 at halftime.

Mackey Nolan, half of the Wildcats' alternating quarterbacks ploy, crashed 3 yards for the first one and then the other QB, Mitch Wassam, slashed into the end zone from 2 yards away.

Norbeck's third TD pass from Ritter came in the third quarter just after Nolan was short on a 39-yard field goal try.

Then, a defensive stand also helped launch up the clinching TD march Phil Antonioli intercepted a Wassam pass and set the Maroons up for shop at their own 47-yard line. The drive seemed to die just past midfield when BC faced a 4th-and-5 at the Wildcats' 48-yard line. Richards stepped back into punt formation, received the snap and then tossed a pass that Ritter caught for a 9-yard gain and first down. Richards scored his touchdown three plays later.

Columbia Falls finished the scoring with a fourth-quarter TD Stephen Baumgartner tallied on a 45-yard breakaway. The clock showed 7 minutes, 31 seconds still to play and the BC defense needed to hold off any more Wildcats threats.

Columbia Falls' last possession came with 6:45 to play after a Butte Central punt. The Wildcats had the ball at the Maroons' 46-yard line. The BC offense had been pinned deep in its own territory by a block-in-the-back call on the kickoff return following Baumgartner's touchdown.

This time, Baumgartner was taken down for a 1-yard loss by Tom Markovich, D.J. Lewis and Eric DiGiovine. Then, Nolan lost another yard when tackled by Mike Joyce. Third down saw Lewis pull Nolan down from behind for a sack and 5-yard loss.

Nolan punted away on fourth down and Butte Central, taking over with 3:48 to go, ran out the clock, earning two first downs to hang onto possession.

"We knew it was going to be tough," Peoples said. "They're a good and physical football team. They will make some noise in that conference (the Northwestern A)."

Peoples said the coaching staff challenged the youngish Maroons squad this week after the 16-6 loss last weekend in Whitefish.

"We told our kids all week we didn't find a way to win last weekend," the 20th-year head coach said. "This week, Casey Norbeck made a huge catch in the fourth quarter, and the defense made some stops when it had to."

The Norbeck catch was a short 2-yarder on 3rd-and-1 that helped the Maroons hang onto the ball late.

The big plays helped overcome some problems associated with inexperience, Peoples said.

"We're making youthful mistakes," he said. "If we fix them, we can be a solid football team."

Richards also had an interception while Sean Ferriter and Justin Dubar were both good up front on offense and defense.

Ritter wound up passing for 260 yards, completing 11 of 23 throws.

Baumgartner led all ballcarriers with 109 yards on nine carries. The Wildcats chalked up 209 yards on the ground. But, the Butte Central defense limited Columbia Falls to just one completed pass that gained yardage. It went from Wassam to Dustin VonFeldt for 55 yards, a play on which Taylor, playing cornerback, ran down the receiver and saved a touchdown.

Nolan, Wassam and Baumgartner also led the C-Falls defense. Columbia Falls lost a touchdown when Kaleb Johnson's 83-yard kickoff return was wiped out by a block-in-the-back violation. Richards' interception soon ended the threat after the Wildcats did get the ball at the BC 37-yard line.

"The kids found the ways to win the game," Peoples said, after agreeing that a couple of decisions to forego the punt in favor of going-for-it on fourth down were scary. "It's exciting because of the big room for improvement this team has. This was a nice win for us."

The Maroons are 2-1 for the season and will end the non-conference part of their schedule next Saturday with a game in Billings against defending state Class A champion Billings Central in the annual Bishops' Bowl. Columbia Falls, coached by Butte native John Thompson, has a 1-1 season record.

Columbia Falls 0 12 0 7 n 19

Butte Central 14 0 12 0 n 26

First Quarter

BC n Casey Norbeck 57 pass from Andy Ritter (Nathaniel Loomis kick), 10:32. Drive n 70 yards in 5 plays. Key play n Scoring play on 3rd-and-7.

BC n Norbeck 87 pass from Ritter (Loomis kick), 8:09. Drive n 96 yards in 5 plays. Key play n Scoring play.

Second Quarter

CF n Mackey Nolan 3 run (pass failed), 11:55. Drive n 61 yards in 8 plays. Key play n Nolan 37-yard run to Butte Central 28-yard line on 3rd-and-4.

CF n Mitchell Wassam 2 run (run failed), 7:33. Drive n 89 yards in 8 plays. Key play n Dustin VonFeldt 55-yard pass from Wassam to Butte Central 28-yard line on 3rd-and-14.

Third Quarter

BC n Norbeck 78 pass from Ritter (kick failed), 8:01. Drive n 80 yards in 3 plays. Key play n Scoring play.

BC n Jonathan Richards 18 run (run failed), 3:24. Drive n 53 yards in 8 plays. Key plays n Phil Antonioli intercepted Columba Falls pass and returned it 5 yards to Butte Central 47-yard line; Ritter 9-yard pass from Richards to Columbia Falls 39-yard line on fake punt on 4th-and-5.

Fourth Quarter

CF n Stephen Baumgartner 45 run (Nolan kick), 7:51. Drive n 56 yards in 5 plays. Key play n Scoring play.

CF BC

First downs 9 18

Rushes-yards 37-209 40-138

Passes 2-13-2 11-24-1

Passing yards 52 269

Return yards 37 41

Punts-avg. 4-43.8 4-39.0

Fumbles-lost 4-0 0-0

Individual Statistics

Rushing n Columbia Falls, Stephen Baumgartner 9-109, Mackey Nolan 11-39, John Woody 5-26, Quenton Hegel 3-14, Dustin VonFeldt 3-9, Mitchell Wassam 3-8, Kaleb Johnson 1-5, Wayde Martinson 1-3, Team 1-(-4). Butte Central, Jonathan Richards 14-78, Andy Ritter 17-41, Gene Taylor 6-28, Team 2-(-9).

Passing - Columbia Falls, Wassam 1-7-1-55, Nolan 1-6-1-(-3). Butte Central, Ritter 10-23-1-260, J. Richards 1-1-0-9.

Receiving - Columbia Falls, VonFeldt 1-55, Baumgartner 1-(-3). Butte Central, Norbeck 6-245, Ritter 1-9, Jason Johnston 2-8, J. Richards 1-7, Aschen Richards 1-0.

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