Maroons, Cowboys clash today in Miles City

By Bruce Sayler of The Montana Standard - 11/01/2008

Miles City is not officially part of Butte Central's football schedule, but the two programs have been frequent opponents in the playoffs.

Another chapter in the series is due Saturday when the two tangle at 1 p.m. on Denton Field in Miles City to kick off this year's state Class A high school grid post-season. The winner of the first-round game will play at Polson next Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Butte Central reached the semifinals last year, a rare season in which Miles City did not advance past the regular season. The Maroons fell to Dillon in last year's semifinals.

Butte Central was the third seed from the Central A Conference this fall and takes a 4-5 overall record into the game. It is the 16th year the Maroons have gone to the playoffs in the 20 years Don Peoples Jr. has been the head coach. And, it is the eighth straight year the BC team has advanced to the post-season.

Miles City, ranked second, is 8-1 with the only loss being suffered against top-ranked undefeated defending state champion Billings Central 14-8 last weekend. The defeat made the Cowboys the Eastern A's second seed.

"They're an outstanding team, no question about it" Peoples said of the Cowboys. "They had a 2-7 season last year in a lot of turmoil with their coach (Dan Stanton) battling cancer. They came back this year and had a great year.

"They're big and physical and aggressive, defensively. They run the ball very well on offense with Brendan Haughian. He's done a nice job. They're a big, strong football team and will be a challenge for our kids." Peoples said Miles City likes to station the linebackers five to six yards off the line of scrimmage and that the players in the secondary fly to the football.

"That's the way they play defense and they've been good at it," the Maroons coach said. "If we're to have any chance at all, we'll have to move the football.

"We're very excited to have the opportunity to be in the playoffs and to rise to the occasion. We think our kids will play their best game of the year as well." Haughian has gained 1,370 yards on 213 carries this season, scoring 17 touchdowns en route. Miles City quarterback Jordan Bryant completed 52 of his 100 regular-season passes for 812 yards, including seven touchdowns. Bryant has been intercepted only three times. His favorite receiver is J.T. Keith, who has 13 catches for 276 yards with two of the grabs being for TDs. Hayden Kalfell has nine receptions for 151 yards, scoring two touchdowns.

The Miles City defense has allowed 7.1 points a game and 2.7 yards a play. The Cowboys have forced 30 turnovers over their nine games and those turnovers resulted in 102 points.

See MAROONS, Page B5 Maroons ...

Miles City's defense has allowed no more than 14 points in any one game.

It is the sixth time in the post season the two programs will have collided. The BC outfit has a 3-2 edge in the series, including a 28-14 first-round win two years ago when so many of this year's Miles City seniors were seeing first varsity postseason action as sophomores.

Butte Central has some good sophomores about, too, including a couple who tasted the playoffs as freshmen last year. But strong leadership has come from the team's four seniors, all of whom started on both sides of the ball — linemen Eric DiGiovine and D.J. Lewis, receiver/linebacker Casey Norbeck and receiver/cornerback Gene Taylor.

"We played good football in about every game this season," Peoples said. "Youth or inexperience, or both, we'd had a tendency to beat ourselves, though. We didn't feel we were overpowered or outmanned or stymied on either side of the ball.

"We felt we put a good game together and were a pretty good football team." The Maroons busted through to the playoffs on a tiebreaker after posting the same 2-3 conference record as Browning and Lewistown.

Sophomore Jonathan Richards gained 643 yards on 140 carries, averaging 4.6 yards a pack for the Maroons this autumn. Sophomore quarterback Andy Ritter threw for 1,108 yards while completing 76 of 157 passes. His aerials included eight touchdowns. Norbeck has 37 catches for 590 yards, including six TDs, and he sat out one game with a concussion.

Taylor missed three games early in the season with injuries, but is a very dangerous breakaway threat. Lewis and DiGiovine are both dependable blockers up front and deliver a pass rush that has harried many opponents' quarterbacks.

The Maroons forced 19 turnovers this year and suffered 28, of which 15 were turnovers.

Other key Maroons are starters on offense with sophomore Phil Antonioli at wide receiver, sophomore wide receiver Jason Johnston, junior center Mike Joyce, and junior linemen Justin Dunbar and Sean Ferriter. And on defense, they include Ferriter and Dunbar up front, Joyce, sophomore Tom Markovich and Richards at linebacker, and Antionioli and Ritter in the secondary.

Also expected to see duty are junior linebacker Kevin Cox, Markovich at fullback, sophomore Aschen Richards at tight end and defensive end, and sophomore Orrin Fenwick and Mickey Yelenich rotating through at wide receiver.

Nathaniel Loomis is the kicker and Ferriter handles the punting chores.

This Maroons-Cowboys playoff game will be the first played in Miles City.

"I think it's going to be exciting for our kids," Peoples said. "On tape, it looks like (the Cowboys) have three or four thousand fans at their home games and so it will be a great atmosphere for ourkids to play in.

"We had a good week of practice. I'm proud of how focused the kids are. "It's a fact we're huge underdogs, but there's no on us so we'll just go and play our best. It's nice for our senior kids to make the playoffs four years in a row."