Bulldogs fall to Spartans

By Nick Lockridge of the Missoulian - 09/06/2008

MISSOULA — After years of hearing his school berated and jeered for its shortcomings in football, Missoula Sentinel quarterback Steven Rominger had heard enough Friday.

The senior signal caller threw for 179 yards and three touchdowns, with two more scores coming on the ground, in leading the Spartans to a 55-21 victory over Butte High in a Class AA game at Missoula County Stadium.

Butte's Mike Ueland rushed for 117 yards on 27 carries. His 1-yard TD plunge tied the tilt at 7-7 early in the first. That score was set up by an interception returned to the 2-yard line.

Rominger showed poise on one particular play in the third quarter, when he hit classmate Dalton Bright for a 74-yard scoring play down the right sideline.

The score put Sentinel up 41-7 after its first possession of the second half, but it was the previous play that really set things up.

Rominger underthrew a wide open Ben Roberts on a short bubble screen — his only incompletion of the second half — which elicited a stern yell from offensive coordinator Dane Oliver.

"Benny was so open I didn't want to miss him, but then I ended up missing him," said Rominger with a smile. "Coach was like ‘You gotta start flinging it' and I came out that next play and I just flung it.

"I get yelled at quite a bit," added Rominger, who was 10-of-16 on his passes. "I get used to shutting it down, but I came back with that next play..."

And like that, the Spartans are back.

Sentinel racked up 397 yards of offense, including 218 via the run, in bouncing back from a opening-game loss to Billings West.

"This is business," Rominger said. "We expect to do this. I'm not surprised with the result, we've been working really hard and we didn't expect anything less."

"This is what we should be expecting," said Sentinel coach Pete Joseph, whose team is 1-1. "I can't say enough about our fans and our student section. I'm proud of our school and our community. We worked our butts off for this."

Rominger accentuated his earlier TD pass with a 47-yard TD run on the first play of the final quarter to slam the door on Butte (0-2). He also had an 11-yard touchdown run on the Spartans' first drive of the game, giving his team a 14-7 lead.

Sentinel junior Jace Prideaux intercepted three passes, recovered a fumble and ran back the opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown.

"And his mom won the 50/50, no joke," Joseph said. "That's the best day ever."

"He had a pick last week, too," said Rominger, who had two of his passes picked. "He's just in the right place at the right time."

The rest of the Spartans defense came up with three fumbles and two more picks. Defensive end Zach Wagenmann and middle linebacker Jordan Creveling led the way in tackles.

The Spartans ran for four scores. Taylor McGreevey led the way with 86 yards on nine carries. His 35-yard jaunt gave Sentinel a 35-7 lead with 3:22 to play before halftime.

Senior David Cahoon, a recent transferred from Seeley-Swan, scored the final rushing touchdown when he scooped up a fumbled ball and ran it in from 20 yards out in the fourth.

Butte High tallied on two fourth-quarter TDs. One was a 23-yard pass to A.J. Leyba from Skyler Criscuolo. The other was 1-yard plunge by James Richards.

The Bulldogs (0-2) will be home next Friday night against Billings West.

Butte 7 0 0 14 n 21

Sentinel 14 21 6 14 n 55

First quarter

S n Jace Prideaux 86 yard kickoff return (Justin Meyer kick) 11:44

B n Mike Ueland 1 run (Levi Lovshin kick) 7:39

S n Steven Rominger 11 run (Meyer kick) 5:05

Second quarter

S n Dalton Bright 29 pass from Rominger (Meyer kick) 8:02

S n Tyler Jacobsen 7 pass from Rominger (Meyer kick) 5:06

S n Taylor McGreevey 35 run (Meyer kick) 3:22

Third quarter

S n Bright 72 pass from Rominger (kick blocked) 6:55

Fourth quarter

S n Rominger 47 run (Meyer kick) 11:56

B n AJ Leyba 23 pass from Skyler Criscuolo (Matt Berg kick) 6:44

S n David Cahoon 20 run (Meyer kick) 5:33

B n James Richards 1 run (Berg kick) 1:49

Individual leaders

RUSHING n Butte (39-145): Mike Ueland 27-117, Skyler Criscuolo 7-11, Matt Berg 1-9, Jared Buckley 2-3, James Richards 2-5. Sentinel (36-218): Taylor McGreevey 9-86, Steven Rominger 13-73, David Cahoon 4-25, Gerald Porter 7-27, Ryan Mutzenberger 3-7.

PASSING n Butte: Criscuolo 11-24-3n155, Berg 2-8-2n23. Sentinel: Rominger 10-16-2n179.

RECEIVING n Butte: Levi Lovshin 5-35, AJ Leyba 5-123, Ueland 1-2, Keaton Lappin 1-9, Tim Dick 1-9. Sentinel: Dalton Bright 3-111, Ben Roberts 4-34, Tyler Ramos 1-24, Tyler Jacobsen 1-7, Kyle Kostelecky 1-3.