Highwood trips Hot Springs, 32-18

For most of the game between visiting Hot Springs and home-standing Highwood, it looked like it would be a last man standing kind of thing.

You score, we score, and on it goes.

But one quarter, this one the third quarter, put a halt to the see-sawing and the Mountaineers came away with a 32-18 victory over Hot Springs in a six-man Montana high school football tussle Friday night.

Highwood, a small town in Choteau County, got on the scoreboard first when they ran in a touchdown from 25 yards out.

Before the quarter was over, Hot Springs answered with a 48-yard kickoff return touchdown by Chapman. The point after was no good and the two teams remained deadlocked at 6-6 when the first quarter came to an end.

Highwood regained the lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter on a 16-yard scoring run. The PAT was no good and the Mountaineers clung to a 12-6 lead.

Before the first half was over, Savage Heat wide receiver Quincy Styles-Depoe took a punt at his own 16 yard line and sprinted 64 yards for a touchdown, knotting the score at 12-12. The second quarter came to an end with the score still tied.

The third quarter was the decider of the game.

Highwood’s Bahnmiller, who had the first TD of the game on a 25-yard run, added another TD to his day’s work when he latched onto a 49-yard touchdown pass, giving the home team an 18-12 lead. Later in the same quarter, the Mountaineers scored again, this time on a run from 26 yards out that pushed their lead to 24-12.

No extra point attempts were successful by either team throughout the game.

Showing they still had some gas in the tank, Hot Springs put points on the board first in the final quarter when sophomore running back Johnny Waterbury caught a 14-yard scoring throw from sophomore quarterback Nick McAllister. The score pulled the Savage Heat within six, 24-18.

But hopes of a Hot Springs comeback were dashed later in the fourth quarter when Highwood’s Ryder Zanto scored on a seven yard run into the end zone, making it 32-18 and wrapping up the win in the season opener for both teams.

Next up for the Hot Springs squad is their season opener this Friday night against Valier beginning at 7 p.m.