Just in time for homecoming, the Jefferson High Panther football team secured a win over Whitehall Friday night. The Panthers came out with increased energy and picked up their first conference win of the season.
After a long week of homecoming activities the Panthers finished the celebration with a 22-0 win over Whitehall.
The Panthers scored early, taking the ball down the field on a mixture of passes and strong running plays capped off with a 47 yard pass from Derek Nygaard to Avery Stiles. The Panthers went for a two point PAT and made it to go up 8-0.
The Panther defense was clicking and that made a huge difference in the outcome of the game. A shutout against a good Whitehall team does not happen very often. The Panthers went up 16-0 with a Dalton Rykal three yard run and another two point PAT.
Both teams fought to score after that. The Panthers crowned the victory in the fourth quarter with a two yard run by Jaxson Yanzick, who was able to come back after being off a few weeks with a broken toe. The PAT was not good, but the Panthers celebrated a nice win.
It was a really nice evening with great weather for a football game.
The Panthers are off this week and finish off the regular season on Friday, October 19, at Townsend.
After seven weeks of football Sweetgrass County (Big Timber) leads District 5B with a 5-0 league, 6-0 overall record. Manhattan is second with a 3-1, 3-3 record. Townsend is 3-2, 4-3, Three Forks 2-3, 4-3, Whitehall 1-3, 2-5, and Jefferson 1-4, 2-5. Four teams advance to post season play. This week Jefferson and Townsend are off, Columbus is at Whitehall, Manhattan is at Three Forks, and Big Timber is at Colstrip.
VOLLEYBALL
The Lady Panther volleyball team had a busy week. Thursday they kept their undefeated conference winning season alive with a three set win over Townsend. Then they finished off a very busy Homecoming Week with a tournament that attracted many of the best Class B teams in the state to Boulder.
Against Townsend Thursday, the Panthers ran off six straight point in the first set with Simonie Mendenhall powering over kills and aces. They went up 9-2 on a sneak by Abby Rosenbaum and 15-9 with a kill by Ashley Pankratz. Coach Majors subbed freely and the Panthers took game one 25-15.
The Panthers moved out to a 23-8 lead in the second set before the younger girls took over and held on for a 25-18 win.
Set three was close to start, but the Panthers took charge after being tied at 8 all. An ace by Hannah French started a Panther run that put them up 20-14 and again the young girls took over. Townsend, playing short handed, came back to pull to 24-22 but the Panthers held on for a 25-23 win.
Next up was the big and powerful Smack Down in Big Rock tournament on Saturday. This is the second annual tournament that draws teams from Colstrip, Shelby, Choteau, Florence, Joliet, Three Forks and Jefferson to a full day of quality volleyball. Both JHS gyms and the Boulder Elementary gym go all day with matches.
Five of the seven teams at the tourney – all but Colstrip and Choteau – had played at the State Class B Volleyball Tournament last year, and the competition in Boulder could well be a good preview of what to expect at State this year.
The Smack Down tournament is different from most competitions, though, as the teams play two games to 21 with a time limit of 45 minutes with no tie breakers or playoffs. It is a real test of the teams and offers plenty of good quality playing time.
The Panthers started off by beating Florence in the first game 21-13, and lost the second game 21-14. Next up the Panthers beat Colstrip 21-14, 21-17, and split with Joliet, losing the first game 21-16, and winning the second 21-18. In their third match, the Panthers beat Shelby 21-9, 21-14 then lost to Choteau in the last match of the day 21-18, 21-13. By then the Panther girls were showing the fatigue of the week-long homecoming celebration. Besides their volleyball competition, many were among the homecoming court and took part in lots of other activities during the long week heading up to Saturday.
Although no overall placings or trophies were awarded in the tourney, the number of individual games won tells an interesting tale. Florence won 10 of the 12 games they played. They were the only team to play in 12 games. Choteau won 9 of its 10 games, JHS won 6 of 10, Joliet finished with 5 wins out of 10, Colstrip took 4 of 10, and Three Forks and Shelby each took 1 of 10. JHS finished in fourth at State last year, trailing only Huntley Project, Florence and Joliet.
This week the Lady Panthers travel to Whitehall on Thursday, where JV plays at 5:00, and varsity plays after the JV match. This is the only match for the girls this week. Next week the Panthers finish off the regular season (where did the season go?) with a match at Manhattan on Thursday, in their new gym, and on Saturday they host Sweetgrass County. This is senior night. The district tournament is October 26-27 at Belgrade.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Jefferson High cross country teams competed in Helena at the large 7 on 7 Meet Thursday. For the boys in the number two race Gabe Gilmore took 39th in 20:20. In the number three race Andy Johnson took 41st in 20:05. The number four race found Hyrum Parke finishing 35th in 20:04, and the number five race included Christian Davis at 39th in 21:22. Finishing out for the Panthers, Brendan Gallagher took 44th in 22:42 in the number six race.
For the Lady “HOOFERS” Grace Alexander took 17th in the number five race in 22:42, Becca Nelson took 27th in the number six race in 24:33, and Lauryn Armstrong took 33rd in the number 7 race in 27:35.
This week the “HOOFERS” will be at the Broadwater County cross country race at the Townsend golf course. Meet starts at 10:00 a.m., walk through at 9:00 a.m. The following Saturday, October 20th, the State Cross Country meet is in Missoula.
