Heat derail Engineers, host Westby-Grenora Saturday

Been there, done that. Hoping to go there and do that again.

Seasoned veterans of the Montana 6-Man playoffs, Hot Springs coaches Jim Lawson, the head man, and assistant Andrew Leicthnam have guided the Savage Heat to the quarterfinals once more.

The powerful Hot Springs Savage Heat, the No. 2 ranked 6-Man in Montana in the latest 406mtsports.com power poll and hoping to add to the legend of Hot Springs football, will host Westby-Grenora Saturday.

The Westby-Grenora, or Mon-Dak Thunder as they are also called, are a well-known commodity to the Savage Heat coaches and players as they have seen them several times in past playoff situations, most recently in the 2016 State championship game, played in Plentywood that year.

With casts of different players, including the likes of All-State legends Trevor Paro and Kane Lawson for Hot Springs, the Heat won their second State title in ’16 (they claimed their first 6-Man crown in 2012), but coach Lawson is taking nothing for granted. Mon-Dak won the State championship in 2017, before the resignation of controversial coach Troy Walters in the summer of 2018.

Although some players for Mon-Dak come from Westby, Lawson said the majority are from over the North Dakota line in Grenora. There were rumors of Walters gerrymandering the enrollment numbers to keep Mon-Dak at the 6-Man level, one of several controversies the Thunder’s former coach was involved in.

In spite of all the turmoil, the Thunder have surfaced as a 6-Man power once more.

“These are two totally different teams from what they were three years ago,” he said. “They have a new coach but are obviously still very good, I think everyone was surprised by how easily they handled Power last week.”

The No. 3 seed from the powerful Eastern conference, the Thunder went on the road and walloped Power/Dutton-Brady, the No. 2 team from the north, 50-0 Saturday.

Whatever type of team the Thunder bring Saturday, the Heat appear to have the ability to compete with anyone in Montana right now, as evidenced by their 47-18 conquest of visiting Harlowtown-Ryegate in the first round of this season’s playoffs in Hot Springs last Saturday.

The Heat battled through a competitive first half, which ended with Hot Springs ahead 34-18, and hit cruise control in the second half to post the win.

Coach Lawson was pleased with his team’s effort. “We fell behind in the first quarter but fought our way back,” he said. “Our kickoff coverage was suspect there early, we gave up the first touchdown on a runback, and we were having trouble with getting good field position, but we eventually got things straightened out, and again played pretty good defense overall.”

Perhaps the most valuable player in the Western conference ranks this season, Savage Heat quarterback Brandon Knudsen got the Heat on the board first with a 28-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Jack McAllister converted the two-point conversion kick to make it 8-0 Heat.

After Johnny Mysse returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards for a touchdown for Harlowtown, he then scored again a little later on a one-yard run to put the Engineers ahead 12-8.

A two-yard touchdown run by McAllister and a scintillating 72-yard punt return for another score by Knudsen put Hot Springs back in the driver’s seat.

Knudsen wound up scoring two more touchdowns on runs of 12 and 23 yards and passed for two more, hitting Kyle Lawson on a four-yard pass, and McAllister on a 50-yard scoring strike.

McAllister finished the game with two two-point kicks, and passed to Lawson for a one-point conversion.

McAllister was his usual monstrous self on defense, pulling down an amazing 18 tackles and grabbing an interception.

Knudsen had what his coach termed as “a pretty good day” with 150 yards rushing for three touchdowns, 163 yards passing on 13 of 16 completions for two more touchdowns, the punt return touchdown, and 11 tackles on defense.

Kyle Lawson rushed the ball 10 times for 72 yards and a touchdown and collected nine tackles.

Coach Lawson said changing field conditions affected the proceedings. “The field was frozen and pretty hard,” he said. “Kids were slipping and sliding pretty bad, ripping up sod trying to get their footing.”