by Scott Sacry
The Darby football team, ranked #7 in the final 406 MT Sports 8-Player football poll, hosted a playoff game for the first time in over 30 years on Saturday, Oct. 31, as the Tigers hosted the #9 Chinook Sugarbeeters in the first round of the 8-Player state tournament.
Darby was the West’s No. 2 seed, while Chinook was the North’s No. 3 seed. The two teams were evenly matched, resulting in a back-and-forth game.
Darby opened the scoring with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Abe Atkins to Oliver Long; the 2-point conversion was good, giving Darby an 8-0 lead. Chinook responded with two unanswered touchdowns, leaving Darby trailing 8-12 at the end of the first quarter. Darby responded in the second quarter as Atkins connected with Gavin Anderson on two touchdown passes – one for 14 yards and one for 48 yards – to give Darby a 22-12 lead. Chinook finished the first half strong with touchdown runs of 75 yards and 58 yards, putting Darby behind 22-26 at halftime.
After halftime, a Darby fumble led to a Chinook score, extending Chinook’s lead to 22-32. Darby responded as Atkins hit Jordan Browning on a quick pass that Browning took 46 yards for a touchdown on an outstanding individual run, cutting the deficit to 28-32. But Darby couldn’t get any closer, as Chinook put together a long scoring drive to start the fourth quarter to take a 10-point lead. Darby was unable to score again, and lost 28-38.
It wasn’t the result Darby had hoped for, but they fought hard all game and should be proud of their effort in a tough, hard-hitting contest. It was another strong season for the Darby football team, as they finished with an 8-2 record, took second place in their conference, made the playoffs for a second year in a row, and hosted a playoff game for the first time since the 1990s.
See the 8-Player state bracket here:
Leave a Reply