Hot Springs routs Noxon to advance

The regular season of 6-man football came to an end Friday, with Hot Springs getting a commanding win in front of their home crowd over Noxon. The Savage Heat ended the game 57-6, allowing just one touchdown by the Red Devils in the fourth quarter.

It was senior night for Hot Springs, and it took less than two minutes for the Savage Heat to put the first point on the board when Nick McAllister ran in for a touchdown. Noxon struggled to gain yards and was forced to punt on their first possession. With the ball back in their hands, Daniel Slonaker had a huge run and took the Savage Heat to about the 1 yard line before his brother Weston ran it in for the second touchdown of the evening.

Hot Springs senior Johnny Waterbury would intercept a Noxon pass on the Red Devils' next possession, but the Noxon defense stopped the Savage Heat and got the ball back to end the first quarter with Hot Springs up 16-0. It was Waterbury's first game back after being injured earlier in the season. "Getting Johnny back was a boost to the team's confidence," said Savage Heat Coach Jim Lawson.

Noxon was giving it their all as the second quarter started, attempting to slip up the Savage Heat defense with a couple double pass plays. They would come up short on yardage and on the Savage Heat's first possession of the second, Weston Slonaker would run it in for another touchdown. On Noxon's next possession, Savage Heat Ben Aldridge snagged his first interception of the night and ran the ball back into the end zone. With Pedro Vidotti's PAT kick, that put Hot Springs up 32-0 less than halfway through the second quarter.

"Our defense played really well," Coach Lawson said Sunday. "We stopped their run game early." The Savage Heat would acquire six interceptions during the 40 minutes of play. "The boys came out with a lot of energy. I was really happy to see that."

Hot Springs kept the pressure on Noxon, however, and Aldridge caught a second interception to quickly get the ball back in the hands of the Savage Heat. Not giving up, Noxon's Cameron Blair caught an interception on the next play.

With the tension high, the defenses would continue to dominate the second quarter, with Blair capturing another interception before Aldridge returned the favor and caught a remarkable third interception. Hot Springs was finally able to capitalize and it would be Aldridge to catch a scoring pass with 18 seconds left and the Savage Heat up 38-0 at the half. "Ben had a couple huge back to back plays. It was probably the best game I've ever seen him play," Coach Lawson expressed.

Noxon continued to struggle in the second half as Hot Springs continued to widen the gap. Weston Slonaker ran in for his third touchdown of the night and halfway through the third, Samson Jakabosky would intercept a Noxon pass, which the Savage Heat would convert into his second touchdown of the evening. The final quarter began with Noxon up 51-0.

In the fourth quarter, Noxon would get points on the board, with Blair scoring on a pass from Justice Kayser. Not giving up, the Red Devils attempted an onside kick. Coach Lawson said they had anticipated the onside kick, which senior Johnny Waterbury picked up and ran back for a touchdown. "It was a good effort all around from our guys," Lawson said.

The loss ends Noxon's season and Hot Springs finishes the regular season at No 2 in the conference. The Savage Heat advance to the 6-man playoffs, with their first round this weekend as they take on Custer-Hysham-Melstone. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday in Hysham.

"We're playing with a lot of energy," Coach Lawson said. "We need to come out and play that way every week now. The big thing in the playoffs is just playing good defense. That's how you win playoff games."

Noxon Coach Lucas MacArthur said that even though they didn't make the playoffs, overall the team had a really good year. "It was a lot of fun. We had a shot. We had some really big games and had some really good things happen," the coach said. "It's one of the best teams I've coached. They were positive and worked hard."

MacArthur said after the game in Hot Springs, he went into the locker room and thanked his team for the work they put in this season. He said looking back on the season that some of the biggest moments were the games agains Lincoln, Valier and White Sulphur Springs. "Noxon has not foudn ourselves in close games. It's either big wins or big losses. But we had three games that we won where it came down almost literally to the last second of the game," he said. He added that he appreciatd the commitment of his team this season, and enjoyed moments like gathering as a team to watch the Red Devil volleyball team play an away game on a big screen set up on the field, and morning practices where they would then sit as a team and have breakfast together. MacArthur said though they will be losing a lot of seniors next year, he's excited to see the carryover to the younger players.