The viewing room must have been crowded this past week as Butte Central football personnel watched film of Columbia Falls.

Moments after fifth-ranked Butte Central blasted the Wildcats 49-13 in a Saturday quarterfinal of the State A playoffs, the Columbia Falls quarterback strolled across the Bulldog Memorial Stadium turf to the Maroon sideline.

"I just wanted to congratulate you coach," Mitchell Wassam, a strong 6-foot-3, 215-pound athlete, said solemnly as he extended his hand from a smudged, sweat-stained sleeve of a well-used jersey.

Don Peoples Jr. shook the hand and told the QB if he needed a reference for potential recruiters to play college ball, to contact him.

"I watched about 800 hours of film on you," Peoples said.

The rest of the BC coaches and the players either joined him, or listened well as Peoples related strengths, weaknesses, tendencies and ploys characteristic to how the Wildcats do their business.

The 49-13 score was unexpected by many observers, according to conversations and chat rooms. That Butte Central actually 35-pointed a good Columbia Falls team the last seven minutes-plus was almost unbelievable.

"I'm really proud our players and coaches. They prepared hard," Peoples said. "We asked (the Maroons) to come out and play their best game of the season. That was our motto all week."

Junior quarterback Andy Ritter rolled up a school-record 455 yards for a single game while passing for 252 yards on 17 completions in 26 attempts and gaining 203 yards on 23 keeps. Butte Central will travel to Frenchtown for a semifinal game Saturday.

Butte Central is 8-2 this season. No. 2-ranked Frenchtown, a 16-0 winner over third-ranked Laurel on Saturday, is 9-1. Columbia Falls finished a 7-4 season.

Ritter's show also included touchdown keepers of 35, 13 and 4 yards - all in the second half - and a 3-yard scoring pass to classmate Jonathan Richards in the first half.

Butte Central took a 13-0 first-quarter lead on a 5-yard Richards run and one of 12 yards by junior A.J. Acuna. Columbia Falls answered at 9 minutes, 24 seconds of the second quarter with a 71-yard aerial play to Kyle Howell from quarterback Wassam. The Maroons then scored on the Ritter-Richards pass before John Woody carried for a 14-yard TD for the Wildcats for a 21-13 halftime difference on the scoreboard.

Columbia Falls didn't score after intermission while the Maroons added the Ritter TDs. The clock ran continuously under the 35-point margin rule after Ritter's 4-yard TD carry with 7:25 left in the game.

BC receiver Phil Antonioli caught nine passes for 172 yards. Some catches were of Flying Wallendas caliber.

Columbia Falls was led by Woody with 51 yards on 14 carries. Wassam completed 7 of 17 passes for 193 yards and was intercepted twice.

"A real critical factor," Peoples said, "was we made some great blocking scheme adjustments at halftime and some great coverage scheme adjustments. Then, the staff and team got us out of the gates."

Columbia Falls head coach Bill Coleman said Butte Central has a knack for making the opponent miss or just come up short.

"A lot of cases, it was just a matter of inches," he lamented. "They just kept catching us out of position on defense, by just a little bit. They made us pay for it.

"On offense, they run plays that put you in that position (of being out of position). They do what they do really well."

The game matched Montana's largest Class A school against its smallest, according to the latest state enrollment figures available from the Office of Public Instruction.

"Give credit to their kids," Peoples said. "Wassam was a great quarterback. He beat us with a couple of big plays, but it wasn't anything to do with our team's coverage. He just pounded it in there."

C. Falls 0 13 0 0 - 13

Butte Central 13 8 14 14 - 49

First Quarter

BC - Jonathan Richards 5 run (Nathaniel Loomis kick), 2:17.

BC - A.J. Acuna 12 run (kick blocked), :09.

Second Quarter

CF - Kyle Howell 71 pass from Mitchell Wassam (Wassam kick), 9:24.

BC - J. Richards 3 pass from Andy Ritter (Ritter pass from J. Richards), 3:57.

CF - John Woody 14 pass from Wassam (kick failed), 1:49.

Third Quarter

BC - J. Richards 4 run (Loomis kick), 8:13.

BC - Ritter 35 run (Loomis kick), 4:54.

Fourth Quarter

BC - Ritter 13 run (Loomis kick), 11:54.

BC - Ritter 4 run (Loomis kick), 7:25.

Individual leaders

RUSHING - Columbia Falls (23-81): John Woody 14-51, Nate Thompson 6-31, Kaleb Johnson 1-1, Chris King 2-(-2). Butte Central (46-247): Andy Ritter 23-203, A.J. Acuna 11-33, Jonathan Richards 7-23, Kevin Cox 3-4, Team 2-(-16).

PASSING - Columbia Falls, Mitchell Wassam 7-17-2-193. Butte Central, Ritter 17-26-0-252.

RECEIVING - Columbia Falls, Kyle Howell 1-71, Devyn Rocker 1-43, Woody 2-38, Taylor Martinson 1-22, K. Johnson 2-18. Butte Central, Phil Antonioli 9-172, Aschan Richards 3-48, J. Richards 5-43.