Dogs start season

The Carter County Bulldogs played their first football game of the season in Fairview against the defending Montana 8-Man state champion Warriors last Friday night. On their opening possession, Blue marched down the field and scored on an option play, taking an early 6-0 lead as they failed to convert the two-point conversion.

The Dawgs were visibly more physical than the Warriors and ran the ball successfully throughout most of the contest. For the most part, the only thing that stopped their run game was a couple of costly holding calls that put them behind the down and distance, and a few turnovers on fumbles. A CCHS offensive drive before the half ended in the red zone as time expired, also proving costly.

Blue did a decent job defensively, stopping Fairview's run game for the most part. One of Fairview's scores came on a mental error in the Dawgs' defensive secondary. The other scores were big plays as a result of missed tackles.

CCHS was down three touchdowns at one point, but battled back and had the ball with a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. After failing to convert, the Warriors were able to salt the game away with a few first downs as the clock expired. CCHS lost the game, 24 to 32.

If the Bulldogs can limit penalties and improve their tackling, they should prove to be a tough opponent for any team in the state this season. This Friday they play Broadus at home. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

With nineteen players on their roster, this year is the first in over a decade that the CCHS Bulldogs have had any JV football games on their schedule. Generally, a JV game is played the following Monday against the team the varsity played the Friday before. That was the case this week as Fairview's JV team traveled to Ekalaka for a game on Monday evening.

Much like the varsity game, The JV boys marched down the field on the ground and scored on their opening possession. Turnovers and missed tackles proved costly for them too, though. The JV boys were up 20-12 at one point but a long Fairview pass tied the game in the fourth quarter.

CCHS had the ball deep in opponent territory with under a minute to go, but turned it over to Fairview. A big pass play gave the Warriors a chance for a shot at the end zone with only seconds remaining, and they converted. Fairview completed a slant over the middle and a missed tackle inside the 5 yard line led to the game winning score for Fairview. The CCHS JV boys lost by a final score of 20-28.