For the third straight year, Jefferson High’s football team has made it to the Class B semi-finals after edging Eureka, 33-32, in a thrilling overtime finish Saturday afternoon in Eureka.
The good news: Jefferson’s opponent will not be undefeated Florence-Carlton, which knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs in both 2021 and 2022, and is the state’s top-ranked team again this season. Instead, it will face No. 3 Manhattan, which romped past Columbus, 46-14. The Tigers beat Jefferson 24-10 during the regular season.
Game time is 1 p.m. this Saturday. It would certainly be appreciated if a large number of Panther fans would make the short trip to Manhattan to root the Panthers to victory and a shot at the State class B title. Good luck Panthers; we’ll be cheering for you.
In the other quarterfinal match-ups, Red Lodge rolled over Three Forks, 56-18; and Florence-Carlton beat Columbus, 36-14. Red Lodge and Florence-Carlton will face off Saturday at Red Lodge.
Volleyball is out
Meanwhile, the Lady Panther volleyball team came up just a few points short of qualifying for this weekend’s Class B state championship tournament, dropping a loser-out, five-set match to Columbus on the final day of the South Division tournament. It was a nail-biter — and a tough way to end a great year for the Panther girls.
Jefferson started the tournament against undefeated and perennial top seed Huntley Project. The Panthers scored first, but then Huntley powered over the next 5 points and went up 11-2 before the Panthers could get much to fall. The Red Devils went on to win 25-9. The Panthers came back in the second set, going up 7-2 on an Arena Faler slam. Cameron Toney put some gunpowder on a blast that gave the Panthers a 10-5 lead, then put over three straight kills to give the Panthers a 25-18 win. That would be the only set Huntley Project would drop in the entire tournament; it went on to top the Panthers by 25-10 in the third and 25-17 in the fourth.
Jefferson moved into the loser’s bracket, taking on Ennis. The Mustangs started with a 4-0 run, but the Panthers came back to tie the game at 9 and 12 before taking control with an ace by Maddy Averill and sneak kills by MacKenzie Layng and Clara Genger, winning the first set 25-16. The second proved to be a battle, but the Panthers held on for a 25-22 win. A block and an ace by Toney sparked a Panther run in the third, and Jefferson went on to win, 25-15, for the match.
Next up was Baker — which is about 460 miles from Boulder, just to show how big our division is. These two schools were really evenly matched, and it took 12 ties before the Panther pulled out the first set, 25-23. Baker started the second set with a 8-2 run and went on to win 25-19. The Panthers toughed out the third, 26-24, then lost the fourth, 21-25. In the final set, Baker started with the first four points, but the Panthers came back to tie at 6 before storming to a 15-9 win.
On Saturday morning the Panthers faced the host team, Columbus, with the winner punching its ticket to State. The Panthers and the Cougars had split two regular-season match-ups, so you knew this one would be tight.
The Panthers launched into the first set with three straight points by Faler before Columbus came back with a 6-2 run to go up 9-5. But blocks by Ryan Eveland, Toney and Genger gave the Panthers a 21-15 lead and they went on to win 25-20.
From here, it was two good teams trading sets. Columbus came back in the second with a 10-4 start and went on to win 25-12. Jefferson took the third, 25-17, and Columbus rebounded in the fourth, 25-15.
In the deciding set, the Panthers were up 5-2, 8-6 and 11-8 before Columbus came back. A Panther serve that was just out of bounds gave Columbus a point that tied the game at 11, and that gave the Cougars the spark they needed; they took the final four points for the 15-11 win. Huntley Project went on to win the division crown, with Townsend second and Columbus third. And the Panthers’ terrific season came to a close.
Practice for wrestling and boys and girls basketball starts Thursday, Nov. 16.
