I know he's moved-on to other things, but I sure do miss Brian Reed's statistics and commentary on Cowboy football. Since the season has now started and is 2 games in, I'll try to get things going.

First off, congratulations to the Custer County Cowboys for a great start to the season! 2-0 is as good as can be expected. They started out by beating rival Glendive 38-7, and then last weekend they pounded Hardin 41-0. It was announced that Livingston/Park high has forfeited their games for the year due to not having enough players to field a varsity team, so that's already a win as well. From the box scores, it appears that their QB in Carson Hunter is a very good passer, that his favorite target is Jess Bellows, and that Adian Barrows can both run and catch to put points on the board. It also seems the Cowboys are very solid on defense, though I haven't been able to find names of standout players from the info I have.

Of course, The Cowboys have not gotten into the "meat" of their schedule just yet. They still have to face Billings Central and Laurel (Locos are next) which are traditionally among the stronger opponents in the conference. Sidney has also improved in recent years and I'm told Lewistown has a good team this year - though the Golden Eagles did lose to Billings Central last weekend 17-7. Belgrade is no longer an opponent to be concerned with as they have now moved up to AA.

So I will ask this: what's the talk of the town? I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has attended/will attend any of the games. How are they looking? Who are some other standout players I haven't named? Does it look like it will be another playoff year based on what we've seen so far this season?

BEST OF LUCK to the Cowboys!

Tonight, Friday Sept. 13th...and, right now, 7:10 p.m....the Cowboys are playing the Laurel team on SWX, Channel 586 if you have it. Just sharing Go Cowboys!!!

You can also stream this Cowboys @ Laurel game on KATL Radio's website:

Click on "Listen Now"...

KATL 770 AM Radio

Currently 5:22 left in the first quarter and the game is scoreless.

Carson Hunter threw a touchdown pass to Jess Bellows for 6 and Jess Bellows kicked the extra point to make it 7.

12 minutes left in the second quarter:

Miles City 7, Laurel 0

The Cowboys blocked a Laurel punt and recovered the ball in the Laurel end zone for 6 points. The KATL Radio announcers credited number 64, Tyler Harms (sp?) with the blocked punt.

Jess Bellows kicked the extra point.

11:35 left in the second quarter:

Miles City 14, Laurel 0

QB Carson Hunter ran it in for a TD.

With under a minute left in the first half:

Miles City 21, Laurel 0

I missed most of the second half but the final score was:

Miles City 21, Laurel 16

Congratulations to the Cowboys on derailing the Locos.

I understand Jeff Regan is the head coach. I think he'll do a great job!

Cowboys are leading Havre 42 to 7 with a few minutes left and the reserves in. (Homecoming)

Final score: Havre Blue Ponies 7, Custer County Cowboys 42

That's a heck of a beat down.

As the Cowboys pass the halfway mark of the season, I have a concern: could they be dealing with "ring rust" when Billings Central comes to town for their next game in 2 weeks?

With Belgrade moving up to class AA and Livingston forfeiting all their games, The Cowboys ended up with 2 bye weekends sandwiched around their homecoming win over Havre, such that they will have played only one game in 3 weeks when the Rams arrive next Friday. Granted, the nice thing about it is that any injured players get extra time to rest and recover. The bad thing is, can they stay sharp if they're not playing when the other teams are?

Time will tell. Mean-time, it is nice to be undefeated.

Laurel beat Billings Central 33 - 0 last night? Is that right? I don't trust my eyes...

Good luck to the Cowboys tonight against the Billings Central Rams. The game is at Connors Stadium in Miles City at 7:00pm. Go Cowboys!!

Cowboys 27, Rams 3 at the half.

34 to 3 beginning of 4th quarter

Cowboys 41 Rams 3 with 2 minutes left and the subs in.

Got the final from 406 sports: 41-10 Cowboys...WOW! Wonder if Central might have lost a star player or 2 in the last couple weeks or such??? Anyway, Congratulations Cowboys!!! Now the question to ponder will be, not IF they'll make the playoffs, but where they'll be seeded?

Miles City 35, Lewistown 8 at the half

The Cowboys are playing the Fergus County Golden Eagles in Lewistown tonight. At halftime the Cowboys lead 35 - 8.

You beat me by 3 seconds, Don!

Miles City 49 to 8 in the third quarter with the clock running. Looks like 7 touchdown passes, three for 50-60 yards. Miles City is number one in the state.

It would be mighty nice if the Pokes can keep home field advantage and not have to travel to the ends of the earth this year.

Final score was 55-8. 8 touchdown passes...I wonder if that's a school record?

I do believe that is a school record. He had 8 TD passes for a total of 330 yards on just the TD passes alone. I have not heard the total passing yards yet. The Cowboys secured the #1 seed and starting with their last regular season against Sidney, the Cowboys will not have to leave Miles City to play a game the rest of the season. The road to the chipper is through Miles City this year.

I am not sure how many of you are on Facebook or not but many of you have mentioned that you wish Brian Reed was still posting his football info on here. He has been posting good articles on the Montana High School Football page on Facebook. He has an honor roll for each week usually posted around the Thursday after the games he is reviewing. They have been very informative and full of stats and facts. I highly recommend checking the page out.

A local sportscaster here in the Flathead area KGEZ in Kalispell) interviewed Brian Reed recently. They had a pretty interesting talk about class A football. Columbia Falls is having a down year but Hamilton and Dillon are still powers, It'll be nice to make them travel to Miles City for a change.

I haven't seen or even heard any of the Cowboy's games but I have to think Jeff Regan is doing a heck of a job.

In the win last night Carson Hunter did set the Miles City Cowboy record with 8 touchdown passes. He has 23 touchdowns on the season and needs one more to tie Matt Blount's record for most touchdowns in a season. He has one more regular season game which is at home versus Sidney on Friday night 10/25 at 7pm before they move on to host the first playoff game in Miles City on Nov 9 I will have the call of the game on KATL am 770 or you can listen to the game on the web at katlradio.com hit the listen now icon. I will also have updates on my twitter feed at [email protected] GOOD LUCK to the cowboys.

I am sorry to hear that Brian is posting on Facebook instead of here. I miss his posts, but not enough to sell my soul to Zuckerberg.

The Cowboys are playing the Sidney Eagles at home tonight, Friday, October 25.

With 2:51 left in the first quarter, the score is:

Sidney Eagles 0, Custer County Cowboys 21

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the score is:

Sidney Eagles 0, Custer County Cowboys 46

Final score:

Sidney Eagles 6, Custer County Cowboys 46

Congratulations to the Cowboys!

Once again, CONGRATULATIONS to the Custer County Cowboys!!! It was an awesome regular season which saw them finish as the only undefeated Class A team in the state. Their reward, of course, is the top seed in the playoffs - they had already clinched that last week when they defeated Lewistown. A couple school records were broken along the way; including most touchdown passes in a season for Carson Hunter, among others.

Anyway, as long as the Cowboys keep winning, they'll get to host all the way to the state chipper should they make it there...but FIRST, a week of rest that comes with the first round bye, and then they'll host the winner of Frenchtown (4th seed from the West) vs. Whitefish (5th seed from the West). Other first round byes went to Laurel, Dillon and Hamilton, which is on Miles City's side of the bracket. BEST OF LUCK COWBOYS!

Who is this Carson Hunter kid?

In the first round of Class A football playoffs:

Friday, November 1:

Billings Central 45, Glendive 13

Saturday, November 2:

Frenchtown 34, Whitefish 7

Havre 14, Lewistown 13

Libby 49, Butte Central 28

First-round byes: Miles City, Hamilton, Dillon, Laurel

Quarterfinals match-ups:

Saturday, November 9:

Frenchtown at Miles City

Billings Central at Hamilton

Havre at Dillon

Libby at Laurel

Good luck to the Cowboys next weekend against Frenchtown!

Today's the day of their first playoff game. Best of luck Cowboys against Frenchtown! I don't have much of a "tale of the tape" for the Broncs. They are a tough first draw for the Cowboys as they have a 7-2 record which includes an OT win over always-tough Dillon and close losses to Hamilton and Libby, which are all still alive in the playoffs going into this weekend. A close friend of mine and I had a recent discussion where we felt that Western division has a lot of parity.

Miles City's strengths are the best passing QB and receiver tandem in the state as well as a strong D. Statistically their running game is not among the top in the state, but they have the ability to run when needed. Frenchtown's strength is a powerful running game led by junior RB Jace Klucewich who had a helluva day last week vs. Whitefish - 200 rushing yards for the game on a muddy field. Their QB in Cade Baker is not the prolific passer that Miles City's Carson Hunter is, but he is good and can still throw when needed.

GO GET EM BOYS!

Miles City scored on their opening drive.

Frenchtown 0, Custer County 7 with 4:27 to go in the 1st quarter.

End of the 1st quarter:

Frenchtown Broncs 0, Custer County Cowboys 7

With 7:18 left in the 2nd quarter, Miles City scores a TD:

Frenchtown 0, Custer County 14

With 58 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, the Broncs score a field goal:

Frenchtown 3, Custer County 14

Wow, the Cowboys immediately responded with a touchdown. 38 seconds left in the 2nd quarter.

Frenchtown 3, Custer County 21

Cowboys get a pick 6 and score yet another touchdown. With 8 seconds left in the 2nd quarter:

Frenchtown Broncs 3, Custer County Cowboys 28

Halftime:

Frenchtown Broncs 3, Custer County Cowboys 28

No scoring in the third quarter. At the start of the 4th quarter:

Frenchtown Broncs 3, Custer County Cowboys 28

With 9:39 left in the 4th quarter, the Cowboys get a TD but miss the extra point:

Frenchtown 3, Custer County 34

With 7:19 left in the 4th quarter, the Cowboys get a TD, try for a 2-point conversion but don't get it:

Frenchtown 3, Custer County 40

Final score:

Frenchtown Broncs 3, Custer County Cowboys 40

Congratulations to the Cowboys!

In the quarterfinals round of the state Class A football playoffs:

Saturday, Nov. 9

Miles City 40, Frenchtown 3

Hamilton 34, Billings Central 17

Dillon 47, Havre 7

Laurel 50, Libby 0

Semifinals matchups:

Friday, Nov. 15

Laurel (8-1) at Dillon (9-1) -- 6pm

Saturday, Nov. 16

Hamilton (9-1) at Miles City (9-0) -- 1pm

Good luck to the Cowboys next weekend against the Hamilton Broncs!

Great job Cowboys! Not to take away from their impressive victory, but I did hear Frenchtown's starting QB left the game with an injury on the drive where they scored their only points. That's unfortunate...but it would not likely have changed the outcome as the Cowboys were up by 14 at that point. Onto next week...

Actually Frenchtown was already on their backup QB and when he got hurt in this game they put in their 3rd string

As we head into semifinal weekend, it's likely that one of the Cowboys' biggest motivating factors is a chance to get even with the Hamilton Broncs. Around this time last year, as it happened, Hamilton got to break-in their new sprint-turf field at their newly-built athletic complex in the quarterfinals against Miles City. The result was a 53-20 Hamilton win. Hamilton would, of course, end-up advancing to the state championship where they lost a close one to Billings Central. Will it be payback time for the Cowboys??? We're about to find out.

At the start of the 2nd quarter:

Hamilton Broncs 0, Custer County Cowboys 7

At the half:

Hamilton Broncs 0, Custer County Cowboys 21

Halftime 21-0 Cowboys - Miles City scored just before half.

Hamilton answers in the 3rd, 21-7...David I'll let you take it from here.

At the end of the 3rd quarter:

Hamilton Broncs 7, Custer County Cowboys 21

Cowboys have the ball at the start of the 4th.

The Cowboys scored a TD with 11:49 left in the 4th quarter:

Hamilton Broncs 7, Custer County Cowboys 28

I'm listening to the game on KATL's streaming and this is the second time that I've noticed them running a commercial while the game is still in play.

Hamilton answers quickly with a TD. With 10:36 left in the 4th quarter:

Hamilton Broncs 14, Custer County Cowboys 28

Final score:

Hamilton Broncs 14, Custer County Cowboys 28

Congratulations to Miles City's Cowboys!

STATE CHIPPER TIME!!! Bring on the Locos.

So Shu and Dave, I take it that the Cowboys are playing Laurel at home next weekend for the Class A state championship. I am also assuming that the Cowboys handed Laurel their earlier loss this year. What was the score? Searching for past Class A scores on the internet, for me, seems to be difficult.

Also, congratulations for the only Cowboy football team I will ever root for.

They beat Laurel 21 - 16 in Laurel.

MAXPREPS.COM: Custer County Cowboys Football

Thanks. Looks to be a tough match up. Go Cowboys!

Congrats to the Cowboys! Busy Saturday with that game and Cat-Griz. Blue and gold all the way!

[Edited by Jody Collis (11/19/2019 12:59:11 PM)]

Right you are, Jody!

Well, tomorrow is the BIG game for all the marbles.

I don't have a lot of tidbits about it. Of course, the Cowboys are undefeated at 10-0. Laurel is 9-1...their one loss, of course, being the 21-16 loss at home to the Cowboys on September 13th.

There's a lot of excitement for both teams, being that Laurel hasn't won a state championship since 2002, while Miles City's last trophy was 2010.

Laurel's team seems much-improved since that loss to the Cowboys - a game in which they made some mistakes including turnovers and a punt blocked for a Cowboy touchdown. They've had some HUGE wins since then: 33-0 over Billings Central, 50-0 over Libby in the quarterfinals, and the 21-12 semifinal win over an always-tough Dillon team among them.

The Cowboys...what can I say? Winning and winning BIG is all they've done all year. Aside from the win at Laurel and last week's semifinal over Hamilton - a team with a quarterback who has committed to play for the GRIZ (who are gonna beat the kitties, tomorrow, by the way), none of their victories have even been close.

I see 2 key advantages for the Cowboys in the state chipper: home field advantage and experience; Laurel has only 6 seniors (which makes the season they've had in spite of that all-the-more impressive) while Miles City has 18.

I'm gonna say Cowboys by a touchdown, at least. GO GET EM BOYS! LET'S FINISH THIS!!!

PS I would also like to congratulate Custer High's standout receiver Jess Bellows who recently signed his letter of intent to play baseball at South Dakota State. Best of luck to you when you get there.

Is there any place the game can be watched on the internet?
Is Katl carrying the game or any other station?

I've listened to the playoff games on KATL 770 radio via streaming on their website. Click on the picture of the microphone next to "Listen Now":

KATL 770 AM

Game time. Don Richards and Kent Custer are announcing the game on KATL radio.

Good luck to the Cowboys!

Cowboys' Carson Hunter runs it in for a TD on the Cowboys' opening drive.

With 5:45 left in the 1st quarter:

Laurel Locomotives 0, Custer County Cowboys 7

21-0 Jordan.

At the end of the 1st quarter:

Laurel Locomotives 0, Custer County Cowboys 7

The Locomotives have the ball at the start of the 2nd quarter and they are on the move.

With 38 seconds left in the first half:

Laurel Locomotives 0, Custer County Cowboys 14

At the end of the first half:

Laurel Locomotives 0, Custer County Cowboys 14

From what I'm hearing, it's been kind-of a messy game so far: both teams turning the ball over and getting penalties. Cowboys are getting the better of it, though.

Latest score on the Wibaux vs. Jordan game, at the half:

Wibaux 14, Jordan 40

With 8:21 left in the 3rd quarter:

Laurel Locomotives 0, Custer County Cowboys 21

In the Jordan/Wibaux game, with about 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter:

Wibaux Longhorns 14, Garfield County Mustangs 46

Was just texting my friend about an irony: when I was in high school, Jordan didn't even have a football team for not having enough kids to field one and Terry was winning state championships in 8-man...now it's Terry who doesn't have enough kids for a team (their boys go to Glendive to play with the Red Devils) and Jordan is about to win their first state title. Go figure!

With 5 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, the Locomotives finally get on the board:

Laurel Locomotives 7, Custer County Cowboys 21

At the end of the 3rd quarter:

Wibaux Longhorns 14, Garfield County Mustangs 55

With 6:11 left in the 4th quarter:

Laurel Locomotives 7, Custer County Cowboys 28

Another Cowboy score and a recovered fumble...START THE FIRE TRUCK!

With (I don't know because the KATL announcers didn't say) left in the 4th quarter:

Laurel Locomotives 7, Custer County Cowboys 35

Final score:

Wibaux Longhorns 14, Garfield County Mustangs 70

Congratulations to Jordan's State Champions Garfield County High School Mustangs.

!!!COWBOYS ARE STATE CHAMPS!!! :-):-) :-) !!!WOOT WOOT!!!

Final score from Connors Stadium:

Laurel Locomotives 7, Custer County Cowboys 35

Congratulations to Miles City's UNDEFEATED Montana Class A State Champions, the Custer County Cowboys!!

David Schott wrote:

Final score:

Wibaux Longhorns 14, Garfield County Mustangs 70

Congratulations to Jordan's State Champions Garfield County High School Mustangs.

Four Murnions were playing on the Jordan team.

Before this game, Laurel was about the only team that gave the pokes real trouble. So much for that!

MRH wrote:

Four Murnions were playing on the Jordan team.

That's most of the team.

David Schott wrote:

MRH wrote:

Four Murnions were playing on the Jordan team.

That's most of the team.

....and most of Jordan.

A bit late with this, but congratulations to the following Cowboy team members for making the all-state team!

Carson Hunter, Jr. QB, Jess Bellows, Sr. WR, Aidan Barrow, Sr. LB, Jayden Venable, Jr., WR, Jack Cline, Jr., Safety, Garren Todoroff, Sr. LB, Jacolby Mattoon, Sr., Center, Mason Harding, Sr., DE, and Dayron Johnson, Sr., Corner.

I did find a couple all-conference listings for the Eastern C 6-man teams as opposed to all state...of course those listings do say Murnion-this and Murnion-that, so congrats to them, as well!

[Edited by Shu Pius (12/12/2019 9:49:53 AM)]