The Billings Senior Broncs will head out on the road to square off against the Great Falls Bison at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Billings Senior has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with three straight losses, while Great Falls will come in with three straight wins.
Billings Senior will head into Friday's contest ready to turn things around: they couldn't quite beat Billings West on Friday, but the two-point margin was a huge improvement compared to the 35-point defeat they were dealt two weeks ago. Billings Senior fell just short of Billings West by a score of 23-21. That makes it the first time this season the Broncs have let down their home crowd.
Billings Senior might have lost, but man, Ryder Murdock was a machine: he rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown on only five carries, and also threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Murdock's longest rush was for an incredible 71 yards.
Billings Senior wouldn't let Billings West keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. It was truly a group effort as Trek Egan, Ryan Barnhart, and Barnhart picked up one apiece. The dominant performance gave Murdock a new career-high in rushing yards.
Meanwhile, Great Falls faced Bozeman in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. Everything went Great Falls' way against Bozeman as Great Falls made off with a 28-7 victory. Considering the Bison have won three matchups by more than 20 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Riley Collette was his usual excellent self, rushing for 172 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.2 yards per carry. Luke Aakre made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Great Falls was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 320 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 205 rushing yards in three consecutive matches.
Billings Senior's loss dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Great Falls, their record now sits at 3-1.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Billings Senior has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 152.2 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Great Falls struggles in that department as they've been averaging 204.2. It's looking like Friday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Billings Senior suffered a grim 27-7 defeat to Great Falls in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Collette, who threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes. Now that Billings Senior knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
