Laurel stops Columbia Falls comeback

LAUREL — It was a runaway, and then it wasn’t, and eventually Laurel sealed a 35-28 Class A quarterfinal win over Columbia Falls Saturday on Isaiah Burt’s two-dragging interception with 1:19 left.

The Wildcats, who trailed 28-0 early in the second half, put a scare into the Locomotives before ending their season 7-3. Laurel (8-2) will play host to Havre in a semifinal game next Saturday at a time to be determined. The Blue Ponies, who trailed 23-19 after three quarters, beat Frenchtown 47-30.

Burt’s pick was the final nail: The receiver had a huge game with seven catches for 204 yards, and his 77-yard catch and run three plays into the third quarter but Laurel up four touchdowns.

The Wildcats, who had a clock drive end in an interception in the final minute of the first half, got to work from there.

“Then we started responding,” first-year Columbia Falls coach Kelly Houle said. “The defense got us the ball back and we started stopping their run game.”

Columbia Falls answered Burt’s long TD by marching to Reggie Sapa’s 1-yard scoring run — his only carry. At 2:14 of the third quarter Banyan Johnston threaded a 37-yard pass to Jett Pitts, who held on and scored to cut the gap to 28-14.

Laurel pushed the lead back to 35-14 with a short Hunter TD pass, but Columbia Falls got two touchdowns in the final 7:18 of the game — Johnston scored on runs of 10 and 3 yards — and got the ball back when Jory Hill picked off Hunter the Wildcat goal line with 1:48 left in the game.

Burt regained possession with a diving interception on Laurel’s sideline.

Johnston, a sophomore, finished 16 of 29 passing for 247 yards and he ran 14 times for 28 yards.

“I’m really proud of our kids. Banyan responded the second half,” Houle said. “We had to put the ball in the air because we needed to score quick.”

Laurel was deliberate: It’s first possession started at 10:32 of the first quarter and ended with 2 seconds left in the period on Hunter’s 1-yard scoring run.

The deficit grew to 14-0 on the first of two Curtis Fox touchdown runs; his second made it 21-0 with 1:40 left in the half and ended a third time-consuming drive.

It was a tall hill to climb but the Wildcats gave it a run.

“That’s what I’m going to take away from this game. The kids battled back,” Houle said. “Myself and the coaching staff challenged them at halftime.”

Ten seniors graduated from a team that a year ago lost in the State A championship in Dillon, in overtime. Houle, who took over for the retired Jaxon Schweikert, started a bevy of sophomores and also lauded the seniors like Sapa, Cooper Ross and Lane Voermans.

“Voermans has been with us forever, and those legacy layers really helped keep the culture going,” Houle said. “We feel we have a really good core of young players. Three of our four linebackers were sophomores. It’s exciting. It hurt to watch them go through that, but the way we responded the second half, down 28-nothing - we’re proud of them. That’s our message.”

Hill, a sophomore, had six catches for 99 yards.

Laurel beat Havre 27-20 on Oct. 11, in Havre.

C-Falls 0 0 14 14 - 28 Laurel 7 14 7 7 - 35 L — Krew Hunter 1 run (Luke Maack kick), :02-1Q L — Curtis Fox 10 run (Maack kick), 7:452Q L — Fox 3 run (Maack kick), 1:40-2Q L — Isaiah Burt 77 pass from Hunter (Maack kick), 11:04-3Q CF — Reggie Sapa 1 run (Cooper Ross kick), 8:13-3Q CF — Jett Pitts 37 pass from Johnston (Ross kick), 2:14-3Q L — Steele Hansen 3 pass from Hunter (Maack kick), 9:46-4Q CF — Johnston 10 run (Ross kick), 7:184Q CF — Johnston 3 run (Ross kick), 5:054Q INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING; Columbia Falls (15-29) — Johnston 14-28, Sapa 1-1. Laurel (41-121) — Fox 26-80, Hunter 15-41.

PASSING: Columbia Falls — Banyan Johnston 16-29-2 for 247 yards. Laurel — Krew Hunter 12-19-1 for 275 yards.

RECEIVING: Columbia Falls — Jory Hill 6-99, Sapa 4-53, Pitts 1-36, Easton Brooks 2-31, Ross 3-28. Laurel — Isaiah