Noxon survives trip, wins

by John Hamilton

The power is with the Power/Dutton-Brady Titans so far this fall, and the Noxon Red Devils hope to shut that power down.

In an early-season non-conference battle of unbeaten teams, the 2-0 Red Devils will host the 3-0 Titans on Jenny Lampshire Field Saturday at 1 p.m. in the West End.

Coach Bart Haflich and his Devils survived the long trip to Reed Point last week and defeated the Reed Point/Rapelje Renegades 34-24 Friday.

“That was a tough game for us, a long bus ride to get there,” Haflich said. “We made lots of mistakes but had the fortitude to get the job done in the end.”

Looking ahead to this week’s test with Power/Dutton-Brady, the Titans have been on a monumental roll so far this season, opening the campaign with a 52-0 skunking of Valier, continuing it with a 57-25 win over Stanford/Geyser/Denton and most recently shellacking Box Elder 64-6 last week.

The Titans are averaging about 58 points per game while only giving up around 10 per outing.

“They are one of the better teams in the Northern division, right up there with Big Sandy,” Haflich said. “The are fast and athletic and like to spread the field on offense. We are going to have to get them off the field with some defensive stops, and take advantage of our chances to score, if we hope to win.”

The win in Reed Point was a bittersweet one after the long ride across Montana just to get there. The Devils got the job done but paid a toll in doing so. Sophomore Cade VanVleet injured a knee in Reed Point and was being more thoroughly checked out this week to determine the extent of that injury.

Perhaps leaving their legs on the bus early on, the Devils fell behind 12-8 in the second quarter before scoring the next three TDs of the game to take a 28-12 lead by midway through the third quarter.

“We still had bus legs, made silly mistakes early and ended up getting a little banged up,” Haflich said. “But I have to give the kids credit, when it came time they gutted up and put the drives together that we needed.”

After watching Reed Point/Rapelje score two touchdowns in the third stanza to close with four at 28-24, Noxon put the game away with a one-yard touchdown run by Rylan Weltz in the fourth quarter.

Weltz scored Noxon’s first touchdown on a one-yard run in the first quarter, followed by Derreck Christensen’s two-point conversion kick. Josh Baldwin’s five-yard scoring run, followed by another two-point PAT by Christensen put the Devils ahead 16-12 at halftime.

Baldwin reached paydirt on a 55-yard run and Weltz on a 20-yard gallop in the third quarter to give Noxon all the points needed to win.

Not normally a running back, Weltz was pressed into duty with the injuries Noxon suffered. “We asked a lot from Ryl an in that game and he came through,” Haflich said. “We used him at several different positions, including running back where he hasn’t played much before.”

Haflich also complimented the fine play of Christensen and Jared Webley in helping lead the Devils to the tough road win.

Lawson Steinfeldt threw for two scores and ran for another to lead Reed Point/Rapelje.