Cats lose to Broncs, 35-21

It was a tale of two halves as the Columbia Falls football team fell to the Hamilton Broncs Friday night, 35-21.

Junior quarterback Dakota Bridwell had a tough game, with four interceptions — two were run back for touchdowns.

“In the first half they simply outplayed us in every aspect,” coach Jackson Schweikert said. “They were the more aggressive team and took it to us.”

The Broncs made statement early, as they drove 65 yards to open the game with a touchdown and went up 7-0. On the Wildcats next possession, Bridwell’s pass went off the hands of his Nathan Riley and Bronc Christian Ellis ran in back for a touchdown. The Cats found themselves down 14-0 just 5 minutes into the game.

Hamilton then picked off another Bridwell pass at the 15-yard line and about a minute later, stuck it in the end zone. Broncs up, 21-0 with 2:08 in the first quarter.

But the Cats woes continued. On fourth and 13 the Broncs nabbed another interception at their own 11 to kill a Cat drive.

But Columbia Falls didn’t give up. Braxtron Reiten picked off a Hamilton pass at the 16 which set up the Cats first touchdown of the game as Bridwell bowled in from a half-yard out to make the game 21-7.

But with 1:19 left in the half, Bridwell was picked off by Bronc Alex Draper at the 21-yard line. Draper scampered in the end zone and it was 28-7 at the half.

In the second half the Cats played with more intensity. The defense got pressure on Bronc quarterback Bret Huxtable and the offense cleaned up the mistakes.

Stephen Lindsey had a 13-yard pass for a Cat touchdown and the lead was trimmed 28-14 with 3:01 in the third.

But Hamilton answered with a touchdown with 6:35 left to make it 35-14. The Cats answered with another Lindsey touchdown after he turned a short pass from Bridwell into a 59-yard touchdown run. The point after was good and the Cats were down 35-21. But Hamilton killed a couple of Cat drives after that and was able to run out the clock.

“We were just too far behind,” Schweikert noted. “We have to learn from this and get better … We have to play every play with urgency.”

Hamilton had 258 yards total offense. Bridwell threw for over 200 yards for the Cats and Lindsey rushed for 39. Cats’ stats were incomplete, but aside from the turnovers, the teams were well-matched and could see each other in the playoffs later this year.

Hamilton 21 7 0 7 — 35

Columbia Falls 0 7 7 7 — 21