Butte Central and Dillon renewed their longtime rivalry Monday evening at the Maroon Activities Center in a hard fought battle won by the Maroons 21-14.
The froshmore football game was originally scheduled to be played in Dillon but due to the smoky conditions was relocated to the Mining City. A large contingent of Dillon’s faithful made the trip and along with the home fans everyone was treated to a close game that came down to the final possession. Hard-nosed defense dominated the first half as the Beavers took an 8-7 lead to the break after forcing three turnovers before finally hitting a 39 yard touchdown from JD Ferris to Parker Love and converting the two point conversion.
The Maroons opened up the scoring late in the first half on a 37-yard strike from Danny Peoples to Chad Peterson on a fourth-and-10. Prior to that Central turned the ball over fumbles on both of the opening possessions and an interception in the second quarter. Dillon couldn’t take advantage of the miscues however as Central had first half sacks by Marcus Ferriter, Ben Holt and Tyler Trudnowski all of which forced punts.
The Maroons started with back to back golden opportunities early in the third quarter but couldn’t cash in early in the third quarter. The first one started with a muffed Dillon punt that the Maroons recovered at the Beaver 24. After moving it down to the 5 yard line Dillon’s defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs.
BC quickly got the ball right back as Ferriter forced a fumble in the backfield that was recovered by Liam Doran and returned to the 4 yard line. Again the Maroons were stifled as they put it on the ground for the third time and Dillon came up with it on their own 1 yard line. The Beavers played it safe and quick kicked it on third after two runs up the middle got them nowhere. The punt did catch the Maroons off guard but sailed out of bounds at the 22.
This time Central converted on the great field position. Peoples threw a strike to Tanner Costello from 16 yards out followed by a pass to Dalton Sessions to give the Maroons the lead for good at 15-8. Dillon appeared to be driving for an answering score after gaining 2 first downs and moving into Central territory when Peterson picked Ferris off. Central started off a methodical march that took the rest of the third quarter and culminated in the second touchdown connection from Peoples to Peterson, this time from 15 yards out. The PAT failed and it was 21-8 with 10 minutes to go.
Dillon didn’t back down an inch, immediately hitting a big play as Ferris found a receiver streaking down the sideline. Cole Harper delayed the score by making the stop at the 2. The Maroon’s D-line stuffed two run attempts before Ferris found Love again from 2 yards out.
Dillon’s defense stopped Central twice in the last six minutes to give them opportunities for the game winning drive. The first time Dillon punted with just over 3 minutes to go. After the Maroons kicked it back to Dillon there were only 41 seconds left for the miracle seventy yard drive. On the second play Butte Central sealed the win as Frank Hendrickson busted through the line and sacked Ferris to put the exclamation point on the big win.
The Maroon froshmores move to 2-0 on the season and will be in action again next Monday at Anaconda.
