Friday Night Live: A timeline from Week 7 of the high school football season

It's hard to believe we're already at Week 7 of the high school football season. The playoffs are just three weeks away.

This is the latest edition of "Friday Night Live," MTN Sports' continuous real-time tracker of various scores and updates from high school football as we keep tabs on what's happening across Montana.

The games we're particularly interested in tonight? No. 1 Billings West's trip to No. 4 Gallatin in Class AA, 6-0 Hardin's home game against No. 2 Billings Central and No. 1 Whitefish's contest against 4-1 Columbia Falls in Class A, and No. 3 Fairfield's battle with 4-1 Malta in Class B, among others (you can track the latest standings here).

The most recent updates will be at the top of the tracker, so refresh this page often. For a look at MTN Sports' football power rankings entering this week, click here.

As always, if you are at a game you can share scores, big plays, quarter-by-quarter updates or highlight videos via email (scores@montanasports.com) or X/Twitter (@montanasports), or with a message to our Montana Sports Facebook page.

Follow along with our posts below. And also be sure to keep track of our scoreboard for more score updates.

10:41 p.m. | The final Friday rundown

That's a wrap for tonight! Click on the classification links below for scoreslists and highlights from Friday's action. See you next week.

Class AA | Class A | Class B | 8-Man | 6-Man

9:59 p.m. | Be back soon

We're stepping away to put highlights packages together for the late newscasts. Check back later for links to highlight videos and more scores from around the state.

9:35 p.m. | West passes road test

No. 1 Billings West handled No. 4 Gallatin on the road by a 28-7 score. Big plays, coupled with another strong defensive effort have the Golden Bears at 7-0 overall record.

9:27 p.m. | C-Falls comes through in the clutch

Down goes No. 1. Columbia Falls handed Whitefish its first loss of the season 34-31 in a wild Class A game of the week.

After the Bulldogs' Luke Dalen scored his third touchdown of the day to put Whitefish ahead 31-27 late in the fourth quarter, C-Falls' Jory Hill made a leaping 10-yard touchdown catch from Banyon Johnston with 33 seconds left to put the Wildcats ahead by three.

Dalen was sacked on Whitefish's final possession and the Bulldogs (6-1) weren't able to mount a credible threat to either tie the game or score the go-ahead points before time ran out. C-Falls is now 5-1 and has won four in a row.

9:09 p.m. | Fairfield tops Malta in Class B game of the week

No. 3 ranked Fairfield finished the job against Malta with a 31-20 victory. The Eagles improve to 6-1 overall with the win over their North rival. Malta is now 4-2.

Also in Class B, No. 4 Manhattan came away with an impressive 45-0 shutout of Townsend to bump its record to 4-1.

8:53 p.m. | A fun fourth up north

Columbia Falls has taken the lead over No. 1 Whitefish early in the fourth quarter in their Northwest A clash. Trip Ross scored his third touchdown of the night to put the Wildcats in front 27-24. Should be a great finish up there in C-Falls.

Also, Hardin isn't going away in its game against No. 2 Billings Central. The Bulldogs just returned a fumble for a touchdown and is within 27-20 with 9:00 remaining.

8:40 p.m. | Trey Ramey = big numbers

Glacier RB Trey Ramey was already one of the top backs in Class AA coming into tonight. But he solidified that point even further.

In the Wolfpack's 49-13 win over Helena, Ramey had 205 rushing yards and four touchdowns on just 18 carries. No. 2 Glacier is now 6-1 entering next week's game against crosstown rival Flathead.

8:31 p.m. | Jefferson doing what it sought out to do

Class B No. 5 Jefferson remained unbeaten after last week's 42-39 thriller over rival Townsend.

"Feels good. And we just want to keep it going, taking it week by week," quarterback Tyzer Zody told MTN Sports.

Tonight, the Panthers are indeed taking care of business against Big Timber, leading 40-0 in the third quarter.

8:20 p.m. | Scobey is still Scobey

Let's check in on the smaller-school circuit, shall we?

Defending 8-Man champion Scobey, who some might think is ranked too low this season at No. 4, is having its way with Forsyth tonight in their Eastern division clash.

The Spartans — looking up at No. 1 Drummond-Philipsburg, No. 2 Belt and No. 3 Superior in the rankings — were up 41-0 over the Dogies at halftime in a game pitting two of the top four teams in the East standings. With a win over Circle already, Scobey will host Culbertson next week to try to wrap up the conference title.

8:07 p.m. | Griz commit Walker Olson having a night

Billings West QB Seth Williamson has been under duress for much of the first half, but he and Walker Olson just connected on a highlight-reel TD with 49 seconds left in the first half against Gallatin.

Olson leaped up through double coverage to haul in a 23-yard TD catch and give West a 21-0 lead just before halftime of a No. 1-vs.-No. 4 matchup. Olson also has a 40-plus-yard touchdown run to his credit.

Elsewhere among our games to watch, in Class A Billings Central has put upstart Hardin in a 19-0 hole, highlighted by a 73-yard TD run by Michael Thomas, and No. 1 Whitefish and Columbia Falls are going back and forth: the latest update had C-Falls' Trip Ross scoring to put the Wildcats ahead 21-17

7:49 p.m. | Fairfield has Malta in a hole

Class B No. 3 Fairfield, for the moment, is in control of its game against North division rival Malta leading 28-7 in midway through the third quarter ... although the Mustangs are knocking on the door inside the 20.

There has been a lot of jockeying at the top of Class B this season, but the Eagles have remained pretty consistent — their only loss to date is a one-point defeat to Florence, which has held the No. 1 ranking for the past few weeks. Can Fairfield keep Malta at bay?

7:37 p.m. | Columbia Falls leads top-ranked Whitefish

Class A has been the most interesting classification so far this season. Columbia Falls spent the early part of the year ranked before suffering a loss to then-No. 1 Frenchtown. Then the Wildcats had a wild comeback against a good (and ranked, at the time) East Helena team as part of a three-game winning streak.

Tonight C-Falls (4-1) is hosting current No. 1 Whitefish (6-0) in a continuation of a rivalry between schools less than 10 miles apart. Early in the second quarter, the Wildcats are on top 14-10.

7:21 p.m. | Undefeated Hardin gets its shot

One of the biggest surprises in Class A so far this season is Hardin. The Bulldogs, two years removed from cancelling their season, are 6-0 and hosting No. 2-ranked Billings Central tonight.

Right now, Hardin and the Rams are scoreless while exchanging first-quartering punts. Central has been winning the field-position fight.

7:08 p.m. | Eastern AA showdown gets going

The big matchup in Class AA between No. 1 Billings West (6-0) and No. 4 Gallatin (5-1) has started. The Golden Bears hit a big play less than a minute in as running back Tyreke Jones raced 80 yards for a TD and a 7-0 lead.

Looks like it's a great night for a game at Bozeman's Van Winkle Stadium:

6:55 p.m. | Bengals find paydirt, but ...

For the second straight week an opponent — this time Helena High — has found the end zone against Kalispell Glacier's defense, as Reece Silvonen threw a short touchdown pass.

The No. 2-ranked Wolfpack had four straight shutouts prior to last week. They lead the Bengals 21-6, though, as Cooper Pelc and Trey Ramey (twice) scored first-half touchdowns.

6:39 p.m. | A few more score updates

Here some scores of a few other ongoing contests as we wait for the rest of the state's games to kick off:

Class AA

Butte 14, Kalispell Flathead 0

Class B

No. 1 Florence 14, Eureka 0

Wolf Point 6, Cut Bank 0

6:25 p.m. | Thursday night lookback

Several 6 p.m. games are underway across the state. Of note in Class AA, No. 2 Kalispell Glacier jumped up 7-0 right away against Helena. In Class B, Malta and No. 3 Fairfield traded a couple early possessions but the Eagles have since taken a 13-0 lead, thanks in part to a fumble return for a TD.

As is the norm, there were a handful of games Thursday night. Here is a breakdown of how things played out:

Class B

Shelby 49, Conrad 26

8-Man

Cascade 70, Rocky Boy 0

Chinook 61, Harlem 20

Plentywood 65, Fairview 0

6-Man

No. 3 Absarokee 58, White Sulphur Springs 13

Also, we caught word from the 6-Man ranks that Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine standout Brody Ridgeway injured his knee in last week's big 38-22 road victory over Absarokee. D-G-S-G coach Cole Jelinek told MTN Sports that Ridgeway, a star tailback and linebacker, looks to be out for the season.

The Bearcats entered this week's game at Roy-Winifred with a 6-0 record and ranked No. 2 in MTN Sports latest 6-Man rankings. D-G-S-G has a huge matchup looming next week at home against No. 1 Grass Range-Winnett. It will be interesting to see how the Bearcats adjust without one of the classification's top players.