What a difference a year makes.
The Big Sandy Pioneers exorcised any residual demons of its last matchup with the MonDak Thunder in a convincing 60-14 win Friday at Grenora, North Dakota.
The Thunder, a co-op between Grenora and Westby, Montana high schools, included in their defense of a 2017 Montana 6-man football state championship, a 2018 come-from-behind win at Big Sandy.
The Pioneers evened the home-and-home series with a foe 371 highway miles away by keeping their collective foot on the gas. Big Sandy scored early and often.
“We were tougher than they were,” said coach Larry Jappe. “The (Pioneers) wanted a little bit of revenge.”
Clint Darlington hauled in a touchdown pass with 8 minutes to go in the first quarter, combined with a 2-point conversion for an 8-0 lead. The Pioneers would never trail.
The Thunder answered with a touchdown on the ground about 2 minutes later but the PAT attempt failed. A Kade Strutz scoring run with 2 more points tacked on near the 3:00 mark stretched the lead to double digits at 16-6.
“Kade looked fantastic,”Jappe said, adding that in addition to his offensive touchdown, “Clint Darlington played played a great game on defense.”
MonDak responded again, going to the air for their second TD in the final minute of the first frame, and converted to draw within 16-14, but did not score again.
“Our defense really just settled in a bit,” Jappe said, with “a couple guys” adjusting to new assignments. “Once they got everything figured out, we rolled them … we pretty well shut them down.”
Strutz picked up a second rushing touchdown midway through the second quarter for a 22-14 advantage.
“Parker (Proulx) ran a punt back for a touchdown after we got that first stop on D,” Jappe said. “That really changed the momentum.”
Brother Brock Proulx got in on the scoring action with about 4 minutes left in the first half, with a pick-six that stretched the lead to 36-14. Strutz completed the hat trick with his third TD run less than a minute before the break.
Parker Proulx would match his brother’s tally in the INT column by night’s end. Ryan Roth and Chris Burns added third-quarter rushing touchdowns to cap the scoring.
The game marked a sharp contrast with the previous year’s meeting in which Big Sandy could not maintain a halftime lead against the perennial East powerhouse on its home field. Come state playoff time, Big Sandy advanced one round further than MonDak, leaving open the question of what could have been.
The Pioneers’ slate shifts back home Friday for a foe that may be looking at Big Sandy much as the Pioneers viewed MonDak. White Sulphur Springs ended their 2018 season with a 56-22 loss at Big Sandy in the first round of the state playoffs. The Hornets (2-1), coming off a 62-18 win at Bridger, will be hopeful of an upset come the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff time.
They and other upcoming opponents may get a different look from Big Sandy rounding into midseason form.
“I want to open up Parker (Proulx) and let him throw the ball in these next couple weeks,” Jappe hinted.
In junior high action, the Pioneers hosted Highway 87 rival Box Elder Tuesday and recorded a 36-8 win.
Statistics compiled by Jen Darlington contributed to this report.
