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Trojans hosting Wolves

It's a huge game Friday night for the Whitehall/Harrison High School football team.

Along with the traditional Homecoming festivities, the Trojans will be looking to pick up their first conference victory of the season against 3-1 Three Forks.

Whitehall (1-3, 0-1 South Conference) will go into the game coming off a 39-14 conference opening loss at Sweet Grass County High School in Big Timber.

Trojans head coach Dan Lacey said the game against the Wolves is going to be really important for his team.

"Each game is a stepping stone to the playoffs and we are taking it one game at a time. The Big Timber game set us back and we are 0-1 in conference play. We are on the outside looking in for the postseason. Next week is a big game, and a playoff type game," he said.

The Wolves will come into the game 1-1 in conference play, picking up their first divisional win 34-28 last Friday night over Red Lodge.

BIG TIMBER

It was far from an auspicious start in Big Timber for the Trojans, who found themselves down 14-0 early in the first quarter following a 18-yard touchdown run by Casey Gunlickson and a 56-yard interception return from Ethan Bullock.

Whitehall would come back swinging and cut the score to 14-7 on a dynamic 85-yard touchdown run by sophomore speedster Tegan Robbins.

"I thought Tegan did a great job. We've been really working on our kick return game and Coach (Ed) Simon does a great job getting that ready. We found a hole and Tegan made a good play," Lacey said.

The Trojans would quickly score again to tie the game, this time when Connor Johnson connected with Clint Parks for a 64-yard-touchdown.

"They had a break down in their coverage and Connor saw it. He flipped the play, he was looking to go to Tegan. We had one on one and Clint made a big play. I'm super proud of him," Lacey said.

The score would remain tied at 14 till the final few minutes of the first half when a controversial call gave the momentum back to the host Herders.

On a third down and long for Big Timber, Whitehall senior Cade Briggs appeared to have intercepted the ball in the end zone as he landed on the turf. After a lengthy discussion by the referees, the Herders were awarded a 35-yard touchdown pass from Finn to Gunlikson. This would be the first of 25 straight points to close the game for Big Timber.

Lacey said it was a questionable call and addressed how big momentum is on the high school level, adding Big Timber capitalized on field positions and mistakes by the Trojans.

"We have to be a disciplined football team and not give up free yards. We talk about how we have to take care of the football and we gave up two defensive touchdowns. That's tough to come back from," he said.

 

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