Chiefs lock down Wardens

RONAN - There are strong defensive performances and then there's what the Ronan Chiefs did to Deer Lodge last Friday night. Somewhere, the 1985 Chicago Bears are applauding.

Deer Lodge ran the ball 24 times during the contest and didn't gain a single yard. Meanwhile, the Ramblin' Wreck Ronan offense continued to rumble across the gridiron en route to a 33-0 victory.

"Deer Lodge came out and did some different things on offense than they had done before," Ronan head coach Jim Benn said. "I thought our kids adjusted well to them."

The only positive yardage the Wardens found was 62 passing yards.

"I'm really impressed," Benn said. "Our kids played really good team football. Anytime you don't give up any rushing yards you're having a great game."

Ronan won its first 6B conference game, and bounced back from a loss to Manhattan two weeks ago. Now sitting at 4-1, the Chiefs have their swagger back and it comes just in time for a conference showdown against Florence this Friday.

And if they watch any game film on Ronan, they'll know the offense is loaded to the gills with weapons. Senior wide receiver Dalton Molzhon streaked 57 yards for a touchdown on a pass by senior quarterback Robbie Gauthier to get the Chiefs on the board first with 10:46 left in the opening quarter.

"That was a big momentum shift," senior Chris Clary said of the passing play.

Molzhon found himself open along the home sideline and was able to haul in the pass and outrun the secondary for the long touchdown.

"We have a playcalling philosophy that if you see certain things, you take advantage of it," Benn said of calling the pass play early on. "We took a shot with it being third and two, and in those short-yardage situations on third down, really the whole playbook is open."

Gauthier found the endzone again with 6:33 to go in the first. He found fellow senior Marcus "The Jet" Hungerford for the eight-yard touchdown pass to make it 13-0 Chiefs.

Ronan would further add to the score with a nine-play drive starting on their own 26-yard line capped off by Clary rushing from four yards out for the 19 point lead with 10:50 on the clock in the second quarter.

The Chiefs would end up rolling up 368 yards of rushing offense behind nine different backs in the game.

"I trust my life with our line," Clary said after the game. "They're the reason we're scoring all these points."

After a Deer Lodge fumble, Ronan put together an eight-play drive from their own 32 and Clary once again punched it into the end zone for the 25-0 lead.

After halftime, which included Clary being named homecoming king, Ronan would get one more score thanks to "The Jet" as Hungerford rushed into the end zone from eight yards out for the 33-0 lead with 46.5 seconds left in the third quarter.

"It was a great night," Clary said. "It was really just unreal."

Clary had 44 yards rushing and senior Jack Humphreys added another 50 on just six carries. The big heavy lifter for the Chiefs was senior running back Jake Skelton, who had the rock 23 times and rushed for 147 yards.

"Deer Lodge held tough and we had to work for our yards," Benn said. "We had long drives, we held onto the ball for a long period of time."

Ronan's next challenge will be Loyola, which boasts a bevy of skill players, is 5-0 and has been the big dog im the 6B district for the past few years, meaning that the Chiefs will have to prove themselves once again against a very talented team.

"I grew up playing against this team in high school," Benn said. "We're watching the film and doing the things we need to do to get ready."

While both teams are unfamiliar with one another, this should be an important matchup to determine the district championship.

"We'll discover how we feel about each other real quick," Benn said. "They can go 3-0 in the district, or we can open up at 2-0. It's just a huge conference game for us."

And luckily for the Chiefs, it's at home.

"We've had fantastic crowds this year and the support from our fans has been awesome," Benn said, adding that it's going to be senior night as well. "It's going to be a hard senior night for me. This group of kids has been great."

RONAN 33, DEER LODGE 0

Deer Lodge - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0

Ronan - 13 - 12 - 8 - 0 - 33

SCORING SUMMARY

R - Dalton Molzhon 57-yard pass from Robbie Gauthier (Molzhon kick)

R - Marcus Hungerford 8-yard pass from Gauthier (kick failed)

R - Chris Clary 4-yard run (pass failed)

R - Clary 2-yard run (pass failed)

R - Hungerford 8-yard run (Gauthier run)