Pioneers return to favorite status, withstand Refiners' fire 74-34

 

October 7, 2020

Senior, Kade Strutz (33) made 5 touchdowns during the game Saturday.

It just took a bit of time to soak in oil country before Big Sandy could be free of the rust of three weeks without football and claim a 74-34 win Friday night in Sunburst.

A mistake-filled end to the second quarter left the Pioneers only a touchdown ahead of the host Refiners at the break. Seniors Parker Proulx and Kade Strutz returned to their usual form and helped their team pull away with 20 unanswered points in the first 3 minutes, 7 seconds of the third quarter.

"I took a lot of it personally," Proulx said, having been beaten in coverage by Sunburst speedster Stanley Jarvis early. "That fired me up personally to (then) take control of the game. That was my goal to fire the team up."

He did just that on a pitch to the right side and went off to the races to stretch the 26-19 margin to 32-19 on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. A half-dozen plays later, he intercepted a pass from the Refiners' Cade Hanson and nearly went the distance with it. Strutz pounded it in from one hash out at the 7:11 mark for a 40-19 edge. In a reversal of roles flashing back to last season, Proulx tossed to Kody Strutz from 16 yards out to add the next six points.

Speaking of 2019, it took a little longer to develop but Big Sandy is now as clear a frontrunner as anybody a year after a two-team race for 6-man superiority tipped in the end to Jordan. The defending champion Mustangs are 0-4 this season and Shields Valley, Hot Springs and Froid/Medicine Lake have emerged as the teams to beat in the other corners of the state at this classification.

Pioneers coach Larry Jappe said he doesn't expect his team to lose top-dog status even if they had to sweat a bit more before collecting the road win. Three weeks without a game to play will have an effect.

"Everybody lets people score on them sometimes in 6-man and tonight was our night, I guess," Jappe said.

Big Sandy still worked up a lead that set the "slaughter rule" running clock into motion but not until just 9:30 remained in the game.

The shootout nature of the game led to some gaudy stat lines like Strutz's five rushing touchdowns on 237 yards and a sixth with his arm to Proulx in the first quarter. For having so much all-state caliber talent, that has not been common this year as the Pioneers have often rested their starters in the second half.

"I don't know if it's just sportsmanship or what. I've liked getting the young guys in and getting them a chance to play ... the (upperclassmen) are not selfish," Jappe said. "They don't care who's scoring TDs as long as we are scoring TDs. What we want is the big trophy at the end of the year."

It has eluded Big Sandy, as the Pioneers have played twice and lost in state championship games. Each of the last two seasons, their playoff run ended before the final but the Pioneers played a closer game than the eventual champions faced in any other round.

Senior, Parker Proulx (13), contributed with 3 touchdowns.

"I was in the gym for a majority of the summer, putting in work. I was doing speed workouts with my dad and weights every morning," Strutz told KRTV and MontanaSports.com in a postgame interview Friday. "So yes, I had that last season in my mind, motivating me, pushing me to go harder."

Jarvis is the first player to give Big Sandy some fits this year, as he racked up 382 all-purpose yards, including three touchdown catches and a kickoff return for a score. He put a move on Proulx for his first catch-and-run from 41 yards out that helped Sunburst close the gap before the half. He ran back the kick the 79-yard length of the field to stop the one-sided scoring flurry Big Sandy unleashed to start the second half. That kept it within shouting distance at 46-25.

The Pioneers will claim back-to-back North Division titles with a victory at home Friday against Power/Dutton-Brady. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Another bye awaits before the first round of the state playoffs is scheduled Oct. 23-24.

 
 

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