The fall sports season isn’t even half done — and already, Jefferson High’s teams have demonstrated that they’ll likely be in the mix when the post-season comes around.
The Panther football team improved its non-conference record to 3-1 with a convincing 41-6 rout of Thompson Falls. Luke Oxarart racked up 85 yards rushing, and his backfield mate Ben Werner ran for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Tyzer Zody had 124 yards in the air with two touchdowns, both of them to Cobe Brunett, who had 66 yards receiving. Zody also ran for a touchdown, and Brady Armstrong returned a fumble for another score.
The Panthers begin their conference-counters this Friday with a tough match-up against Three Forks. The action in Boulder starts at 7 p.m., and this should be a great one. Come out and support the Panthers as they start their run for the Class B playoffs.
Volleyball
The Lady Panther volleyball team, meanwhile, has been knocking down conference rivals for a while. It improved to 5-0 in District 5B play with wins over Three Forks and Whitehall last week. Undefeated Jefferson tops the conference rankings, with Ennis second at 4-1, Townsend 3-1, Manhattan 1-2, Whitehall 1-2, Three Forks 1-5, and Lone Peak 0-4.
The Panthers are all over the conference statistics leaderboard. Avery Popp is 3rd in aces with 11. Cameron Toney is 2nd in kills with 80, and 12th in blocks with 4.5. Ryian Eveland is 7th in kills with 18, and tied for 1st in blocks with 15. Maddy Averill is tied for 4th in aces, 10, and 4th in digs, 73. Erica Shields is 10th in aces, with 8, and 3rd in assists, 101. Grace Quigley is 10th in blocks, 5, and Brooklyn Miller is 13th in blocks, 4.5.
This week the Panthers are at Ennis on Thursday and at the Choteau tournament on Saturday.
Flag football
Jefferson’s very successful inaugural flag football team season is almost done. The Panthers head to the state tournament this week at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman. They’ll open against Wolf Point on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Lady Panthers wrapped up their regular schedule with a 14-13 loss to Three Forks, in a game that went to four overtimes. In the first two extra periods, both teams scored from the 10-yard line. In the third, both teams were stopped. Finally, Three Forks stopped the Panthers and then scored for the win.
In that game, Bella Murolo had 10 flag pulls for Jefferson, plus 3 offensive catches. Livi Logan made 6 catches, one for a touchdown, and one flag pull. Slonee Ostby had 5 flag pulls and 3 interceptions. And Lili Roscelli had 6 flag pulls and one interception.
In the Panthers’ 31-12 victory over Butte, Jill Senechal made 3 catches and 1 flag pull. She also shared the quarterback role with Logan and Cate Barry. The three combined to produce 39 successful catches, up from an average of just 15 in earlier games — so a great improvement. Barry also had a touchdown and a flag pull. Maysa LaFromboise made 6 catches, one for a touchdown, and 1 flag pull. And Meredith Rieder had 2 catches, one touchdown and 2 interceptions.
Good luck at State, Panthers!
