Cats fall one rally short of Dillon, 24-19

Coming from behind to take the lead three times, Columbia Falls came up a rally short in a 24-19 non-conference football loss to visiting Dillon on Friday night.

The Wildcats head into Northwestern A Conference play Friday at Ronan with a 2-2 overall record.

C-Falls and Dillon alternated touchdowns, and the Cats nearly pulled out a win in the final minute.

"It was a tremendous effort by our kids," C-Falls head coach Bill Coleman said. "I have an appreciation for how they played at home."

J.T. Linder tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Mackenzie McGrath with 5:05 remaining in the game. The conversion run failed, but the Beavers had rallied for a 24-19 lead.

With time to sustain a drive, C-Falls used a pair of eight-yard runs by John Woody to get into Dillon territory. Facing a fourth-and-8 with just 1:15 to go after an intentional grounding penalty, the Cats kept their drive alive when Wayde Martinson caught a pass from Mitchell Wassam for a first down at the Dillon 18-yard line.

Wassam was sacked on a second-down play and C-Falls was faced with a fourth-and-3 at the 12-yard line, still with time to score with :27 on the clock. Junior receiver Kaleb Johnson had hauled in three touchdown passes from Wassam in the contest, but could not quite grasp an aerial from Wassam. Dillon took over and ran out the clock.

"We were chipping away at them," Coleman said. "We put ourselves in a position to score.

"I'm pleased with how the guys played. We moved the ball effectively when we had to. That was a good football team we played. There were a lot of positives that we could take away from it," the coach said.

Each time Dillon scored, the Cats responded. Linder connected with McGrath on a 41-yard scoring pass with 9:24 to go in the opening period. The conversion kick failed.

After a roughing the punter penalty on Dillon, C-Falls marched for a score — on a 6-yard pass from Wassam to Johnson. Nate Thompson had a 17-yard catch during the drive. Wassam kicked the point for a 7-6 Cats lead.

Dillon capped a 70-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run by Sam Parke. Again the conversion failed.

Wassam then intercepted a tipped Linder pass at the Dillon 40. On the next play, Johnson caught a pass from Wassam and rambled to the end zone for a 13-12 lead. That stood until halftime.

A long pass from Linder to Pete Walde set up another 1-yard scoring run by Parke in the third period, but Dillon could not convert after the touchdown.

Matt Triplett recovered a muffed punt later in the period, but C-Falls could not capitalize. Still in the third, the Cats reclaimed the lead, 19-18 — converting a third-and long with a screen pass to Johnson that went for 59 yards and a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed.

McGrath picked off a Wassam pass at the Dillon 11-yard line, and the Beavers capped an 89-yard drive with the touchdown pass from Linder to McGrath.

C-Falls had trouble covering Dillon's short passing game, keyed by the "Grizzly screen."

"That's an incredibly difficult play to defense," Coleman said. "We were in a position where we were overpursuing. We have kids who are aggressive football players."

Dillon had 325 yards of offense, just one more yard than C-Falls. The Beavers were 22-34-2 passing for 252 yards and added 73 yards rushing. C-Falls finished 7-20-3 passing for 147 yards and had 177 yards rushing.

Thompson caught four passes for 103 yards. Woody had 86 yards rushing.

Dillon had four turnovers and C-Falls had three. The Cats were penalized seven times for 51 yards and the Beavers three times for 25 yards.

The Cats were playing without lineman Mike Macijunas, who broke a bone in his left hand during the first offensive series, but sophomore R.J. Webber stepped in to play well on the line.

"That's the type of play we expect from our team all the time. They played hard," Coleman said. "There is still a little room to get better. Now our minds are in the right place when we take the field."

Coleman said Ronan runs out of a wing-T formation. "You have to play by assignment," he said. "We know how to prepare."

Ronan rallied past Corvallis 22-19 last Friday. Scores of other games involving Northwestern A teams: Whitefish 25, Stevensville 14; Polson 55, Anaconda 19; and Hamilton 35, Libby 21.

Dillon 6 6 6 6 - 24

Columbia Falls 7 6 6 0 - 19

Dillon — Mackenzie McGrath 41 pass from J.T. Linder (kick failed)

CF — Kaleb Johnson 6 pass from Mitchell Wassam (Wassam kick)

Dillon — Sam Parke 1 run (pass failed)

CF — Johnson 40 pass from Wassam (kick blocked)

Dillon — Peter Walde 1 run (pass failed)

CF — Johnson 59 pass from Wassam (run failed)

Dillon — McGrath 20 pass from Linder (run failed)