The Victor Pirates scored 50 points in the first half of their Homecoming game and then went on to win, 64-20, in Western C action Saturday. Victor used their air attack as they have all year with junior quarterback Matt Kittel throwing for 256 yards and six touchdowns. He completed 19 of 31 passes. But it was the ground game that had Pirate coach Brandon Howell grinning.
“That was nice,” he concluded after the game. “We’re probably going to have to go up and play on the Highline (so) we wanted to work on that and get better.”
The Pirates scored twice from the ground. Their first rushing TD was when Kittle called his own number and plunged in from five yards out. Kyle Ball also raced 47 yards for a score in the second quarter. They kept pounding away to gain position on the field that allowed their air attack to take over. Corey Deering caught three touchdown passes. Kittel hit him from 38 yards out, 31, and 30 yards out. He also had a 21-yard fumble recovery and finished the day with 10 receptions for 140 yards. Ball had 137 yards receiving and had scores from 10 yards, 51 yards, and 26 yards.
“We can play with anyone in the state when we come out and play hard and execute what we do,” said Howell.
Howell said he was happy with how the defense and the offense stepped up and played hard, especially on the line. “Jack Pederson is a freshman and had to step up and play hard on the line. Zac Agee ran hard today and Corey (Deering) and Kyle (Ball) are just amazing, and Matt (Kittel) placed the ball well.”
Darby coach Loyd Rennaker said it was “a tough game against a tough team.” He said the Tigers changed up their defenses to compete against Victor “but when you have a lot of good athletes with a lot of speed, it’s tough.”
He was pleased with how hard his team played against Victor and felt they had a good effort. Quarterback Mitch Wolf went down with a shoulder injury early in the game and that slowed the Tiger offense down. Wolf was able to play defense. Dylan Knox had a 43-yard run for the Tigers’ first touchdown. He added a 23-yard run in the second quarter and Blake Komanik caught a Joe Caicedo pass for the 2-point conversion. Caicedo also had a one-yard run to score in the fourth quarter.
Victor improved to 5-2 in conference and overall play. They are currently behind Superior, Charlo, and Drummond who all have a 6-1 record. Victor defeated Drummond and has a chance to take over third place should Drummond lose one of their next two games.
Florence defeated Deer Lodge, 51-20, in 6B action. Derek Brown had four touchdowns for the Falcons, all on the ground. He opened the Falcons’ scoring with a 10-yard touchdown. He also added scored from five yards, 15 yards and seven yards out. Bryce Cobbs had a 70-yard kickoff return and later in the game caught a 15-yard touchdown reception from Aaron Ward. Tanner Cobbs added six from 20 yards out and the final Falcon TD from one yard out.
Butte Central defeated Hamilton, 52-29. Josh Bauder threw two touchdown passes. He hit Teague Blome from 12 yards out for the first Bronc touchdown. Blome also caught a Bauder pass from 14 yards out for the score in the third quarter. Bauder threw for 190 yards and completed 14 of 26 passes. Matthew Turley finished with 67 yards rushing including a 14-yard scoring run. Hunter Kerr picked off a Maroon pass and raced 14 yards for the pick six score.
Stevensville fell to Anaconda, 29-21, in a close Southwest A match. Zach Gavlak caught a couple of passes from Jared Schultz for touchdowns. The first was from 8 yards out and the second was from 22 yards out. Chris Bergman ran in the 2-point conversion on the first touchdown and kicked the PAT after the second TD. Kyle Behner scored the final Yellowjacket touchdown on a 3 yard run. The conversion failed.
Corvallis lost to Dillon 56 to 0.