Chiefs drop away game against Browning

Ronan faced a challenging non-league opponent on Friday, September 5, falling to Browning 42-6 in an away Montana football game.

The Indians jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, and while Ronan’s quarterback, Aaron Luke did find the end zone with a touchdown pass in the second quarter, Browning’s offense continued to hum.

After going into halftime with a 24-6 advantage, the Indians scored another touchdown in the third and 12 more points in the fourth.

The Chiefs have a total of 114 yards of offense — 97 through the air and 17 on the ground. Luke completed 7 of 18 passes for 97 yards, and Brown also hauled in two interceptions.

Drew Holmlund led Ronan on the ground with 12 yards on two carries. Austin Schall caught one pass for 32 yards and Ethan Day pulled in two catches totaling 18 yards, according to MaxPrep’s Ronan boxscore.

Defensively, Brodee Woll had a big game for the Chiefs with 11 tackles, including two solo. Skylar Sias and Layton Burland also played strong defense for the Chiefs with another 11 tackles each. 

Ronan fell to 0-2 on the season, a mark they also had at this point in the season last year. The Chiefs would end up finishing the 2024 campaign 4-5, showing that the first two games don’t necessarily foretell the whole season story.

Two other teams in the Northwest A Conference are also 0-2 - Whitefish and Columbia Falls. Bigfork is 1-1 after a big 52-0 victory over Corvallis. Polson and Libby sit “atop” the league after two non-league games (non-league games don’t actually count in the standings) at 2-0. Polson had a 20-point win over Corvallis and a nail-biting win over Lockwood, while Libby has defeated Browning 54-8 and Stevensville 42-14.

The season is still young for the Chiefs, and conference play is always the great equalizer as the year progresses.