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Montana 6-man Spotlight: Denton/Geyser/Stanford/Geraldine v. Grass Range/Winnett (Photo Gallery)

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub, News

| September 30, 2024

Once again, I found myself in Central Montana for another weekend of high school football. As with last week, I was once again attending a Grass Range/Winnett game. This time on the road at four-school co-op DGSG.

The towns, and schools, of Denton, Geyser, Stanford, and Geraldine combined together to form the Bearcats. One of the best six-man teams in the state, currently. After many years of a three-school co-op of Denton/Geyser/Stanford, Grass Range and Winnett were added to the fold for a few seasons creating the state’s first five-school co-op. That was short lived, however, as Grass Range, and Winnett, moved on to co-op with 11-man Fergus High School in Lewistown. The only 11-man team in the area of these schools.

Grass Range and Winnett, though, are now back on their own and face an all-too-familiar foe. The DGS Bearcats have added another team to the mix. As Geraldine has joined them. Stanford and Geyser, as did Hobson and Moore from Friday night’s spotlight game, sit along the well-traveled and vitally important State Route 200 across the middle part of the state.

Denton, meanwhile, sits about 18 miles north of MT200, along MT81 closer to the meandering valleys and ridges along the tributaries of the Missouri River. Unlike Geyser and Stanford who reside in Judith Basin County with Hobson, Denton is part of Fergus County. A large centralized county home to Lewistown. One of the largest towns in central Montana. As mentioned, one of the few 11-man teams anywhere in central Montana outside of Great Falls along Route 200. While recent addition Geraldine are from Choteau County. Not to be confused with the town of Choteau, which is located 90 miles west of Geraldine in an entirely different county west of I-15.

The four schools hold a combined Homecoming, and celebrated it this weekend in Denton. The four schools rotate home games. Giving their five home games to four different fields. With one lucky field hosting twice. This year, that is Stanford. While the other three members get one home game each.

As with last night’s spotlight in Hobson, the field in Denton has a somber origin of its name. Linn “Bubba” Lucas was a freshman at Montana State, a football players, who was diagnosed, and later succumbed to cancer. At just 19 years old. It’s a fitting tribute, with a nice marquee atop the scoreboard noting the field’s name.

The field itself is beautiful. Sitting on the east edge of town, on the south side of Route 81, the northern vista is that of rolling, sloping fields off into the distance. A white fence separates the field from the road. With small shrubs and trees. The home side, to the south, sits a two-story press box and small bleachers. Hardly necessary as most people stand or sit around the field.

As with most six-man football fields, the length is 80 yards by 40 yards. With ten yard endzones. Four downs to go 15 yards. Other notable rules are that the Quarterback cannot run the with the ball. Which creates a common ‘double snap’ where the ball is snapped to an upback who then tosses it back to the quarterback. This giving the offense full ability to move the ball downfield. In addition to this rule, all players are receiver-eligible. While touchdowns and safeties are normal scoring plays, the PAT is reversed. A kick, being more difficult 4 on 6 blocking at the line is worth 2 points. While a pass or run is worth only 1 point. And, keeping with the difficulty theme, a field goal is worth 4 points. Though hardly attempted. In addition to scoring plays, the game is only 40 minutes long. With four ten-minute quarters.

Grass Range/Winnett was coming off their first win of the season the previous week against Harlowton/Ryegate/Judith Gap. And despite an early defensive stop via an interception inside the redzone, it was not enough to keep a competitive advantage. Slowing slipping further and further behind the hosts. DGSG, the Bearcats, kept chipping away through the first half until they had a solid 40-0 lead going into the break. Two second half touchdowns by Grass Range/Winnett were not enough to make a game of it. As DGSG celebrated homecoming weekend victoriously, 48-12 over Grass Range/Winnett.

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For more, and larger, photos from this game, click HERE.

For photos from previous weeks and seasons, visit http://www.flickr.com/sykotyk/sets/

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