MILES CITY 35 LAUREL 7

By: Alec Bofinger

MILES CITY -- The Miles City upperclassmen had been dreaming of this moment since they were little kids.

The Cowboys claimed the Class A state football title with a 35-7 win over Laurel in front of their home fans at Denton Field at Connors Stadium to bookend the decade with championships.

Miles City started fast, scoring on the game's opening possession. The Cowboys chewed up more than six minutes of clock on the drive, which was capped by a 10-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Carson Hunter. After a Laurel punt, it looked like Miles City would add to its lead after Hunter hit Jess Bellows for a huge gain, but Bellows had the ball ripped out by Keagan Campbell giving Laurel possession.

Turnovers, though, were just beginning. Laurel drove the ball deep into Miles City territory, but Cameron Younger had the ball stripped and Miles City took over. The Cowboys, though, gave it right back. In Laurel territory the Cowboys opted for a halfback pass by Jess Bellows. Bellows, though, was intercepted.

Again Laurel drove the ball methodically down the field on the heels of its rushing attack, but the turnover buck struck again. Younger never fully controlled the handoff from Eli Aby and coughed it up into the waiting arms of Aidan Barrows.

The teams traded punts and the Cowboys took over with 1:38 left in the first half. Hunter drove Miles City down the field and tossed a 17-yard touchdown to a wide open Barrows to push the Cowboys' lead to 14-0 at halftime.

After forcing a Laurel punt, Miles City finally struck with a big play. Hunter uncorked a deep ball to Bellows, who caught it in stride near midfield and went streaking untouched into the end zone for an 84-yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 21-0.

An Ethan Renner 52-yard touchdown pass from Aby at the beginning of the fourth quarter cut the Miles City advantage to 21-7, but the Cowboys turned to Barrows and their rushing attack to milk the clock. Miles City took it down to the 1-yard line before Hunter crossed the plane for his second rushing score of the night.

Laurel fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Hunter hit Bellows for the duo's second scoring connection of the day to give Miles City its 35-7 margin.

Hunter, a junior, rushed for two scores and passed for three more to lead Miles City to the victory. Bellows caught a pair of touchdowns during his monster day

No. 1 Miles City handles No. 4 Laurel for 1st state title since 2010

MILES CITY — Miles City’s dominant season concluded with a 35-7 win over Laurel in the Class A football state title game.

The top-ranked Cowboys finished the season 11-0 and won their first state championship since 2010. Saturday’s win at Connors Stadium was their second over No. 4 Laurel (9-2) this season.

Miles City received the ball to open the first half and embarked on a drive that lasted more than six minutes. Junior quarterback Carson Hunter ran 10 yards for a touchdown to put Miles City up 7-0 with 5:45 left in the first quarter

Hunter connected with senior Aidan Barrows with 38 seconds left in the second quarter on a 17-yard pass to increase the lead to 14-0.

Each team committed two turnovers in the first half. The Locomotives coughed the ball up two more times in the final two quarters, marking the second straight game the Cowboys forced four takeaways (they beat No. 3 Hamilton 28-14 last week).

Hunter completed touchdown passes of 84 and 20 yards to senior Jess Bellows in the second half, and he ran two yards for the other TD.

Laurel’s lone score came with five seconds left in the third quarter, when junior Eli Aby connected with senior Ethan Renner on a 52-yard pass

Scoreboard

	1	2	3	4	F
Laurel	0	0	7	0	7
Custer County	7	7	7	14	35

Game Leaders

	Pass	Rush	Rec
Laurel	#7 Eli Aby: 10-23, 163 yds, 1 tds	#22 Cameron Younger: 11 car, 60 yds, 0 tds	#9 Jack Waddell: 5 rec, 84 yds, 0 tds
Custer County	#11 C Hunter: 14-16, 249 yds, 3 tds	#40 A Barrows: 25 car, 110 yds, 1 tds	#12 J Bellows: 8 rec, 195 yds, 2 tds

	LAU	CUS
Number of Plays	48	57
Total Offense	296	468
Time of Possession	18:27	29:33
Rushing Attempts - Yards	25 - 133	38 - 173
Passing: Completions - Attempts	10 - 23	15 - 19
Passing Yards	163	295
Passing: Touchdowns - Interceptions	1 - 1	3 - 1
Fumbles - Lost	3 - 3	2 - 1
Turnovers	4	2
First Downs	16	23
First Downs - Rushing	6	10
First Downs - Passing	7	9
First Downs - Penalties	3	4
Third Down Conversions/Attempts	5/11 (45.5%)	8/11 (72.7%)
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts	0/1 (0%)
Penalties - Yards	7 - 65	7 - 70
Defensive Sacks - Yards	0 - 0	0 - 0
Punts - Average	3 - 41.3	2 - 53.5

LAUREL STATS

MILES CITY