BOZEMAN — Two touchdowns in a span of 30 seconds helped the unranked Great Falls Bison pull away from No. 3 Bozeman and stun the Hawks 28-7 Friday night at Van Winkle Stadium.
Mason Kralj’s 12-yard touchdown run with 9:16 to play broke a 7-7 tie, and Luke Aakre returned a pick-6 at the 8:45 mark to help lift the Bison to a long-awaited win over the defending state champion Hawks.
Great Falls quarterback Riley Collette sealed the game with a 1-yard plunge, his second touchdown of the game, with 1:50 to play.
A long run by Kralj set up a 2-yard score by Collette to give the Bison a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Bozeman didn’t get on the board until a long, time-consuming drive late in the third quarter resulted in a 3-yard touchdown from Ben Wheeler to tie the score 7-7, seemingly giving the Hawks (3-1) some momentum.
But the Bison (3-1) answered in a big way, and instead registered their first win against Bozeman since beating the Hawks 17-13 on Sept. 2, 2011. It was Bozeman’s first loss since the 2022 state championship game, snapping a 15-game winning streak.
Elsewhere in Class AA …
No. 1 Kalispell Glacier 40, Helena 27
No. 2 Bozeman Gallatin 42, Great Falls CMR 6
No. 4 Billings West 23, Billings Senior 21
No. 5 Helena Capital 42, Missoula Hellgate 6
Butte 21, Missoula Big Sky 14
Missoula Sentinel 25, Kalispell Flathead 23
Billings Skyview 28, Belgrade 16 (Thursday)
