Behind an explosive offense and stingy defense, Hot Springs rolled to its fifth straight Class C 6-man football victory last Friday, burying visiting Sheridan, 76-6.

The Savage Heat remain in a four-way share of the Western Division lead, now with a 4-1 mark. White Sulphur Springs, West Yellowstone and Valley Christian each have only one league loss — with three weeks to go in the regular season.

HOT SPRINGS has its Homecoming game this Friday, but against a different opponent than originally scheduled. The Savage Heat will get a forfeit win over Lincoln, and Hot Springs will instead host the Heart Butte Warriors at 7 p.m. Friday. Due to some internal issues, the Lynx will forfeit the remaining games on the Lincoln schedule this season.

“Our offense played really well,” Hot Springs head coach Jim Lawson said of the dominating win over Sheridan, and he thought it was the team’s most “complete” game this season. “We scored on our first five offensive plays. We were able to execute really well.”

Those first four scores included touchdown runs of 38 and five yards by Luke Waterbury and a 24-yard run by Tyler Knudsen, then a 14-yard pass from Brandon Knudsen to Waterbury and a 27-yard aerial from Knudsen to Bert DeTienne. The five TDs and three Tyler Knudsen conversion kicks gave the Savage Heat a 37-0 bulge after one quarter.

A 20-YARD run by Waterbury and 58-yard scoring strike from Brandon Knudsen to his brother Tyler were sandwiched around Sheridan’s only touchdown of the contest. The Savage Heat led 51-6 at halftime.

“We were talking a lot about starting fast and we did,” Lawson said. “Our defense did a good job, too … Our offense, defense and special teams all worked well.”

The coach had praise for the blocking of DeTienne and Tyler Carr up front.

Sheridan’s initial first down did not come until the second quarter.

“We had really good field position that set us up on short fields,” Lawson said, and with a running clock from the second quarter on, he was able to substitute freely in the second half. “A lot of kids got good playing time.”

Freshman Kyle Lawson scored three second-half touchdowns, on runs of 31, 13 and two yards. Nick Costa ran three yards for a Savage Heat score.

“Luke had a really good game running the football,” coach Lawson said, and he led the Hot Springs defense with three quarterback sacks.

LAWSON SPOKE about the Heart Butte team that comes in for Hot Springs’ Homecoming.

“They do have some good athletes. They have a good quarterback, he has a good arm and he’s a pass and run threat,” the coach said. “Homecoming can be a distraction. We’ll keep them focused during the week. Then they can relax and play football.”