High school football rankings: Box Elder, Malta and Belt deliver statement wins in Week 3

HELENA — It was a for high school football teams in the Northern part of Montana as three teams — Box Elder, Belt and Malta — notched statement wins last Friday. Box Elder, which was previously unranked in the , used an incredible effort from Tracen Jilot to take down 6-Man No. 1 Chester-Joplin-Inverness 62-46.

Jilot was a driving forced behind the Bears' Class C state basketball championship last March and on Friday dominated the Hawks to the tune of 117 yards passing and four touchdowns (9-of-11 passing), seven receptions for 130 yards, three touchdown receptions, 98 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, 8.5 tackles and an interception. Talk about stuffing the stat sheet.



It's safe to say the Bears are no longer unranked. In Class B, Malta also notched another statement win. One week after defeating a ranked Red Lodge team on the road, the Mustangs beat a salty Jefferson squad, ranked No.

2, 31-17 in Malta. Belt also affirmed itself as a state title contender in 8-Man football with a 56-18 thrashing of Fort Benton. In Class AA and A, there were no matchups between ranked teams and those same ranked squads went a perfect 10-0.

Here are the updated 406 MT Sports high football rankings after week three. All five ranked teams — Bozeman, Kalispell Glacier, Bozeman Gallatin, Billings West and Helena Capital — won their games by at least 29 points last week. However, Missoula Big Sky is still unbeaten and Great Falls (2-1) is another team to keep an eye on after two straight wins.

The Bison's only loss so far was to Glacier (28-3) to open the season. : Great Falls will get a chance to prove itself on Friday night against the defending state champion, Bozeman, on the road. All five ranked teams in Class A won last week, although Frenchtown had a tough time with Lakeland, Idaho (14-7).

Miles City also needed some fourth-quarter heroics to best Havre 22-19. The Ponies took the lead with 2:57 left in the game, 19-15, but the Cowboys answered and Kordt Smith scored a rushing touchdown to put Miles City over the top. Billings Central and Laurel won with ease, while Dillon won a 2023 Class A state championship rematch against Columbia Falls, 21-7.

: It's a big week for Class A football. All of the top four teams will face each other as No. 1 Dillon will travel to No.

3 Frenchtown. Second-ranked Billings Central will also travel to No. 4 Laurel and by next Saturday, we'll have a better idea about the Class A hierarchy.

For the second week in a row, Malta is making a move up the Class B rankings up to No. 2 following a 14-point win at home over previous No. 2 Jefferson.

The Panthers led 17-7 in the second quarter before the Mustangs reeled off 24 unanswered points including a 21-0 showing in the second half. Glasgow held firm after an 20-13 win over a ranked Columbus team, while Fairfield is the newest member of the Class B rankings following a 3-0 start. : Manhattan, which has knocked off Huntley Project 41-14, Missoula Loyola 39-0 and Thompson Falls 38-16, maintained their spot at No.

1 but will be tested this week against No. 6 Glasgow on the road. 8-Man The Belt Huskies showed their strength with a rout of Fort Benton.

Still, it hasn't been easy to separate contenders from pretenders in 8-Man football since there are still 11 undefeated teams and at least two in each division. Fairview and Belt haven't given us any reason to believe they won't make deep playoff runs again. Then you also have teams like Circle, Seeley-Swan, and Ekalaka, who are led by defenses allowing fewer than 24 total points through three games.

Seeley-Swan is allowing opponents to score just four points per game. Drummond-Philipsburg, Manhattan Christian and Ennis are also 3-0 and each program has been dominant with all three boasting average margins of victory of least 37 points. Drummond-Philipsburg leads the way with an average scoring margin of 48.

There are three games between undefeated teams this week highlighted by No. 2 Belt and No. 3 Ennis who are scheduled to meet in White Sulphur Springs on Friday night.

Circle and Ekalaka will also meet in what could be a defensive struggle, while Valley Christian and Darby will also square off in a battle of unbeatens. 6-Man Last week, we pondered if the Box Elder Bears were "for real," and they certainly responded in the affirmative with a 62-46 win in Chester over top-ranked Chester-Joplin-Inverness. The Bears were unranked previously despite blowout wins over North Star and Hobson-Moore.

The 16-point win over CJI was enough to vault Box Elder up to No. 2, but the top spot goes to Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geradine. DGSG cruised past Great Falls Central on Saturday to improve to 3-0.

Not only has DGSG beaten two other ranked teams — Hot Springs and Bridger — its allowing just 14 points per game, tops in 6-Man football. Bridger is no longer ranked after losing to DGSG (54-14); however, the Scouts are 2-1 and won their other two games by a combined score of 98-0. A total of five teams ranked in the top 10 lost last week, leaving jut five unbeaten teams left.

Third-ranked West Yellowstone was upset by 0-2 Custer-Hysham-Melstone. Last week's No. 6 Lincoln, No.

8 Richey-Lambert and No. 9 Jordan were also defeated. Broadview-Lavina notched the 49-28 win over Jordan to get the Pirates into the rankings for the first time this season.

Absarokee also joined the top 10 for the first time after beating Shields Valley, while Custer-Hysham-Melstone re-emerged after it's impressive win against West Yellowstone. : Hot Springs and West Yellowstone have a combined three losses so far this season but both teams are ranked and can get a leg up in the Western Division with a win Friday night in Hot Springs. High School Football 406 MT Sports rankings Week 3 Class AA 1.

Bozeman (3-0) 2. Kalispell Glacier (3-0) 3. Bozeman Gallatin (3-0) 4.

Billings West (3-0) 5. Helena Capital (2-1) Class A 1. Dillon (2-0) 2.

Billings Central (3-0) 3. Frenchtown (3-0) 4. Laurel (3-0) 5.

Miles City (3-0) Class B 1. Manhattan (3-0) 2. Malta (3-0) 3.

Eureka (3-0) 4. Jefferson (2-1) 5. Florence-Carlton (2-1) 6.

Glasgow (3-0) 7. Three Forks (3-0) 8. Red Lodge (2-1) 9.

Joliet (3-0) 10. Fairfield (3-0) 8-Man 1. Fairview (3-0) 2.

Belt (3-0) 3. Ennis (3-0) 4. Valley Christian (3-0) 5.

Circle (3-0) 6. Drummond-Philipsburg (3-0) 7. Manhattan Christian (3-0) 8.

Fort Benton (2-1) 9. Seeley-Swan (3-0) 10. Ekalaka (3-0) 6-Man 1.

Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine (3-0) 2. Box Elder (3-0) 3. Savage (3-0) 4.

Chester-Joplin-Inverness (2-1) 5. Centerville (2-1) 6. Hot Springs (1-2) 7.

Broadview-Lavina (3-0) 8. Absarokee (3-0) 9. Custer-Hysham-Melstone (1-2) 10.

West Yellowstone (2-1).