The 2026 high school football season is under way, and Week 1 saw a little bit of everything.
The season kicked off Thursday and what a way to start, as Helena High and Billings Skyview opened the new Sam McDonald Stadium at Daylis in Billings. While it was a special night for the Magic City community, the Bengals got the first win in the new digs, rolling past the Falcons 41-14.
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Missoula Big Sky took over on Friday and trounced Billings Senior 69-0. That's a big season-opening statement for the Eagles after last year's run to the state semifinals.
Across the state, Billings West and Kalispell Glacier met in a rematch of last year’s AA title game. Points were hard to come by in this one, and the Golden Bears got a late goal-line stand to preserve a 6-3 overtime win.
In Class A, defending champion Frenchtown started the season with a 38-0 win at Bigfork.
And perhaps nobody was more impressive than Billings Central’s Gunnar Larsen. The senior had four touchdowns — in the first 15 minutes, including one where he threw a defender to the ground and broke free for a long score. The Rams, filling lots of new positions this season, cruised to a 50-0 win over Dillon.
Not to be outdone, Jefferson quarterback Tyzer Zody had a hand in five touchdowns against Missoula Loyola on Friday. He started the Panthers’ scoring with a rushing TD in the first quarter and then had a great diving interception to end the period and set up another Jefferson TD. The Panthers, playing their final year in Class B before moving up to Class A, cruised 48-14 over the Rams.
Elsewhere in Class B, Manhattan started its title-defense with a 36-6 win over Anaconda, Three Forks notched a 34-28 win over Florence and Huntley Project took down Malta 25-14.
Glasgow also had an impressive comeback to rally past Red Lodge 36-21.
The 8-Man season started with a bunch of lopsided wins, including reigning champion Scobey beating Poplar 40-0 and Drummond-Philipsburg blanking Ennis 44-0.
And it was a light Friday on the 6-Man fields with just a handful of games, but Absarokee and Jordan picked up key wins.
