It’s 341 miles from Hot Springs to West Yellowstone, Montana. A mere road trip to Montana high school athletes.

But when you are a six-player football team in search of opponents, distance be damned.

It’s a long way between stage coach stops in this neck of the woods.

You’d think after a drive that far, playing a football game would not be a good idea.

You would be wrong about that.

So despite the long haul getting to the town by the park, winning that football game 38-26, as the Hot Springs Savage Heat did, no doubt made the ride home a lot more fun.

The Heat kicked off their 2023 Western 6-Player Conference campaign with a trip to the fringes of the conference and came home with a big victory thanks to a Big Sky size effort by junior running backs Johnny Waterbury, David Chapman and Weston Slonaker.

Waterbury ran for 135 yards on 14 carries and hauled in six passes for another 49 yards, while teammate Slonaker rushed for 138 yards on 16 totes.

They got a lot of help from junior teammate, running back/linebacker Chapman who scored three touchdowns on one-yard runs. Waterbury also had three TD’s from five, 13 and 42 yards out as Hot Springs junior-laden team took down the Wolverines on their home field Saturday afternoon.

The game was played on a Saturday instead of the more traditional Friday night under the lights thing because the players make such a long haul, it was determined they needed a night’s rest before playing a game as physically demanding as football.

Waterbury’s first touchdown of the game, a five-yard scoot to the end zone in the early going of the opening quarter, staked the Savage Heat to a 6-0 lead.

West Yellowstone answered that score on their next possession with a drive highlighted by a 42-yard scoring run by Ashton Brown. Neither team was able to convert their point after touchdown try and the score stood tied at six. Before the quarter came to an end, Waterbury hauled in a 13-yard scoring strike from junior quarterback Nick McAllister, who threw for 104 yards on 9 of 18 passing completions.

As time expired in the opening 10 minutes of play, Hot Springs held a 12-6 lead.

Hot Springs put together a drive in the second quarter that ended when Chapman plowed over the goal line for his first score of the day, boosting the Heat lead to 18-6.

The Wolverines answered that score before the first half ended when Brown scored on a 53-yard pass play, making it 18-12 Hot Springs at the half.

Brown, who had four touchdowns on the day, helped put West Yellowstone ahead in the third quarter when he scored on a 13-yard run, which, with a successful two-point after kick, put the home team in front 20-18.

Before the third frame was over, Chapman scored again from one yard out for the Heat. A successful PAT pass, worth one point in six-player ball, put Hot Springs back in front 25-20 as the third quarter came to an end.

In the fourth quarter, Chapman scored again from one yard out and Waterbury broke loose on a 42-yard jaunt for another score. The one point conversion on a pass from McAllister to Quincy Styles-Depoe gave the Heat a 38-20 lead with minutes remaining in the final quarter of play.

Brown scored one last time for West Yellowstone but it was not enough to overcome the Savage Heat lead as the visitors left with a 38-26 win.

Hot Springs, which hosts Alberton this Friday night at 7 pm, moved to 1-0 on the young season with the victory.