Savage Heat ravage Hanna Hawks 43-8

HOT SPRINGS – This is how 6-Man football is played down under the Canadian/American border.

Back in the 6-Man game for the first time since winning the Montana State C championship in 2016, the Hot Springs Savage Heat rambled past the visiting J.C. Charyk Hanna Hawks from Hanna, Alberta 43-8 in Hot Springs Friday.

Now 1-0 in non-conference play, coach Jim Lawson and the Heat will travel to White Sulphur Springs Friday for a key league game against the Hornets.

Lawson was happy with how things went against the visitors from Canada last week, although there was a certain sense of trepidation among Heat fans during warmups when the Hawks showed up 20-strong, with a lot of big players going through their paces.

Not to worry, the scrappy Heat took control early and never really let the Hawks get off the ground, eventually pounding out the relatively easy victory, in spite of going without brothers Tyler and Brandon Knudsen, two of Hot Springs' better players who did not have enough practices in.

"It was a nice game to start with," Lawson said. "We didn't know much about them coming in but we ended up playing pretty well. We had a few first-game jitters, but that is to be expected."

Without the Knudsens in the lineup, Luke Waterbury and Tyler Carr turned in big efforts to lead Hot Springs.

Carr got the Heat on the board first from the defensive side of the ball, tackling Hanna's Devan Boos in the end zone for a safety with 6:28 left in the first quarter. Carr then returned the ensuing kickoff from the Hawks all the way down to Hanna's 24 yard line.

Waterbury ran in for the 24-yard touchdown on the next play to make the score 8-0 Hot Springs.

Freshman Jack McAllister, who started at quarterback and defensive back, came up with a fumble recovery on Hanna's next series to give Hot Springs a first down at the Hawks' 39-yard line. After a motion penalty set the Heat back five yards, Waterbury motored in for another touchdown from 44 yards out, and then added the one-point conversion run to make the score 15-0.

After a few possessions by each team resulted in no scoring, the Heat scored again on a one-yard run by Carr, followed by a conversion pass from McAllister to center Bert DeTienne to make the score 22-0. Freshman Kyle Lawson intercepted a Hanna pass on the last play of the first half.

The Hawks finally scored early in the second half on a five yard touchdown pass from Boos to Liam McKeage, and the Hanna kicker booted the 2-point conversion to make the score 22-8.

McAllister then completed a 39-yard touchdown pass to Carr to make it 29-8, and on Hot Springs' next possession after that hit Carr with a 40-yard pass to set up Waterbury for a five-yard touchdown scamper. With McAllister's one-point conversion pass to Kyle Lawson tacked on, the Heat lead was now 36-8 with 4:49 left in the third quarter.

Carr scored again on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter and then added the one-point conversion run to make it 43-8 and send the clock into constant motion due to the 35-point rule.

Waterbury finished the game with 139 yards rushing on 13 carries, Carr caught seven passes for 122 yards and added 30 yards rushing, and McAllister completed nine of 10 passes for 155 yards to lead the Heat offense.

Defensively, Waterbury pulled down a team-high 13 tackles and Carr and Kyle Lawson added eight each. Coach Lawson was grateful to get the game after St. Regis had cancelled out of their regularly scheduled game.

"It was a good game for us to get on such short notice," he said. "We are grateful that they were willing to play us, and they seemed to have fun with it."

Wildly different rules from the 6-Man Canadian game, including the 80-yard field, did not help the visitors. In Canada, the 6-Man game is played on a 110-yard field and they seemed to have trouble adjusting to the smaller gridiron used in Montana 6-Man ball.

This week's game at White Sulphur promises to be at least a little tougher as the Hornets were a playoff team last year.

"We expect this to be a much, much tougher game," coach Lawson said. "They have their starting quarterback and tailback back from last year, this is a very big week for us coming up."