Football lets one slip away on the road in Lewistown

Up 13-3 in the third quarter and moving the ball at will against Lewistown on the road, it looked like the Columbia Falls football team would notch its first victory of the season.

Then things fell apart.

The Eagles blocked two punts in a row. The first one led to an Eagles touchdown to cut the lead to 13-10.

The second one was returned for another touchdown to put the Eagles up 17-13.

The Wildcats  looked to make a push late in the fourth quarter to take the lead, but the drive fell short and time ran out.

Lewistown got on the board first, with a 39-yard field goal in the first half. But the Wildcats responded with a touchdown in the second quarter when Banyan Johnson found Hayden Strandeberg in the end zone.

Then in the third Trip Ross had a 30-yard TD run to put the Cats up 13-3 after the point after was no good. The radio announcers at that point thought the game was over.

But then things unraveled for the Wildcats as they couldn’t take care of the ball on special teams.

The bright spot was the offense and defense both played well. Johnston was 17 of 34 passing for 212 yards; Ross had 18 carries for 96 yards and Easton Brooks had six passes for 117 yards.

Meanwhile the defense held the Eagles to just 148 yards.

The Cats travel to Frenchtown this Friday. The Broncs are coming off a 28-7 drubbing of Bigfork.

C-Falls    0    7    6    0    -    13 

Lewistown    3    0    14    0    -    17

L — E Netburn 39 FG 

CF — Strandberg 20 pass from Banyan Johnston (Joe West kick) 

CF — Trip Ross 30 run (kick failed) 

L — Madden Norslien 19 pass from McKay Shobe (Netburn kick) 

L — Rhett Comes blocked punt return (Netburn kick)