Visiting Titans hold off Red Devils 46-36

NOXON – The Titans may have won, but the hometown Red Devils never quit fighting.

The Power/Dutton-Brady Titans fought off the determined Noxon Red Devils 46-36 in non-conference 6-Man football action in Noxon Saturday.

Now 2-1 in non-conference action and overall, coach Bart Haflich and the Devils will open Western conference play hosting Sheridan Friday night on Jenny Lampshire Memorial Field. Sheridan defeated Reed Point/Rapelje 62-20 last week.

For comparison's sake, the Devils beat Reed Point/Rapelje 34-24 in Reed Point two weeks ago.

"Sheridan is a solid team, they put it to Reed Point pretty good," Haflich said. "And we would really like to get off to a good start in league play."

Saturday's battle with PDB was an entertaining game to watch as the Titans spread the field way out on offense, and threw the ball around effectively in building an early lead, which ballooned to 27-0 by halftime.

Haflich must have inspired his boys somewhat at halftime as the Devils roared back to make things interesting in the second half.

Hard-running Josh Baldwin got the Devils on the board in the third quarter with touchdown bursts of 10 and five yards, and Derreck Christensen followed up both Baldwin TDs with 2-point extra kicks to draw within 33-16 by midway through the third.

Senior Rylan Weltz then got in on the scoring action for the Devils by crossing the goal line for Noxon three times in the fourth quarter, scoring on runs of two and three yards, and gathering in a 45-yard pass from quarterback Brody Hill for yet another touchdown.

Christensen connected on another 2-point kick following Weltz's second touchdown.

Improving to 4-0 with the win, PDB was ranked No. 4 in the most recent Montana 406mtsports.com power poll.

Brothers Nick and Jackson Widhalm led the Titans, as Nick threw for three touchdowns and ran for another and Jackson threw for one TD and caught a pass from Nick for another. Ben Lehnerz scored PDB's final touchdown on a 41-yard pass from Nick Widhalm in the fourth quarter.

The Devils kept fighting back in spite of some officiating that did not go their way.

Jared Webley had a beautiful 70-some-yards kickoff return for a touchdown negated by a "hurdling" penalty in the third quarter. Several apparently legal onside kick attempts by Noxon were also brought into question by the officiating crew during the fourth quarter.

"We kept fighting back," Haflich said. "I have to give the kids credit, they kept playing hard no matter what."

Looking ahead to Friday's game with Sheridan, Haflich strikes a hopeful tone.

"We are coming along, the kids are getting a little better each time out," he said. "It's good to see us improving and we will see what we are capable of against Sheridan this week."

The Devils were dealt a blow earlier this week when it was learned that sophomore Cade VanVleet, one of Noxon's best players, will need to undergo surgery and will miss the rest of the season.