There were under two minutes to go Friday night in Florence. Jefferson High was hanging onto a seven-point lead over Florence-Carlton, the top-ranked football team in Class B — but the Falcons were mounting a last-ditch comeback.
This game was huge. The Falcons had walloped Jefferson, 51-7, last year in the state semifinals, on their way to the Class B championship. They were undefeated so far this fall, with all-state quarterback Patrick Duchien shredding the first three defenses he saw.
This was going to come down to the final play. Jefferson had, unexpectedly, opened up a 24-12 margin with three touchdowns in the second quarter. It was Luke Oxarart passing 25 yards to Jace Oxarart for a score. Then Luke Oxarart running it in from four yards out. And then another touchdown pass just before halftime.
In the second half, Florence-Carlton came back to within 27-24. But with two minutes left, Luke Oxarart rumbled 10 yards for six, and then found Zack Zady for a two-point conversation. Score: 34-27, Panthers.
Florence-Carlton wasn’t going away. Duchien tossed a 30-yard strike to receiver Ryan Winters, putting the Falcons in Jefferson territory, then completed a short pass to bring the ball to the 44.
But that’s where the Falcons’ last gasp ended. Duchien’s fourth-down pass was incomplete, and the Panthers had knocked off the number-one team in the state. They are now 3-1 on the season, and this Friday they’ll take on Townsend, another highly ranked team. This game may just be for the district title.
Luke Oxarart completed nine of 14 passes for 117 yards, and he ran for 92. Dylan Root led the Panther rushing with 109 yards on 24 carries. Zody had six receptions for 50 yards.
Volleyball
The Lady Panthers played two away matches last week, traveling to Manhattan on Thursday and Whitehall on Saturday.
In Manhattan, the Tigers started with a 6-1 run, but a pair of aces by Emma McCauley made it 4-6, and a block by Ryian Eveland gave the Panthers an 8-6 lead. Arena Faler slammed over a pair of hard kills to give the Panthers some breathing room, 18-8, a sneak kill by Cameron Toney made it 19-14, and Jefferson went on to win, 25-18.
The second set was close all the way, tied at 20, 21 and 22. Manhattan went up 24-22, but the Panthers came back with the next four points to take the win 26-24. The third saw Jefferson go out to a 10-3 lead, but the Tigers made it interesting by pulling to 18-15 before the Panthers pulled it out, 25-21.
Saturday in Whitehall, the Panthers started with a 9-4 run. Kills by Faler and Toney made it 14-9, and a great dig by Haleigh Henschel saved a point, opening the door for a Panther win, 25-11. A kill by Erica Shields tied the second set at 2, and the score stayed close until the Panthers went on a 13-6 run. A couple of hard kills by Toney made it 22-10 and the Panthers took the win 25-14.
Somehow the flow switched in the third: The teams were tied in the early going, and then Whitehall took a 18-14 lead and held on for a 25-22 win. Down early in the fourth, the Panthers came back to take a 12-11 lead on a MacKenzie Layng kill. They went on to take the four-set win, 25-19.
This week the Panthers played at Three Forks on Tuesday night. They’ll host Columbus on Thursday and travel to Choteau for a tournament on Saturday.
Cross Country
The cross country teams are in Butte on Saturday. Last weekend, they competed in the Mountain West Class, a big race bringing together schools of all classes from across Montana and Idaho. The Jefferson boys finished 30th out of 58 teams. Luke Mest was the Panthers’ top finisher, running a personal best 17:45.50 to place 86th out of 417 varsity runners. Logan Hornung was closed behind at 17:53.40, and Dominic Hurlbert finished at 18:21.48.
For the girls, freshman Hannah Stevens led the way at 21:51.51. Classmate Michaela Morris finished at 24:24:59, and Meredith Rieder was at 24:34.22.
