STEVENSVILLE — Apparently the demise of the Butte Central football team was a little premature.

Butte Central jumped right back into the playoff race Friday night, as Brady Tippett tossed four touchdown passes and the Maroons knocked off Stevensville 31-13 in a Southwestern A football game.

The game was almost played in Butte because of smoky skies in the Bitterroot Valley. The Maroon leaned that they had to travel for the contest at 10:15 a.m. Friday.

Tippett, who passed for 317 yards, threw TD striks of 47 and 12 yards to Wyatt Kingston . He found Kale Guldseth for a 10-yard score before hitting Connor McGree for a 73-yard scoring strike.

Danny Peoples also booted a 32-yard field goal for the Maroons, who improved to 1-1 in conference play and 2-4 overall.

The Maroons led 10-0 after Peoples’ field goal and the first Kingston TD.

The Yellowjackets, though, fought back, taking a 13-10 lead after a Kyle Behrner 59-yard run and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jared Schultz to Zach Gavlak.

The second Tippett-to-Kingston strike, though, put the Maroons up for good at 17-13 just before halftime.

The Maroons tacked on 14 points in the third quarter.

Tippett completed 22 of 34 passes. He was picked off twice.

Guldseth, McGree and Kingston all lit up the stat sheet. Guldseth hauled in 10 passes for 103 yards, while McGree neted 110 yards on five catches. Kingston caught seven passes for 79 yards.

Joe Joyce and Chad Peterson also caught passes in the win.

Butte Central is back at home next week to take on Hamilton.

Butte Central     10    7   14   0 — 31
Stevensville          7    6     0    0 — 13
First Quarter
BC — Wyatt Kingston 47 pass from Brady Tippett (Danny Peoples kick), 10:50
BC — Peoples 32 field goal, 5:26
S — Kyle Behner 59 run (Bergman kick), 4:03
Second Quarter
S — Zach Gavlak 17 pass from Jared Schultz (run failed), 4:53
BC — Kingston 12 pass from Tippett (Peoples kick), 1:34
Third Quarter
BC — Kale Guldseth 10 pass from Tippett (Peoples kick), 8:05
BC — Connor McGree 73 pass from Tippett (Peoples kick), 5:24
                                    Team                          Stats
                                    BC                              Ste
First Downs                18                                13
Rushing                       25-61                          18-135
Passing                        22-34-1-317                12-40-2-128
Total Yards                 378                              263
Punts-Ave.                  5-43                             7-43.5
Fumble-Lost                1-0                              2-0
Penalties                      8-75                             15-135
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — BC, Joey Joyce 11-24, Tippett 6-29, Kingston 3-(-10), Ben Holt 2-5. Stevensville, Garrett Schult 6-(-4), Kyle Behner 12-139.
PASSING — BC, Tippett 22-34-1-317. Stevi, Schultz 12-40-2-129.
RECECING — BC, Guldseth 10-103, McGree 5-110, Kingston 7-79, Joyce 1-18, Chad Peterson 1-7. Stevi, Z. Gavlak 6-95, Chance Coleman 3-24, Jesse Sims 2-11, Austin Lords 1-(-2).