The first week of sports was a great success for Jefferson High. After practicing for two months out of the summer and doing two- a-days for a couple of weeks, the athletes were ready for action.
FOOTBALL The football team started it out with a game with Florence- Carlton Friday in Missoula at the University of Montana Washington Grizzlies football stadium. The location was a special treat for the players and fans. With all the smoke that has been hanging all over Montana and especially Missoula, it was really a surprise to arrive at the field and see the almost smoke free air. The added lack of wind made for a beautiful evening for the first game of the year. In all my years of covering JHS sports, I can’t remember a football game with weather conditions that great. A stadium that seats around 25,000 certainly was far from full but a great group of fans from both schools made a strong showing of support for the teams.
The Panthers kicked to the Falcons to start the game. A short kick gave the Falcons good field position but it would prove to be of no advantage as the Panther defense did an outstanding job. Mead Blake tackled for loss, Dalton Rykal added another tackle for loss and at fourth and 14 the Falcons had to punt. Starting on their own 30 the Panthers had trouble moving the ball. A personal foul made it first and 25, before Nate Burnett picked up 10 on a run, but a fumble gave the Falcons the ball on the Panther 18. Once again the Falcons came up against a determined Panther defense. Nathan Rasch made a tackle for a 9 yard loss, Bryce Harrington followed with another tackle for loss and it was third and 17 for the Falcons. A long pass was picked off by Ja- cob Travis who returned it to the Panther 45. A run by Brunett put the Panthers in good position at the 11 but on fourth and six the Panthers failed to get the yardage for a first down. The Falcons got some energy with what looked to be a touchdown but a penalty brought the ball back to the 44. Avery Stiles came up with a nice tackle to put the Falcons in trouble and shortly after Josh Eckmann came up with an interception that gave the Panthers a chance to move down the field. The first ended with no score from either team.
The Panthers wasted no time changing that, though. They put the first points on the board with 6:55 left in the second quarter with a Brunett run, followed by a good PAT by Mead Blake. After that, turnovers and penalties showed it was the first game of the year for both teams and the half ended with the Panthers up 7-0.
The Panther defense came up big many times in the third. Every time the Falcons got the ball they would have Panthers all over them. Brunett scampered down the field for an 81-yard touchdown but it was nullified by a hold on the Panthers. Hayden Guisti put together speed and power to give the Panthers some room but the third ended with the score unchanged, 7-0 Panthers. Brunett broke several tackles, and dodged a few Falcons on the way to a 61-yard touch- down with 7:02 left in the game. The PAT was blocked, and the Panthers held a 13-0 lead. Mead put the kickoff deep and then raced down the field and made the tackle on the runner on the Falcon 25. Britton Peterson, Brett Hale and others kept the pressure on the Falcons and the Panthers took the win 13-0.
This week the Panthers host Shepherd on Friday night in a game starting at 7:00 p.m.
CROSS COUNTRY OPENS The cross country teams competed in their own meet in Boulder Saturday morning. Teams from Broadwater, Sheridan, Harrison, Three Forks, Anaconda, Ennis and Whitehall joined the Panthers in the first meet of the season. A total of 46 boys and 22 girls took part in the races.
Broadwater won both the boys’ and girls’ varsity races and had the only team with enough runners in the boys’ JV to get a team score. Brooke Dolan, whose maiden name was Rieder, is the head coach of the Bulldog cross country teams and is doing a great job in building a top team in Montana Class B. An outstanding runner in her days as a student-athlete at Jefferson High, Dolan has plenty of skills to share with the Bulldogs. Broadwater took first in the boys’ varsity with 56 points, followed by Anaconda at 63, Three Forks 89, and Jefferson 96.
Hunter Henschel was the first Panther to finish, running 11th in 21.01. Teammate Andy Johnson finished 15th in 21.54, and JHS runners Gabe Gilmore (16th in 21.56), Hunter Gilbert (26th in 23.17), and Drew McMannis (28th in 24.53) completed the Panther varsity contingent for the boys. In the boys’ JV Christian Davis was 10th in 26.40, J P Robson 13th in 28.10, and Dominick Davis 15th in 30.48.
Grace Alexander finished almost three minutes ahead of the second-place runner in the girls’ JV race, crossing the finish line in 25.18, a great first race time. The teams travel to Twin Bridges for a meet on Friday.
VOLLEYBALL The JHS volleyball team took first place in the Manhattan quad tournament on Saturday, losing only one game in the entire tourney, and that by a mere two points. In pool play they beat Whitehall 20-5, 20-12, Manhattan 20-14, 19-21, 15-9, and Livingston JV 20-8, 20-10.
In the playoff they beat Livingston JV 20-10 then Manhattan in the championship game 25-21. In the championship game a hard serve by Audrey McMaster put the Panthers up 4-0, and kills by Emily McGinnis, Mc- Master and Simonie Mendenhall stretched the lead to 7-1. Up 21- 15 the Panthers cooled off and let the Tigers come back to tie the game at 21. They then ran off the next four points to take the win 25-21 and the title.
The Panthers open their home season when they host Sweet Grass County on Thursday and they travel to Livingston on Fri- day to play Park High and Belgrade varsity teams.
