Chiefs triumph over Butte Central
After Butte Central took the initial lead, it was all Ronan as the Chiefs rattled off 29 straight points en route to a 29-15 nonconference victory on Friday, Aug. 25.
The game started with Butte Central forced to punt quickly by the Chief's defense. Ronan drove it 45 yards in four plays, but an interception stalled that promising opportunity.
"If we don't throw that interception, we most definitely score first," Ronan Head Coach Matt Detwiler said.
Butte Central would score on a Jack Keeley one-yard run, and that's the only movement their side of the scoreboard would get for a while.
"If I had to point to a spark that got us going, it would be our sophomore quarterback Kolby Finley," Detwiler said. "His first varsity snap at QB, he had a 40-yard run, breaking tackles, making guys miss, and just being flat-out faster than their guys."
Detwiler added that the Chiefs' demeanor didn't change at all when they were down 7-0. Everyone knew they were still in the game.
And thus started Ronan's 29-point onslaught. Finley rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns and passed for another, while DaVonne Curley hauled in a pair of touchdown passes in the victory. The Ronan defense, meanwhile, held the Maroons to just 67 yards rushing on the ground and 112 in the air for the entire game.
At halftime, Ronan led 22-7 as a Laurance Lozeau touchdown pass to Curley was the last scoring play before the break. In the third quarter, Finley punched it in from four yards out to ice the game.
Now the Chiefs, who won one game all of the next year, will face a familiar foe in Bigfork next Friday. Coming off a 55-20 victory over Polson, the Vikings look like moving up to Class A from B won't affect them at all. Bigfork Coach Jim Benn was also on the sideline as head coach for the Chiefs for several years.
"Against Bigfork, we need to do what we talk about as a defensive unit all the time, and that is stop the run and limit big plays," Detwiler said. "Coach Benn was my coach for the last two years of school here in Ronan, so I know he likes to run the ball and always has something up his sleeve for when he needs it. I'm excited to coach against him. He and I have had some fun this weekend with it staying in touch and giving each other a hard time."
At Butte
RONAN 29, BUTTE CENTRAL 15
Ronan - 7 - 15 - 7 - 0 – 29
Bu Cen - 7 - 0 - 0 - 8 – 15
SCORING SUMMARY
BC – Jack Keeley 1 run (Jack Nagle kick)
R – Kolby Finley 46 run (Jason Teague II kick)
R – DaVonne Curley 4 pass from Finley (Teague kick) .
R – Curley 19 pass from Laurance Lozeau (Dom McKay pass from Finley)
R – Finley 4 run (Teague kick).
BC – Zane Moodry 54 pass from Keeley (Moodry pass from Keeley)
STATISTICS
RUSHING – Ronan - 42-167 (Finley 18-104, WilJames Courville 15-46, McKay 6-19, Gabe Gagnon-Rusnac 1-3, Lozeau 2-(-5)); Butte Central - 2-67 (Justus McGee 8-43, Keeley 14-24). PASSING – Ronan - 8-12-120-1 (Finley 7-11-101-1, Lozeau 1-1-19) Butte Central - (Keeley 8-18-112-0). RECEIVING – Ronan - (Lozeau 4-46, Curley 2-23, Josiah Misa 1-5); Butte Central - 8-112 (Moodry 4-74, Ryan Peoples 2-24, Aiden Ossello 1-8, McGee 1-6).