Cats drub Stevensville, 70-21

Dakota Bridwell threw for seven touchdowns and Braxton Reiten ran a kickoff back for a touchdown in his second straight game as the Columbia Falls football team beat Stevensville, 70-21, Friday night at home.

As near as anyone could tell, it was the most points ever scored by a Columbia Falls football squad.

Wyatt Green opened the scoring for the Cats on a 2-yard rumble into the end zone early in the first quarter. Stevi answered with a touchdown at the 6:59 mark to knot it up at seven apiece.

But then Reiten ran back the kickoff 89 yards to make it 14-7. Kicker Brandon Karberg was perfect on his point-after attempts. Then Reiten had a 18-yard touchdown reception to make it 21-7. With 35 seconds left in the quarter, the Cats continued onslaught as Trevor Hoerner had a 57-yard touchdown catch and run to put the Cats up 28-7. His touchdown was set up by an interception by Ben Windauer.

At 10:51 in the second quarter, Reiten scored again on a 26-yard catch from Bridwell, Cats up 35-7. Stevi added a touchdown at the 5 minute mark to make it 35-14, but Reiten nabbed a 30-yard reception from Bridwell to put the Cats up 42-14 at the 4:11 mark.

About a minute later, Bryce Fagerland nabbed a 51-yard pass from Bridwell to put the Cats up 49-14.

Stevi showed some life with a touchdown strike from 15 yards out to make it 49-21 at the half.

In the second half Reiten nabbed a 29-yard pass from Bridwell to go up 56-21 and then Fagerland added another score on an 18-yard pass in the fourth to put the Cats up 63-21.

With the subs in, backup running back Seth Gossett capped off the scoring with a 14-yard run to make it 70-21.

“We played everybody,” said coach Jackson Schweikert. “The kids were sharp and played well.”

Schweikert said even when they make mistakes, the Cats are so explosive on offense they were able to make up for the errors.

Bridwell has now thrown 13 touchdowns in the first two games. Most of those are not long balls — his receivers are running for extra yards after the catch.

Schweikert credited the offensive line.

“We’ve got a great offensive line coached really well by coach Kelly Houle,” he said.

The opposition will get tougher this week as the Cats travel to Hamilton. The two teams always seem to have a physical battle. Hamilton is coming off a 24-10 loss to Polson.

Stevensville 7 14 0 0 — 21

C. Falls 28 21 7 14 — 70

CF—Wyatt Green 2 run (Brandon Karberg kick)

CF—Braxton Reiten 18 pass from Dakota Bridwell (Karberg kick)

S—Jordan Thomas 14 run (Chris Brownlee kick)

CF—Reiten 89 kickoff return (Karberg kick)

CF—Trevor Hoerner 57 pass from Bridwell (Karberg kick)

CF—Reiten 26 pass from Bridwell (Karberg kick)

CF—Reiten 30 pass from Bridwell (Karberg kick)

S—Louis Alejandro-Estrada 9 pass from Liam LeCoure (Brownlee kick)

CF—Bryce Fagerland 51 pass from Bridwell (Karberg kick)

S—Alejandro-Estrada 15 pass from LeCoure (Brownlee kick)

CF—Reiten 29 pass from Bridwell (Karberg kick)

CF—Fagerland 18 pass from Bridwell (Karberg kick)

CF—Seth Gossett 18 run (Karberg kick)