Cats win a classic at Satterthwaite Field

The Columbia Falls High School football team won one of the best games ever played on Satterthwaite Memorial field last week, as they beat Hamilton 30-29 with no time left on the clock.

The Sept. 6 game see-sawed back and forth between the Broncs and the Wildcats. Columbia Falls opened the scoring when quarterback Jared Trinastich hit a wide open Ty Morgan across the middle for a 53-yard touchdown strike to make it 7-0.

The Cats scored again when linebacker Colton Gove grabbed a pass out of the hands of a Hamilton player in mid-air on a swing option and then fell into the end zone. Alex Presnell kicked in the extra point, and the Cats were looking good, up 14-0.

But the Broncs play the same offensive scheme as the Cats and answered with a drive of their own to make it 14-7 as the half ended. Hamilton was still in it, despite five first-half turnovers.

In the third quarter, Hamilton tied it up with an 84-yard pass to Teague Blome. Blome ran a short swing route, but the Cats defender missed the tackle, and Blome was off to the races. The game was tied with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter.

Hamilton then took the lead on a Bauder pass to Kris Cleveland with 3:09 left in the game to go up 21-14. But Wildcat return man Jayce Fagerland ran back the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to the Hamilton one-half yard line. Ty Morgan ran the ball in on second down and also scored the two-point conversion to put the Cats up 22-21.

But Hamilton wasn’t finished. They mounted a drive on the ensuing possession, and on fourth down at the 6-inch line, Bauder punched it in on the sneak. The Broncs converted for two points of their own and went up 29-22 with about a minute left.

But the Cats were undaunted. Trinastich converted a fourth and 10 pass to Alex Presnell to keep the drive alive, and then Morgan lined up as a tight end, swung into the gap between the safeties and linebackers, and Trinastich hit him on a 40-yard strike to drive to the Broncs’ 25. Trinastich then hit Morgan again across the middle to get to the two-yard line with 25 seconds left. On second down, Trinastich hit Morgan again for the touchdown as time expired.

The Cats were now down 29-28, but the Trinastich-Morgan train wasn’t finished — the 6-4 quarterback connected with Morgan again for the two-point conversion. Cats win, 30-29.

“I was really confident in our guys,” coach Jackson Schweikert said. “We have a large playbook. Our bag is never empty.”

Schweikert said when Morgan lined up as a tight end on that strike in the fourth, they knew he’d be able to get into the seam of the defense.

The Cats' defense also played a huge role in the game. The first-half turnovers they forced killed several Hamilton drives.

“We had all those sophomores playing defense last year — now they know the system,” Schweikert said.

Trinastich was 16 of 48 for 253 yards. The Cats had 43 yards rushing. Morgan had three touchdowns, 146 yards receiving and all three of the Wildcats' two-point conversions. The Cats travel to Browning this Friday.

Hamilton 0 7 14 8 — 29

Columbia Falls 7 7 8 8 — 30

CF — Ty Morgan 53 pass from Jared Trinastich (kick failed)

CF — Colton Gove 2 interception return (Morgan pass from Trinastich)

H — Josh Bauder 3 run (Apedaile kick)

H — Teague Blome 84 pass from Bauder. (Apedaile kick)

H — Kris Cleveland 23 pass from Bauder (Apedaile kick)

CF — Ty Morgan 1 run (Morgan 2 pass from Trinastich)

H — Josh Bauder 1 run (Blome 2 run)

CF — Ty Morgan 2 pass from Trinastich (Morgan 2 pass from Trinastich)