Behind their senior quarterback Steven Rominger, the Spartans pulled out a 32-13 victory over rival Hellgate in a Class AA football game on Halloween.
Rominger rushed for 206 yards and two touchdowns, and passed for three more scores as Sentinel won its first outright city championship in football since 1986.
Rominger had 32 of the Spartans' 38 rushing attempts and he was 12-for-15 for 146 yards with his right arm.
Rominger had a big game on the ground against Kalispell Glacier last week as well to help him finish the regular season with 1,092 yards.
“I never tire of running,” Rominger said. “I'm glad they put the offense in my hands.”
“He may have won the AA rushing title, as a quarterback,” fourth-year Sentinel coach Pete Joseph said. “He's going to play at the next level, and if anyone passes up on him, they're missing out on a great player.”
For all his efforts, Rominger's play was not enough to lift the Spartans into the playoffs for the first time since 1989. They finished the season with a 5-5 record and tied Billings Skyview for the eighth and final postseason spot. The Falcons advanced with the help of a tiebreaker.
The Sentinel coaching staff made no bones about their plans Friday night, they wanted Rominger to lead this team, and it showed with drive after drive of delayed QB runs.
“Our team just rallied around him,” Joseph said. “They're not worried about him getting more yards than anyone else, because of the type of kid he is. I love that kid.”
“He was pretty agile,” said Hellgate senior Seth McCracken. “If we just would have wrapped up, maybe we would have had a shot, but we didn't do that very well.”
Rominger capped Sentinel's opening drive, a 14-play affair, with a 10-yard TD run. He ran nine times on the drive. His 2-yard score gave the Spartans a 12-7 advantage with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Rominger struck again when he connected with fellow senior Dalton Bright on a 46-yard TD strike with 50 seconds to go before half. An interception helped set up the one-play drive.
The Spartans put things away in the second half when they scored on their first two possessions, both long scoring passes, one for 26 yards to Tyler Jacobsen and a final TD to Ben Roberts for 47 yards.
Hellgate senior tailback Chris Lavoie rushed 26 times for 122 yards and a 2-yard TD in the second quarter, which tied the game and the point after kick then gave the Knights a 7-6 lead.
Lavoie was pretty much his team's entire offense, too. Sam Hall added 118 yards passing, including a 41-yarder to Dane Kuhn for a late score. Hall, a junior QB, gained 23 yards on the ground too.
“Our hope was to get a win on senior night,” McCracken said, “and try to stop their playoff run, but it just didn't happen.”
Hellgate finished 0-10.
Sentinel 6 12 14 0 - 32
Hellgate 0 7 0 6 - 13
First quarter
S - Steven Rominger 10 run (pass failed), 4:26.
Second quarter
H - Chris Lavoie 2 run (Carsen Hopfauf kick), 8:21.
S - Rominger 1 run (run failed), 2:16.
S - Dalton Bright 46 pass from Rominger (pass failed), :50.
Third quarter
S - Tyler Jacobsen 26 pass (Rominger run), 9:11.
S - Ben Roberts 47 pass from Rominger (run failed), 4:17.
Fourth quarter
H - Dane Kuhn 41 pass from Sam Hall (kick failed), 8:39.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing - Sentinel (38-218): Steven Rominger 32-206, Taylor McGreevey 4-11, David Cahoon 2-1. Hellgate (38-145): Chris Lavoie 26-122, Sam Hall 11-23, Shawn Jensen 1-0.
Passing - Sentinel: Rominger 12-15-1-146, Ben Roberts 0-1-0-0, McGreevey 1-1-0-33. Hellgate: Hall 8-19-2-118.
Receiving - Sentinel: Roberts 5-64, Tyler Jacobsen 2-27, David Cahoon 2-29, Dalton Bright 1-46, McGreevey 2-7, Justin Mueller 1-6. Hellgate: Colton Swibold 3-37, Brenden Gragg 2-16, Spencer Hale 1-14, Dane Kuhn 1-41, Shawn Jensen 1-10.
Recent city champs
Missoula city football champions, and season records, since Big Sky, Hellgate and Sentinel all started playing each other in 1980:
2008 - Sentinel, 5-5
2007 - Big Sky, 5-6
2006 - Big Sky, 4-6
2005 - Big Sky, 4-6
2004 - Big Sky, 7-4
2003 - Big Sky, 6-4
2002 - No outright champ
2001 - No outright champ
2000 - Big Sky, 3-6
1999 - Big Sky, 3-7
1998 - Hellgate, 5-5
1997 - Big Sky, 5-4
1996 - Big Sky, 4-5
1995 - Hellgate, 5-4
1994 - Big Sky, 9-2
1993 - Big Sky, 8-3
1992 - Big Sky, 8-2
1991 - Hellgate, 10-2
1990 - Hellgate, 5-4
1989 - Hellgate, 5-4
1988 - Hellgate, 5-4
1987 - No outright champ
1986 - Sentinel, 5-4
1985 - No outright champ
1984 - Sentinel, 9-2
1983 - Hellgate, 3-6
1982 - Sentinel, 5-4
1981 - Sentinel, 9-1
1980 - Sentinel, 9-2
Total titles: Big Sky 12, Hellgate 7, Sentinel 5, Ties 4; seasons where teams split wins result in no outright championship.
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Toby Hewitt wrote on Nov 1, 2008 10:43 AM: