Hot Springs wins battle with Noxon

The Hot Springs Savage Heat and the Noxon Red Devils were undefeated in conference play going into Friday night's homecoming game in Hot Springs High School. The game was a pivotal moment in the season for both teams, as the winner will likely end up on top of the Western 6-man conference.

In the end, the Savage Heat prevailed in a 38-26 home win. "We've come a long way on the offensive side and scored a lot more points," Hot Springs Coach Jim Lawson said after the game. "We have improved quite a bit."

The game started drastically different from the way it ended. In the first possession of the game, Noxon was forced to punt. The punt was blocked. The Savage Heat recovered the ball, and within minutes found themselves at fourth-and-13. It's a big game, so they went for it. A pass was intercepted by Noxon's Ricky Williams, who ran the ball back to the 26 yard line. On the very next play, Hot Springs' Quincy Styles-Depoe intercepted a Noxon pass. The first quarter wasn't even half over and no one could have predicted how the next three-and-a-half quarters would go.

With the ball back in the home team's hands, quarterback Nick McAllister threw a long pass to Styles-Depoe, who caught the ball a yard from the end zone. The junior wide receiver twisted his knee on the fall, however, and the injury sidelined Styles-Depoe for the rest of the homecoming game. That didn't phase the Savage Heat, as McAllister connected with senior Garth Parker for a touchdown pass on the next play and Hot Springs was the first to put points on the scoreboard. "This was probably the best game Garth has played. He really stepped up," Lawson noted.

On Noxon's next possession, Hot Springs nearly intercepted a pass again and the Savage Heat defense held strong against the Red Devils, taking over the ball on downs. Hot Springs again capitalized on the turnover with Weston Slonaker running into the end zone for another touchdown.

Noxon got the ball back to start the second quarter, hoping to shift the momentum of the game. On the first play of the second quarter, however, Savage Heat junior Jody Page intercepted a Noxon pass. Hot Springs then fumbled the ball, but recovered it, and turned the possession into another touchdown by Slonaker, a sophomore. Noxon was determined on their next possession, as quarterback Brian Risch connected with sophomore Ricky Williams on two big passes to get the Red Devils to the 9 yard line before Gage Hendrick ran the ball into the end zone. The Red Devils were back in the game, trailing 19-6.

With five minutes left in the second quarter, Noxon's defense forced Hot Springs to punt on a fourth down and had another shot at tightening the gap on the scoreboard. On third down, Risch failed to connect with Williams. They had one more shot and again Risch looked for Williams down field, but was unable to complete the pass and Hot Springs took over on downs with just over a minute left in the half. The determination of the Sanders County defenses was evident however as neither team was successful at moving the ball before heading into the locker room.

"The weight of the game was heavy on the team," Noxon Coach Lucas MacArthur said. "We had a hard time handling the pressure, but I'm very proud of these guys."

As the second half started, Slonaker received the kickoff and ran it back for a touchdown for the Savage Heat, putting them up 25-6. "Weston had such a great game, scoring four touchdowns, and he did so good on defense too," Lawson stated. "We've been holding him off of offense because of an injury and this game we could finally turn him loose."

Noxon wasn't giving up, however, as Williams caught a long pass in the end zone on their next possession to move the score to 25-12, then Williams intercepted a Hot Springs pass on their next possession. Looking for another score, Risch again sought out Williams, but a pass into the end zone was deflected by McAllister and Hot Springs got the ball once more. Hot Springs was unable to score and the ball again went back to the Red Devils. On fourth down and long, Noxon set up to punt, but faked and Shamus Wheeldon completed a pass to Williams, who ran into the end zone and Noxon inched within a touchdown of Hot Springs, 25-20. "Shamus runs the ball really well," MacArthur said. "It was definitely time to use that play and they did a good job."

The teams would chase each other for the rest of the third quarter, as Hot Springs senior Garth Parker found the end zone to put the Savage Heat up 32-20. Noxon then answered with Antonio Lodi running in a touchdown and the score was 32-26 as the final quarter began.

Neither team backed down in the fourth quarter as it was a battle of the defenses. McAllister intercepted a Noxon pass in the end zone for a touchback and Noxon provided deep coverage in the end zone as McAllister attempted to connect with Slonaker twice in the end zone on two separate drives. The team traded the ball, turning it over on downs,

before McAllister took one more shot at the end zone. This time, he connected with Slonaker, who carried the ball for a first down and then caught a touchdown pass with less than two minutes left in the game. "Nick threw some really good balls, and that interception in the fourth quarter was huge," Coach Lawson said. The Savage Heat were up 38-26.

The Hot Springs defense made a last push in the final minutes of the game, as McAllister nearly intercepted a Noxon pass before Noxon fumbled and Hot Springs recovered the ball and ran the clock out for the win.

"Ultimately it was still a close game," MacArthur stated. "Hot Springs has that experience of not buckling under pressure. We beat them in the second half but had built such a deficit that we couldn't come back from it."

Next week, Hot Springs has a bye, which will help the team recover from injuries. Styles-Depoe and sophomore Waterbury were both injured in the first half of the Noxon game and sat out the second half, so Lawson is looking forward to the bye week and allowing his team to recover. The Savage heat will be back on the road October 15 as they travel to Lima. They will close out the regular season October 22 with a home game against West Yellowstone. "We're looking forward to winning the last two games to win the conference," Lawson said. "We want to finish strong in those games."

There will be no rest for Noxon this week as they welcome Gardiner Thursday at 7 p.m. The Red Devils will then have a bye before traveling to Twin Bridges October 21 for their last regular season game. MacArthur said his team is looking ahead and planning for the playoffs. "We're going to get ourselves ready for the playoffs. I'm having a blast," he said.