(Editor's note: This will be updated with more scores throughout Friday)
GREAT FALLS — Great Falls High overcame an early deficit Friday night — and some early misfortune — to beat Butte 41-17 at Memorial Stadium and improve to 2-0.
The Bulldogs led 10-0 before Great Falls even touched the ball on offense. Butte’s opening drive consisted of a whopping 27 plays that ate up 8 minutes, 57 seconds and ended with a field goal. The Bulldogs then recovered an onside kick, and Trey Hansen scored on a 1-yard run with less than a minute left in the first quarter put his team ahead 10-0.
When Great Falls finally got the ball it found the end zone, as Rafe Longin galloped 24 yards for a touchdown to cut Butte’s lead to 10-7.
Butte answered quickly, as quarterback Jace Stenson hit Reuso Batterman on a quick slant that Batterman ran for a 66-yard TD and a 17-7 advantage, but Longin then took the ensuing kickoff back for a score to make it 17-14.
After the Bison forced and recovered a Butte fumble, Ashton Platt found Boston College commit Reed Harris down the left sideline for a 38-yard touchdown pass and a 21-17 advantage, which was where things stood at the half.
Late in the third quarter, Longin scored again to give the Bison a 28-17 lead. Harris wasn’t done either, as he ran 88 yards on an end-around play for another touchdown and a 34-17 advantage early in the fourth.
Other Class AA scores:
Bozeman Gallatin 38, Kalispell Flathead 0
Helena 21, Billings Senior 20 - OT
Helena Capital 42, Billings West 6
Kalispell Glacier 42, Great Falls CMR 35 (Highlights below)
Missoula Big Sky 20, Billings Skyview 14 – OT (Highlights below)
Missoula Hellgate 21, Belgrade 20
Missoula Sentinel 29, Bozeman 7 (Thursday, highlights below)