Crosstown football: Storied GFH-CMR rivalry has provided all-time moments
The 58th annual crosstown matchup between Great Falls High and C.M. Russell High is set for Friday night at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
The regular-season finale does not hold major playoff implications for either team, as the Bison (3-3 Eastern AA, 5-3 overall) and Rustlers (2-4, 3-5) have both already clinched a spot in the postseason, which begins next Friday.
Great Falls High is locked into the East’s No. 4 seed regardless of the outcome Friday with a two-game lead in overall records and will host a playoff game Halloween weekend. CMR, currently the No. 5 team in the East, could hold that position with a win and a Billings Senior (2-4, 2-6) loss to Belgrade (1-5, 1-7). A Rustler loss and/or Bronc win would drop them to the sixth and final seed in the conference, as Senior holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over CMR.
However, the implications for bragging rights and school pride are always high in one of the oldest and most storied rivalries in Montana prep sports. The contest will officially be a home game for CMR.
Read more: Former C.M. Russell star Josh Huestis coming home to host Crosstown Tailgate Fundraiser
Here is a look at Friday’s crosstown showdown, as well as some facts and remembrances of the biggest moments in the rivalry’s history.
CMR Rustlers
The Rustlers have dropped four straight games as they’ve played three out of their last four games on the road and were tasked with the conference’s top-three teams in that stretch in Billings West, Bozeman High and Bozeman Gallatin.
CMR is coming off a 27-3 loss to No. 1 West last Friday despite matching the Bears in every offensive category.
The Rustlers of head coach Dennis Morris boast several offensive weapons, including Class AA’s leading rusher in tailback A.J. LaFurge. The senior has racked up over 102 yards on the ground per game this season and has a league-best 16 rushing scores.
Gus Nunez is third in the AA with 676 receiving yards through eight games on top of seven touchdowns, while quarterback Cole Taylor leads the East in passing at over 261 yards per contest, throwing 10 scores to seven interceptions.
Junior linebacker Dorian White is the leading tackler for the Rustlers with nearly nine tackles per game, followed by senior defensive back Cayden Doran (6.9 tackles per game) and J.J. Triplett (6.1). Junior defensive back River Wasson is tied for a Class AA-high five interceptions as well this season.
Great Falls High Bison
Similar to CMR, Great Falls High dropped three straight earlier in the season with close losses to Bozeman, West and Gallatin but have since rebounded for three consecutive victories. The Bison of head coach Coda Tchida clinched the home playoff game with a 28-0 triumph over Senior last Friday.
Great Falls High is led by Boston College commit Reed Harris, who after two years as the starting quarterback has been a Swiss Army knife on both offense and defense. The senior leads the Bison in receiving with 528 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 248 yards at over nine yards per tote and two scores. Harris is also a starting linebacker and punter.
Senior tailback Rafe Longin had missed the better part of two games against Belgrade and Billings Skyview with an ankle injury, but is still third in the AA in rushing at over 92 yards per game. He has 10 total touchdowns on the season, including a pair of kickoff returns in Great Falls High’s first two games of the year.
Defensive end Wyatt DeVoss, the program’s all-time leader in sacks, has eight quarterback stops this year, while linebackers Mason Kralj and Eli Pike are both top-10 tacklers in the state with over nine per game.
By the numbers
• The Rustlers hold the all-time lead in the regular-season series 32-25 and are 4-1 all-time in the postseason against the Bison, winning three of four state title showdowns and the 2002 state semis.
The Bison have won four straight against CMR, including a 35-21 victory last fall.
• CMR dominated the crosstown series from 1989 until the early 2000s, winning 16 of 17 matchups including state championship tilts in 1989 and 1990 and a state semifinal game in 2002.
• Great Falls High ruled the early years of the rivalry that started in 1965, taking nine of the first 10 crosstown contests while winning or tying for six state championships in that span and finishing runner-up three times.
Notable CMR-GFH games
• Oct. 16, 1965: The first Bison-Rustler clash came on this Saturday in a midseason meeting, with the Tribune writing: “There’s more at stake than the prestige of winning the first of what is destined to become one of the great high school rivalries in Montana.”
Great Falls High, which would go on to win the state title that year under head coach Gene Carlson, held off CMR 24-20 in the inaugural crosstown game.
• Oct. 6, 1968: The Rustlers captured their first-ever victory over the Bison 27-14 and the program’s only win in the series until 1975. CMR led 13-7 at the half and a pick-six by Tim Anderson in the third quarter extended the lead. Down by two scores late, the Bison attempted a fake punt but fumbled at their own 20, and fullback Nick Obstar iced the game with 1:37 to go on a fourth-and-goal run.
• Oct. 31, 1975: CMR legendary coach Jack Johnson not only picked up his first crosstown win in his storied career on this Halloween night, but made what the Tribune called “one of the gutsiest decisions in recent memory,” as the Rustlers won the Eastern AA championship and advanced to the state title game.
Down 10-3, Rustler quarterback Art West hit Lee Cline for a touchdown on fourth-and-11 with 2:29 to go in regulation. Johnson elected to go for the late lead instead of the tying kick, and West found running back Tony Caldwell on a rollout to the right to give CMR the 11-10 victory. The Rustlers blew out Butte 41-7 the following week for the program’s first of 13 titles under Johnson.
• Nov. 11, 1983: Great Falls High had defeated the defending champion Rustlers 24-7 in the regular season finale two weeks prior, but the Electric City state title game was far closer. CMR led 3-0 late in the third quarter when junior tailback Tyler Huber jump-started the Bison offense with a 36-yard run and drew a facemask penalty for an additional 15 yards.
Fullback Frank Sandrock scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns for Great Falls High to clinch the championship win, with Terry McIntyre setting up the second score on an interception. It was the first state title for the Bison since 1974 and the first for head coach Dale Pohle, who also led Great Falls High to its most recent championship in 1988.
• Nov. 17, 1989: The Rustlers blasted the defending state champion Bison in the regular season 27-0, but the crosstown title game was far from a runaway. CMR led 13-3 at the half but Great Falls High cut it to one possession in the third quarter on a Matt Woody touchdown.
A potential game-tying kick by Tim Klinger in the fourth quarter was blocked by CMR’s James Bartell and recovered at the 2-yard line by the Rustlers. However, Bison defensive lineman Paul Wear sacked QB Dave Dickenson in the end zone for a safety to cut it to just 13-12 CMR with nine minutes left.
The Rustler defense came up with the play of the game with just over five minutes to go, with Nick Spomer recovering a Bison fumble at the Great Falls High 14, with Craig Dickenson booting a 25-yard field goal. The win capped the first of two undefeated championship seasons with Dave Dickenson under center for CMR, which defeated the Bison 38-7 in the title game the following year.
• Nov. 6, 1998: While both teams missed the four-team playoff field this season, a 6-0 CMR win brought much significance. Kicker Ben Myers hit field goals of 19 and 22 yards to give the Rustlers the advantage as head coach Jack Johnson won his state-record 224th game, passing Ennis’ Bob Cleverley. Johnson coached until through the 2013 season and ended with 340 victories.
• Oct. 24, 2003: Great Falls High snapped a nine-game losing streak, including a state semifinal loss the year before, with a resounding 35-12 victory at Memorial Stadium. The Bison finished the season 9-1 under head coach Gregg Dart behind touchdown passes of 75, 55, 79 and 45 yards, with three of those going to receiver Nick Milodragovich. Star tailback Rob Schulte rushed for 128 yards in the crosstown win to become Great Falls High’s all-time career rusher.
• Oct. 31, 2008: In perhaps the most thrilling crosstown to date, Great Falls High trailed the heavily favored Rustlers 21-0 midway through the second quarter but rallied to win 36-35. Bison quarterback Trylan Wassmann accounted for three total touchdowns, including an early fourth-quarter toss to Mike Zook to tie it at 28.
Signal-caller Dan Olinger gave CMR the lead again on a 15-yard touchdown to Jordan Harper, but a blocked punt by Great Falls High’s Casey Johnson gave the Bison the ball back at the CMR 6 with 4:08 to go.
Running back Zach Wichman rumbled for a 4-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal, and a Wassmann run on the two-point conversion lifted Great Falls High to the win.
Grady Higgins covers prep sports for the Tribune. He can be reached at ghiggins@greatfallstribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @GFTribGHiggins.
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Crosstown football: The Great Falls High-CMR rivalry over the years
