By Bruce Sayler
Butte Central has won a few games over the years on a 3-pointer at the buzzer – but not so many while wearing helmets and pads.
The Maroons did Friday night. Senior Jack Nagle nailed a 32-yard field goal as time ran out to lift BC to a 17-16 nonconference Class A high school football win over Hardin. The game, played before probably Butte Central’s largest home crowd in at least half a decade, was the Maroons’ home opener after a 27-0 loss at Lockwood kicked off the schedule last week.
BC led most of the game, except for a scoreless first quarter. Hardin’s only lead was 16-14 when magnificent quarterback D.J. Lefthand crashed into the end zone on a keeper with 1 minute, 35 seconds left on the clock. He then added the two-point conversion on another carry for the two-point spread late in the contest.
“I’m just proud of our kids,” Butte Central head coach Don Peoples Jr. said on Montana Tech’s Bob Green Field moments after the Maroons’ win on the artificial turf. “It was looking pretty bleak with about 1:30 to go. We ran a great two-minute offense getting into field goal range.”
Lefthand rushed for 165 yards on39 carries and passed for 203 in letting the Bulldogs off their leash and keeping the home crowd uncomfortable. He scored the tying touchdown on a 3-yard banger. The Hardin kickoff was a squib that was muffed by a BC player and went out of bounds at the Butte Central 23-yard line.
Senior quarterback Ryan Peoples quickly connected with Danny McCarthy for a 12-yard gain and the Maroons were marching, in double-time due to the time shortage facing them. Peoples’ flip to GG Fantini, who left a jet stream earlier scoring the Maroons’ first touchdown of the year, was foiled by the Bulldogs’ defense for a six-yard loss.
An incompletion followed and a third-down toss to freshman Hanly Mansanti, owner of BC’s other touchdown, came up nine yards short. It looked dire for Butte Central as time left dropped to about half a minute.
Hardin was found guilty of two major penalties (there were 30 penalties for 288 total yards assessed in the game) and, suddenly, the Maroons were sitting at the Bulldogs’ 34-yard line.
Peoples connected with Nagle for a gain to the 23 and then got eight more yards on a short pass to Mansanti. The kicking unit raced onto the field and Nagle booted the game-winner as the scoreboard clock blinked to all zeroes.
“We had a lot of kids playing a lot of positions out there tonight and it feels great to get the win,” Don Peoples Jr. said. “And major compliments (from the BC squad and staff) go out to No. 7(Lefthand).”
Hardin seemed to have the ball all night. The Bulldogs piled 26 first downs to Butte Central’s 12 and had possession for 83 plays. Butte Central had 44 snaps.
The Maroons’ defense gave up 400 yards in total offense, but only the two touchdowns and used two interceptions and a fumble recovery to thwart the Bulldogs’ attack. Joshua Sutton, with a cast on one hand, because of a broken thumb, picked off a pair of passes, one in the end zone to deny a Hardin TD and the other at about midfield after a tip by teammate Jaxon Hiatt. Mansanti got the fumble recovery late in the game after Treigh Hollow stripped the ball away from a Bulldog receiver at the BC 16-yard line.
Defenses ruled the first quarter and the bigger, physical Hardin squad rumbled in as a rugged, heavy load to test Butte Central. The Maroons were going to need to score early to have a chance to win before exhaustion was likely to slow them. So, the halftime 7-0 advantage was welcomed. Peoples found Fantini on a short pass the Maroon speedster corralled after it first thumped off his chest as he crossed the field. After snagging the ball back out of midair, Fantini dodged tacklers, picked up a couple blocks and tore down the east side of the field on a 54-yard touchdown play.
Fantini’s 46-yard return of a Hardin punt set the BC offense up in Hardin territory about midway through the third quarter. A Mansanti run and two penalties against the Bulldogs moved Butte Central to the 7-yard line and Mansanti took it in from there on a sweep around right end. The Maroons had a 14-0 cushion.
Hardin deflated it some with a TD two minutes later. Lefthand hit Samuel Koyama for a pass gaining 34 yards and a spot at the BC 48-yard line. Two 15-yard penalties against Butte Central helped move the Bulldogs to the 11, and Lefthand found Colvin Wiles coming across the middle at the goal line for a touchdown pass. Lefthand ran in the conversion and Butte Central’s lead had dwindled to 14-8 going into the fourth quarter.
Neither team yielded much in the last period until Hardin’s last possession of the game. The Bulldogs took over on their own 45 after a Maroon punt. Lefthand was stopped at the line of scrimmage and then threw an incompletion. He eked out a first down, though, on a 10-yard scramble. He then fired to Cale Nedens for a 42-yard gain as Sutton tackled the receiver short of the goal line. The Bulldogs were at the BC 3 and Lefthand blasted his way across the goal line.
“We hurt ourselves a lot with penalties and we have to get a lot better about that,” coach Peoples said. “It wasn’t pretty tonight but the kids found a way to persevere.”
The Maroons played without senior star receiver and returnman Keltan Keane, who injured a knee running back the opening kickoff in the BC season-opener at Lockwood last week. Coach Peoples said test results are being awaited to determine the injury’s seriousness. The player was at the game on crutches on the Maroons’ sideline.
Butte Central is 1-1 for the season and will next play on Thursday, versus Ronan at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.
Hardin, a 40-14 opening weekend winner over Stevensville, is also 1-1 so far and is slated to play at Browning next Friday.
Hardin 0 0 8 8 – 16
Butte Central 0 7 7 3 – 17
First Quarter
No scoring.
Second Quarter
BC – GG Fantini 54 pass from Ryan Peoples (Jack Nagle kick), 5:31
Third Quarter
BC – Henly Mansanti 7 run (Nagle kick), 8:50
HAR – Colvin Wiles 11 pass from D.J. Lefthand (Lefthand run), 6:38.
Fourth Quarter
HAR – Lefthand 3 run (Lefthand run), 1:35.
BC – FG Jack Nagle 32, :00.
Har BC
First downs 26 12
Rushes-yards 44-197 14-48
Passes 14-37-2 14-24-0
Passing yards 203 184
Total offense 400 232
Return yards 0 61
Punts-avg. 2-35.0 6-36.1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-2
Penalties-yards 15-150 15-138
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Hardin, D.J. Lefthand 39-165, Samuel Koyama 4-27, Cale Nedens 1-5. Butte Central, Ryan Peoples 4-31, Henly Mansanti 3-27, GG Fantini 2-2, Danny McCarthy 3-(-3), Team 1-(-9).
PASSING – Hardin, Lefthand 14-37-2-203. Butte Central, Peoples 14-24-0-184.
RECEIVING – Hardin, Colvin Wiles 6-80, Nedens 2-46, Koyama 3-45, Carlos Pisano 3-8. Butte Central, Joshua Sutton 3-84, Fantini 3-52, Jack Nagle 3-33, Mansanti 2-15, McCarthy 1-12, Manny Weang 1-4, Treigh Hollow 1-2.
