WHITEFISH — On a picturesque Saturday afternoon, with the Whitefish Range towering over Memorial Field, the Whitefish Bulldogs capped off a come-from-behind victory that will stand in the school’s history books for the rest of time.

After conceding a touchdown to fall behind 29-28 with three minutes to play, senior quarterback Luke May orchestrated a six-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a 35-yard touchdown pass to senior Jed Nagler on fourth and seven with 1:15 to play. The score flattened the Miles City sidelines and the Bulldogs held on to defeat the Cowboys 34-29 for their first trip to the Class A semifinals since 2001.

“It was a fade. Luke was scrambling and I was just waiting for him to throw it,” Nagler said.

“We’ve done it a million times. It was just natural. There’s a lot of trust there.”

“I didn’t see anything down the field so I just hucked it up to Jed,” May said.

“I mean, he’s 6-3, 215 pounds. He came down with it. It was awesome. It’s an amazing feeling.”

It was Nagler’s second receiving score in the contest as he finished with five receptions for 77 yards.

The visiting Cowboys gave Whitefish all it could handle, jumping out to a 20-7 halftime lead. Miles City junior quarterback Matthew Blunt hit senior wideout Alec Haughian for touchdown passes of 45 and four yards in the first half and the Cowboys ensured they wouldn’t be an inferior opponent.

“Miles City came out and played a much better first half than we did,” Whitefish coach Chad Ross said.

“We just needed to settle down. Coming out of the half we told our kids to take a breath. There’s still two quarters of football and we tweaked a couple things and settled down. Once we got going, I thought we played lights out in the second half.”

The Cowboys punted on their first possession of the third quarter, which set up Nagler’s first touchdown of the day. The Whitefish defense stood strong on Miles City’s next possession, forcing another punt. Two plays later, junior running back Chris Park took a draw play 57 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 21-20.

After a Miles City field goal, Whitefish responded when May hit senior wideout Jack Streibich, who turned up field and tip-toed up the left the sideline for a 22-yard touchdown strike. Streibich finished with 101 yards receiving on eight catches.

The brawl continued punch for punch when Mile City reclaimed the lead with Haughian’s third receiving touchdown of the game. It was the fourth lead change of the contest that set up the last-minute Bulldog rally, propelling Whitefish into a semifinal matchup with Billings Central at Memorial Field.

“I think we’re a better team than last year with a lot of really good players,” Nagler said.

“We play like a team. We’re a bunch of brothers out here and it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun.”

Miles City 14 6 0 9 — 29

Whitefish 7 0 14 13 — 34

1st Quarter

M — Alec Haughian 45 yard pass from Matthew Blunt (Blunt kick) 9:46

W — Jack Streibich 11 yard pass from Luke May (Haley Nicholson kick) 4:08

M — Blake Young 2 yard run (Blunt kick) 1:57

2nd Quarter

M — Haughian 4 yard pass from Blunt (kick failed) 0:04

3rd Quarter

W — Jed Nagler 7 yard pass from May (Nicholson kick) 5:40

W — Chris Park 57 yard run (Nicholson kick) 4:40

4th Quarter

M — Blunt 27 yard field goal 11:10

W — Streibich 14 yard pass from May (Nicholson kick) 6:56

M — Haughian 22 yard pass from Blunt (2 pt conversion failed) 3:00

W — Nagler 35 yard pass from May (2 pt conversion failed) 1:15

———

Miles City Whitefish

Total yards 370 292

Rushes-Yds 38-129 21-43

Passing Yds 241 249

Comp-Att-Int 13-25-0 18-24-1

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

—————

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Miles City, Evan Haughian 18-105, Tyler Burk 8-20, Matthew Blunt 12-4. Whitefish, Chris Park 5-67, Luke May 13-(-33) Brian FauntLeRoy 3-9.

PASSING — Miles City, Matthew Blunt 11-22-221-3, Alec Haughian 2-3-20-0. Whitefish, Luke May 18-24-249-3.

RECEIVING — Wyatt Lesh 2-56, Brett Keith 2-32, Alec Haughian 6-134, Evan Haughian 2-3, Tyler Burk 1-16. Whitefish, Jack Streibich 8-101, Jed Nagler 5-77, Brian FauntLeRoy 3-29, Chris Park 1-30, Vincent Smith 1-12.

Billings Central 42, Hamilton 0

Hamilton 0 0 0 0 — 0

Billings Central 7 14 14 7 — 42

First quarter

BC: Holden Ryan 12 pass from Michael Stanton (Benton Braesicke kick), 2:24.

Second quarter

BC: Colin Holetz 8 run (Braesicke kick), 6:36.

BC: Holetz 58 run (Braesicke kick), 57.7.

Third quarter

BC: Holden Ryan 45 run (Braesicke kick), 10:15.

BC: Holetz 13 pass from Stanton (Braesicke kick), 7:41.

Fourth quarter

BC: Kaylor Althoff 5 pass from Jet Campbell (Braxton Feragutti kick), 1:14.

———

Hamilton Central

First downs 8 16

Rushes-yards 24-39 41-412

Passing 8-18-0 6-9-0

Passing yards 66 60

Total offense 105 472

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 2-10 9-80

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Hamilton: Alex Draper 15-40, Brider Bauder 1-4, Wyatt Luedecke 1-0, Bret Huxtable 7-(minus 5). Central: Colin Holetz 4-148, Holden Ryan 9-69, Jesse Byorth 6-58, Michael Stanton 7-41, Bain Campbell 2-48, Evan Barthel 7-18, Kaylor Althoff 2-3, Jonah Studer 1-5, Ben Voss 2-13, Matthew Kale 2-9.

PASSING – Hamilton: Bret Huxtable 8-17-66-0, Bridger Bauder 0-1-0-0. Central: Michael Stanton 5-8-55-0, Jet Campbell 1-1-5-0.

RECEIVING – Hamilton: Ty Burt 3-29, Bridger Bauder 3-26, Alex Draper 2-11. Central: Holden Ryan 2-33, Kaylor Althoff 2-5, Colin Holetz 13, Jacob Hadley 1-9.

Butte Central 27, Laurel 12

No summary available

Friday

Dillon 48, Belgrade 17

Dillon 19 7 15 7 — 41

Belgrade 0 3 14 0 — 17

First quarter

Dil - Nate Simkins 4 pass from JD Ferris (Payton Lafrentz kick), 8:32

Dil - Brady Richardson 11 pass from Ferris (kick blocked), 7:17

Dil - Simkins 16 pass from Ferris (pass failed), 1:15

Second quarter

Bel - Shane Huntsman 29 FG, 8:28

Dil - Simkins 10 pass from Ferris (Lafrentz kick), 3:20

Third quarter

Bel - Brayden Konkol 4 run (Huntsman kick), 8:09

Dil - Simkins 14 pass from Ferris (Richardson pass from Ferris), 6:44

Bel - Konkol 1 run (Huntsman kick), 1:14

Dil - Jason Ferris 34 pass from JD Ferris (Lafrentz kick), :59.0

Fourth quarter

Dil - Tyler Vanslyke 81 run (Todd Nordahl kick), 6:07