Belt football team cruises past Culbertson in Eight-Man state semis
BELT – The Belt football team is one victory away from capturing its first state title in nearly three decades.
The undefeated Huskies (12-0) cruised to another playoff win here at Remington Field on Saturday afternoon, blanking the Cowboys 38-0 in the Eight-Man state semifinals.
Belt (12-0), the No. 1 team out of the North, advances to the state championship game next Saturday at St. Ignatius. The Bulldogs (12-0), the West’s top squad, held off Fairview 54-48 Saturday in their semifinal contest.
The Huskies won the school’s only football title 28 years ago in 1994.
Ethan Triplett earned a pair of breakaway touchdowns for the Huskies, with quarterback Bridger Vogl slinging two scores and junior Reese Paulson tallying a pick-six.
Culbertson put together a solid drive to open the game as it drove inside the Belt 25-yard line but was forced to punt after a Keaghn McDaniel sack. Three plays later, facing a third-and-six at the Belt 5, the junior Triplett took a quick toss from Vogl 75 yards to the house up the right sideline to put the Huskies up 8-0 following the two-point conversion.
“I’m sure proud of the way the guys played,” first-year Belt head coach Matt Triplett said. “On defense, it’s just a ‘bend, don’t break’ mentality, stay disciplined. Culbertson has a tough offense, a tough line and tough running backs so we knew they were pounding the ball on us. So just, ‘bend, don’t break,’ just keep playing ball and hope we can stop them and just score on offense.”
Belt stayed in the driver’s seat as it forced a Cowboy three-and-out, running out to a 16-0 lead following an eight-play drive capped by a Garett Metrione plunge at the goal line. Jeremy Nebel sparked the scoring drive with a 21-yard catch and run, reversing field and breaking a tackle to get the angle inside the Culbertson 20.
Following Paulson’s interception return for a touchdown with just over a minute to go in the first half, Belt extended the advantage to 30-0 right out of the locker room as Triplett took an option toss 64 yards to paydirt almost untouched up the left sideline on just the third play of the third stanza.
Belt triggered a running clock for the remainder midway through the third as Vogl found a wide-open Zach Feldman in the end zone for a 26-yard pitch-and-catch.
The Huskies have now outscored the opposition 150-0 in the first three games of the playoffs following shutouts of Charlo and Flint Creek in the first two rounds, respectively.
“On the defense there’s six senior starters and two juniors, they’ve got a lot of time under their belt,” Triplett said. “They’re really experienced, they communicate, and they really like each other, so there’s a lot of synergy there. Both sides of the ball played pretty well, and I think we dominated on special teams as well, so, we had good field position and put them in some holes. So, overall, great team effort.”
Triplett is in his 12th season overall with the program overall, previously coaching under veteran mentor Jeff Graham, who is now leading the Montana Tech women’s basketball team in Butte.
The Huskies have been regulars in the Eight-Man playoffs since Graham took over the team in 2007 and made the state semis in 2013 and 2016.
“Gosh, when I first started coaching in Belt with Graham and (former longtime assistant Paul) Maki, this is what we dreamed about,” Triplett said. “We just couldn’t get past the semis for some reason, and we finally did it. So, for all those guys that played in Belt all those years with me, and Graham and Maki, this is for them. We’re going to go out and do the best we can against whoever, whether it’s (St. Ignatius) or Fairview, we’re going to give it our best shot.”
Culbertson 0 0 0 0 – 0
Belt 16 6 16 – 38
First quarter
BELT – Ethan Triplett 75 pass from Bridger Vogl (Jeremy Nebel run)
BELT – Garett Metrione 1 run (Metrione run)
Second quarter
BELT – Reese Paulson interception return (pass failed)
Third quarter
BELT – Triplett 64 run (Metrione run)
BELT – Zach Feldman 26 pass from Vogl (Keaghn McDaniel pass from Vogl)
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Belt football team cruises past Culbertson in Eight-Man state semis
