The up-and-coming Spartans beat crosstown rival Big Sky for the first time in six seasons, 25-13, Friday before a packed house at Missoula County Stadium.
Sentinel's defense held the dinged-up Eagles to just a first-quarter touchdown and evened their Class AA record at 2-2 in the process. The Spartans had just two wins all of last season and they came on the heels of 32 consecutive losses.
Since beating the Eagles 7-6 in 2001, the Spartans have been outscored 208-38 in the last six meetings.
“It's always nice to beat a rival,” said co-offensive coordinator Chris McLaughlin, Sentinel's longest tenured coach of nine seasons. “But what I really liked was how we responded to adversity with positive plays. We haven't always done that in the past, but we did tonight.”
Senior quarterback Steven Rominger passed for 179 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 116 yards and a score for the Spartans. His 33-yard TD strike to Dalton Bright put the Spartans up 18-6 after just their second play of the second half.
After Big Sky fumbled the ball away on its next offensive play, Rominger took the next play and zipped 25 yards for the Spartans final score.
“That kid's amazing,” said Creveling. “He has a future. I'm proud to be on his team.
“It's fun to pick plays of the sheet when you know everything is working,” McLaughlin said.
Rominger had 145 yards in the first half, which ended with Sentinel ahead 12-6 after Justin Meyer booted the second of his field goals with 23 seconds on the clock.
Rominger and sophomore receiver Ben Roberts hooked up seven times for 108 yards - all in the first half - including a nice one-handed grab on the very first series.
In the second half, the Spartans plugged the holes that helped Big Sky gain 72 yards in the first half, and temporarily take the lead on junior Glen Maricelli's 1-yard TD run.
“Our D-line stuck in there,” Creveling said. “They're a good team and we had to play them hard, but we're a family.”
“We ran hard, but their line was goin' pretty hard all night,” Maricelli said. “They're defensive line came to play.”
Maricelli had 31 yards on the ground and Trevor Kamura added another 55, while last week's hero, Jordan Tripp had 20.
The Eagles were done in by untimely errors and injuries, which is starting to become a theme for this group.
Big Sky lost starting quarterback Joe Petritz on a crucial drive midway through the fourth quarter, when a calf cramp sent him to the bench.
Backup Eric Deneault was sacked twice in a row on third- and fourth-down plays inside the Spartans' 20-yard line.
“It wasn't his fault,” Maricelli said. “We had faith in him, he's a good quarterback. They just got a good rush in again.”
The Eagles, who fell to 2-2, couldn't recover and lost their early jump on the rest of the Missoula football teams.
“I've been playing football against those guys for a long time,” Maricelli said. “It goes in cycles and this was their year.”
The Spartans jumped on the board first when Meyer calmly booted a 37-yard field goal on their first drive.
Big Sky 6 0 7 0 - 13
Sentinel 3 9 13 0 - 25
First quarter
S - Justin Meyer 37 FG, 9:46
BS - Glen Maricelli 1 run (kick failed), 4:21.
Second quarter
S - Taylor McGreevey 2 run (kick failed), 9:59
S - Meyer 26 FG, :23.
Third quarter
S - Dalton Bright 33 pass from Steven Rominger (pass failed), 6:33
S - Rominger 25 run (Meyer kick), 6:08
BS - Brandt Montelius 45 interception return (Drew Owens kick), 1:20.
Individual leaders
RUSHING - Big Sky (40-86): Trevor Kamura 16-55, Jordan Tripp 7-20, Glen Maricelli 8-31, Eric Deneault 2-(-8), Joe Petritz 7-(-12). Sentinel (36-198): Steven Rominger 22-116, Taylor McGreevey 7-67, Ryan Mutzenberger 4-10, David Cahoon 2-2, Tyler Jacobsen 1-3.
PASSING - Big Sky: Petritz 8-18-1-110, Deneault 0-1-0-0. Sentinel: Rominger 12-18-1-179.
RECEIVING - Big Sky: Kevin McHugh 3-25, Drew Owens 3-32, Mike LaValley 1-39, Tripp 1-14. Sentinel: Ben Roberts 7-108, Dalton Bright 2-38, Kyle Kostelecky 1-33, Jacobsen 1-1, Jerry Mace 1-(-3).
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