BUTTE — Sometimes a football game really does come down to a matter of inches.
On a rainy Homecoming and Silver B night at Naranche Stadium, Butte High and Missoula Big Sky traded punches for four quarters before the Eagles escaped with a 22-21 Western AA victory.
The Bulldogs led most of the way. Brady Walsh went berserk. Raeder Grey threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Bache made plays on both sides of the football.
And after Big Sky finally grabbed the lead with 1:38 remaining, Butte marched 60 yards in 14 plays to give itself one final chance to win.
The 31-yard field goal had the distance.
It just slipped right of the uprights.
Game over.
Butte couldn’t have asked for a more electric start.
Walsh took the opening kickoff and was gone, racing 94 yards to the house just 13 seconds into the game. Before the Bulldog offense had even stepped onto the field, Butte owned a 7-0 lead and Naranche was rocking.
The Bulldogs held that advantage through the first quarter, but Big Sky finally broke through early in the second behind quarterback Eli Kasberg.
Kasberg capped the Eagles’ scoring drive with a 9-yard touchdown run and then ran in the two-point conversion himself, putting Big Sky in front 8-7.
It would be the first of several lead changes.
Butte answered before halftime, and Grey delivered one of his biggest throws of the night.
The senior quarterback connected with Bache for a 58-yard touchdown with 4:55 remaining in the second quarter. The extra point put the Bulldogs back on top 14-8, and they carried that advantage into halftime.
Big Sky came out of the break and put together a 12-play, 76-yard drive. Kasberg finished it with a 1-yard touchdown run, and the extra point gave the Eagles a 15-14 lead with 7:04 remaining in the third.
That lead lasted all of 53 seconds.
Butte needed only two plays to answer.
Grey found Walsh, and Walsh did the rest, taking the pass 78 yards for his second touchdown of the night. After already taking the opening kickoff 94 yards to the house, Walsh had struck again from long distance and put Butte back in front 21-15.
The Bulldogs carried that six-point advantage into the fourth quarter.
Big Sky, however, began to lean on its ground game and the clock.
Kasberg was the workhorse, finishing with 25 carries for 141 yards and two rushing touchdowns while also completing 13 of 25 passes for 229 yards.
The Eagles put together their biggest drive when they needed it most.
Starting at their own 16, Big Sky drove 84 yards on seven plays. Kasberg capped the drive by finding Tristan Miller for a 27-yard touchdown with just 1:38 left.
The extra point was good.
Big Sky 22, Butte 21.
Now the Bulldogs needed an answer.
They nearly found one.
Starting at their own 26 with 1:38 remaining, Grey and the Bulldogs went right down the field. Fourteen plays later, Butte had covered 60 yards and positioned itself for a potential game-winning 31-yard field goal.
The kick went up as the final seconds disappeared.
It sailed just right.
Big Sky had survived.
The final score doesn’t tell the whole story of Butte’s night.
Grey completed 10 of 14 passes for 215 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 26 yards on the ground.
Walsh was electric every time he touched the football, finishing with 196 all-purpose yards. He caught one pass — the 78-yard touchdown — and returned three kickoffs for 118 yards, highlighted by his 94-yard opening score.
Bache caught three passes for 73 yards and the 58-yard touchdown. He also made one of Butte’s biggest defensive plays, intercepting Kasberg and returning it 33 yards.
Miner Lee added three catches for 44 yards and 21 yards rushing, while Koda Schleeman hauled in a 14-yard reception.
Defensively, the Bulldogs spent a lot of time on the field and continued to battle.
Finn Wortham piled up 16 total tackles, Maxximus Pearston finished with 11, Jaeger Hansen recorded 10 and Reese Cunneen added nine. Evan McEwen finished with eight tackles, while Lee and Colt Stenson each recorded seven.
Big Sky finished with 501 yards of total offense and 25 first downs, compared with Butte’s 262 yards and 11 first downs. The Eagles ran 75 offensive plays to Butte’s 36 and held the football for more than 30 minutes.
But Butte made its opportunities count.
The Bulldogs averaged 7.3 yards per offensive play, didn’t turn the ball over and produced touchdowns of 58 and 78 yards through the air to go along with Walsh’s 94-yard kickoff return.
Big Sky’s Kasberg proved difficult to contain. Along with his 141 rushing yards and two scores, he threw for 229 yards and the eventual game-winning touchdown. Elijah Jones added 107 yards on 19 carries as the Eagles piled up 272 yards on the ground.
Still, after 501 yards of Big Sky offense and more than 30 minutes of Eagle possession, the game came down to one kick.
That’s how close it was.
Butte led 7-0 after one quarter, 14-8 at halftime and 21-15 entering the fourth. The Bulldogs had an answer nearly every time Big Sky grabbed momentum.
They had one final answer in them, too — a 60-yard drive with the game on the line.
They just came up a few feet short of the finish they wanted.
Big Sky 22, Butte High 21
Scoring by quarter
Big Sky — 0 | 8 | 7 | 7 — 22
Butte High — 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 — 21
