Wildcats roll over Sidney, into Class A title game

SIDNEY — The Wildcats are well-traveled.

Trip Ross had two long scoring runs, Banyan Johnston threw two scoring passes and ran for a touchdown and Columbia Falls knocked off unbeaten Sidney 34-13 Friday in a State A football semifinal. 

The Wildcats, 10-1, will take on East Helena at home for the Class A championship Friday. It will be their second title appearance in four seasons and fifth overall; in September Columbia Falls beat the Vigilantes 38-35 on a last-minute field goal by Ross. 

East Helena beat Hamilton 28-14 in Friday's other semifinal, also on the road. 

On Friday Ross ran 24 times for 141 yards and Johnston picked up 119 on 16 carries. Ross' 33-yard run burst on fourth-and-1 — after Johnston picked off an Aiden Anderson pass near midfield — put the Wildcats up for good, 14-7, at 9:15 of the second quarter.  

Johnston's pick and another by Wyatt Nadeau helped fuel a 21-point second quarter that put Columbia Falls up 28-7 at halftime. 

"I thought we controlled the ball really well, we possessed the ball really well," Columbia Falls coach Kelly Houle said by phone Friday. "If you remember last week, when this team played Frenchtown they had 380 yards rushing or some ungodly amount (Sidney ran for 412 in a 33-7 win over the defending champs). We held them to 84. 

"This group of seniors has been playing together a long time, and I'm really super proud of them. When you get the final four anything could happen. That's a 540-mile trip and we came here and played a really good football game — a really good football game. I'm happy for our kids, happy for our parents, and happy for our school. So here we go." 

Sidney scored first, on the first of two long TD passes from Anderson to Brody Keysor. Columbia Falls knotted it up on the first Ross touchdown, covering 22 yards on the last play of the first quarter. 

Then the Wildcats picked off Anderson on two straight possessions. The second, by Nadeau at Sidney's 44, set up a 4-yard TD run by Johnston. Suddenly Columbia Falls led 21-7. 

When Johnston found Jory Hill behind the secondary for a 43-yard bomb with less than a second left in the first half, the lead grew to 28-7. 

Keysor hauled in a 50-yard pass from Anderson in the third quarter, and Sidney recovered a botched handoff with 10:37 in the fourth. But the Wildcats sacked Anderson on first down and forced a three-and-out. Then they drove 72 yards for a clinching TD. 

The key play was a 24-yard Ross run on fourth-and-4, and a horse-collar penalty tacked on 15 yards to set up first-and-goal. Johnston eventually scored from 5-yards out with 5:55 left.  

Sidney turned the ball over on downs on its ensuing possession and that was that. 

The Wildcats outgained the Eagles 405-183; Anderson was 5 of 16 passing for 99 yards and Sidney running back Aaron Schmitz managed 71 yards on 19 carries. 

Johnston was 10 of 20 passing for 145 yards. Hill had six catches for 108. 

Friday will mark the third time Columbia Falls has hosted the State A title game in 11 seasons; the Wildcats won their lone title in 2017. 

"They'd been rolling; they'd been 10-0," Houle said of the Eagles. "I'm just happy for the kids. That's the No. 1 thing. They've had goals for a very long time. They earned this shot and I'm very happy for them." 

Columbia Falls    7    21    6    -    34     

Sidney    7    0    6    0    -    13     

S — Brody Keysor 21 pass from Aiden Anderson (Ty Schepens kick), 2:51-1Q 

CF — Trip Ross 22 run (Ross kick), 0:00-1Q 

CF — Ross 33 run (Ross kick), 9:15-2Q 

CF — Banyan Johnston 4 run (Ross kick), 3:53-2Q 

CF — Jory Hill 43 pass from Johnston (Ross kick), :01-2Q 

S — Keyser 50 pass from Anderson (kick failed), :19-3Q 

CF — Johnston 5 run (pass failed), 5:55-4Q