Bulldogs' first season back in 8-Man ends at Great Falls

It had been a long road for CCHS Football since they last made the playoffs. That year was 2009; it also happened to be the last time the Bulldogs played 8-Man football.

In 2009 a formidable team led by a salty group of seniors traveled to Hays-Lodgepole for their regular season finale and won. The following week they fell to Twin Bridges in the first round of the 8-Man playoffs.

From 2010 to 2018 the Dogs had their fair share of struggles while playing 6-Man football. 2014 was one of their most successful in the 6-Man ranks. That year they posted a 4-5 record. All four of their wins came in a row, in the middle of the season. A win over Terry in their regular season finale would have given the Bulldogs a winning record and put them in the playoffs. They lost a tight contest and missed the postseason.

In 2015 Blue played portions of the season with only four or five players on the field. In 2016, they sometimes played with only six. In 2017 and 2018 the Dogs finished towards the bottom of their division, most recently with a 2-6 record in 2018.

After close examination of player numbers upon the conclusion of that 2018 season, Head Coach Tenadore Kittelmann lobbied the school board to return to the 8-Man ranks and the Montana High School Association allowed CCHS to move up a class.

The move appears to have paid dividends.

This season, the Dogs' first in Montana 8-Man since 2009, was by and large a success. The team posted a 5-2 record in the regular season and won an interdivisional playoff game at home against Circle to secure a third place finish in the 8-Man East.

As a three seed, Blue traveled to Great Falls Central for the first round of the Montana 8-Man State Playoffs last weekend.

The team traveled all four hundred thirty-three miles to Great Falls on Friday morning and arrived at Memorial Stadium for a short, one-hour practice. Central had called CCHS earlier in the week and asked to move the game from their home field to Memorial Stadium and its artificial surface.

Central scored the game's first touchdown on Saturday. Jackson Malsam capped a long drive with a two yard touchdown run. Early in the second, Central scored again, this time on a one-yard score after a CCHS turnover.

The Dogs continued to struggle on offense until late in the second quarter. After another Central score came with only 89 seconds left in the half, Blue found a little bit of offense, and hope. With pass plays and quarterback scrambles from sophomore Turner Tooke, CCHS moved down the field. Tooke scored from 9 yards out with only 8 seconds left.

The Bulldogs received the second half kickoff but were unable to bring themselves within one score of the lead. Central scored on runs of 53 and 25 yards before Tooke found paydirt again on a short run.

Down 23 points late in the contest, the Dogs were forced to air the ball out in hopes of a comeback. Senior tight end Mick O'Connor made a few nice catches late in the game, but Blue's aerial attack proved to be too little, too late. Tooke scored once more on a 34 yard scamper with 57 seconds left. The game ended in an 18-41 loss, and the Bulldogs ended their season with a 6-3 record.

Though not the end to their season they had hoped for, the Bulldogs can use this year as a foundation to build upon for next season. Two important pieces, seniors O'Connor and Grafton Bonsell, will be hard to replace, but a few eighth graders are coming up and a healthy crop of younger players that contributed this year will be returning in hopes of making another run at the 8-Man playoffs.