A week after handing Jefferson High’s volleyball squad its first loss of the season in a taut, five-set contest, the Ennis Mustangs arrived in Boulder Oct. 4 for a return match. The result, before a raucous Homecoming crowd, was not the same.
In fact, the Lady Panthers took down Ennis in straight sets, vaulting into first place in the District 5B standings and giving themselves a nice mid-season confidence boost.
The Panthers started strong, reeling off the first four points of the match and going up 8-5 on a kill by Brooklyn Miller. Ryian Eveland blocked a Mustang hit for a point and the Panthers took a 22-14 lead on a kill by Cameron Toney. Ennis surged to tie the set at 23, and the teams stayed tied at 25. But a sneak kill by Toney made it 26-25 and the Panthers pulled out an exciting 27-25 win.
The Panthers took control early in the second, cruising to an 18-6 bulge on a couple of block points by Eveland and a pair of hard kills by Toney — who slammed another hard hit for the winner, 25-7.
The final set was more of the same. Jefferson went up 6-2, a kill by Brooklyn Miller made it 11-3, and Maia Walters’ ace extended the lead to 18-8. Ennis came back to pull to 20-13, but the Panthers closed it out with 5 straight points for the win.
On Saturday, the Panthers hosted the Jefferson High School invitational tournament. This was a lot of fun, with great action in the three gyms at the high school and Boulder Elementary. Thanks to all the people who helped to put this tournament on.
The Panthers took on Florence-Carlton in the first match. The teams were tied several times early on before Florence went on a 5-0 run to go up 10-5. Jefferson never recovered, and suffered a 13-25 loss. Next up was Huntley Project, which has dominated Class B for years. The Panthers tied the score at 8, and it was 17-18 before Huntley went on a run to pull out the win, 25-19.
After that, it was pretty smooth sailing for the Panthers. They took down Choteau, 25-9; Chester-Joplin-Inverness, 25-23; Columbus, 25-24; and Shelby, 25-8. This week, the Panthers host Whitehall on Thursday and travel to Broadwater on Saturday.
Football
The Panther football squad took on Columbus on a gusty, smokey evening before a Homecoming crowd — and hung on in a gritty contest between two playoff-bound teams for an important 17-12 win.
The scoring started in an unusual way. In the second quarter, Columbus was forced to punt out of its end zone, and the kick went straight up into the air. Brady Armstrong caught the ball and had to take just a few steps to reach the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-0 Panther lead.
Columbus was able to return the score, but its PAT was wide left, leaving the score 7-6 at the half. The Panther defense swarmed in on every play Columbus ran, keeping the Cougars off their rhythm. And Luke Oxarart ran the ball into the end zone for the decisive score.
Oxarart had 30 carries for 194 yards and a touchdown, and Hunter Stevens kicked a 25 yard field goal. This week the Panthers travel to Sweet Grass County, with a 7 p.m. start. On Oct. 18, they take on Manhattan before closing out the regular season at home against Townsend on Oct. 25.
Cross Country
At the Mountain West meet on Sept. 28, Dominic Hurlbert took 46th in the varsity boys race in 16:48.65. Isabella Warren finished 23rd place in the JV girls race in 22:21.45, Rebekah Warren 68th in 23:52.42, Natalie Russ 82nd in 24:87, Maylea Dawson 95th in 24:14, and Lily Oelkers 100th in 24:40.74.
And at the Headwaters Invitational last Saturday in Three Forks, Hurlbert finished first in 16:11. Marshall Jensen was 18th, 18:10, Caelum Dunn 21st, 18:34, and Colin Gallagher 27th, 19:45. For the girls, Peyton Stearns finished 3rd in 20:06, Rebekah Warren 14th, 22:00, and Natalie Russ 27th, 23:33.
The Panthers will be running in Helena at 7 of 7 Meet this Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Bill Roberts Golf Course, a great opportunity to support the “Hoofers” in action. The top seven from each team compete in reverse order — leading up to the #1 runners starting at 4:45. Good luck, Panthers!
