How could a football game that only included 68 yards passing — including zero by the team I was cheering for — be the best game I ever watched?

Well, a lot of that has to do with my perspective. A lot of it also comes from the fact that it was two great teams from the Mining City going head-to-head.

I was 7 years old when Butte High beat Butte Central 18-12 in overtime on Sept. 4, 1981. That Butte Central loss absolutely ripped my heart out.

From as early as I can remember, my parents told me that I was going to be a Butte Central Maroon. So, before I cheered for the Bears, Red Sox and Celtics, I rooted like crazy for the Maroons.

For several weeks leading up to that 1981 game, that looming showdown seemed to be what everyone was talking about. At the golf course, the barber shop and the grocery store, it was all Butte vs. Central.

I counted down the days to that game, figuring I would finally get to see the Maroons beat the Bulldogs. I could not wait to rub it in the face of my cousins who called me a “Crayon” for my plans to go to Butte Central. I was going to sing to them my parody version of one of the Butte High fight songs.

“Butte High will shine tonight; Butte High will shine.

“Butte High will shine my shoes.”

Of course, I was going to cheer for the Bulldogs the rest of the season, and I did — all the way through the state championship game.

The same week of the Butte High-Butte Central game, my brother got a No. 10 Butte Central jersey for his 10th birthday. He wanted that number because he has the same first name as BC quarterback Don Peoples Jr., who wore No. 10.

Not to be left out, my mom got me a BC No. 92 jersey because she figured I would graduate from Butte Central in 1992. It turns out that I graduated from Butte High in 1993.

Hey, leave me alone. Third grade was hard.

The lead up to the game was insane. The town seemed to be buzzing all summer long. The players were, too.

Some Central players allegedly defaced the Bulldog at Naranche Stadium, so some Butte High players allegedly trashed Central player Tim Norbeck’s car in retaliation. Then, a couple of Bulldogs ignited BC’s bonfire prematurely, and one of the players ended up missing the game with severe burns.

All of that made Pat Kearney’s book, “Butte’s Big Game: Butte Central vs. Butte High.”

“That entire game you never heard so much talking back and forth between both sides,” Central running back John McGree told Kearney. “It was an all-out civil war.”

The Bulldogs got the last laugh in that “civil war” thanks largely to Don Douglas, the Butte High quarterback who signed to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers five months later.

Douglas had a hand in all three Butte High touchdowns. He scored on runs of 57 and 6 yards in regulation. Then he threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Terry LeProwse as Butte High got the ball first in the Montana playoff overtime.

In all, Douglas ran the ball 11 times for 139 yards. He completed 7 of 15 passes for 68 yards.

Butte Central got the ball with a chance to tie — or win with a touchdown and extra point. But on fourth down, a desperation Peoples pass was picked off by Butte High linebacker Larry Peterson to end the game.

I was confused for a couple of reasons. First, I didn’t know why the Maroons were suddenly going the same direction as the Bulldogs. I also wondered why the Central quarterback threw the ball to the Butte High player.

Remember, I was 7. I didn’t even know what a first down was, let alone an interception.

I was heartbroken when we left that packed East Jr. High Stadium that night. Still, in my heartache, I knew that I had just watched something truly special. I knew it would be a game that I would remember for the rest of my life, and I was right.

While I have seen some incredible football games up close and personal over the years, nothing can beat the 1981 Butte High-Butte Central game in my eyes.

Not the 2012 Class AA State championship game when Jake Dennehy booted the Bulldogs past the Bozeman Hawks.

Not the 2014 Class A State title game when the Dillon Beavers beat the Maroons by about an inch and a half at Montana Tech.

The 1981 epic battle was a game played between a pair of Butte teams that wanted to beat the heck out of each other, and that is hard to top.

Butte High went on to win the Class AA State championship that season. The Bulldogs avenged their only loss of the season by beating Great Falls Russell in Great Falls. The Maroons fell in the Class A title game to Miles City in Butte.

To this day, players on the Central team will tell you they have not recovered from that loss to Butte High to start the season. The Bulldogs still revel in that victory.

The best part of the game, though, is a moment most people never knew about. I didn’t know about it until January of 2022.

Douglas was the star player for the Bulldogs in 1981. Brian Morris was the best player for the Maroons. While Douglas went to Nebraska — and eventually the University of Montana — Morris went to Stanford to play fullback. He is now the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Montana.

If I had to vote, I would say Morris is the greatest Maroon of all.

In January of 2022, Morris spoke in support of Douglas’ induction into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame. Morris entered the Hall in 2003, and he wanted to “fill a void” in the Hall by enshrining one of the greatest Bulldogs of all time.

The selection committee agreed, and Douglas was enshrined that summer.

Morris’ talk wasn’t just about how great of a football player — and overall athlete — Douglas was in his days at Butte High in beyond.

Rather, it was a moment after that Bulldog-Maroon battle in 1981 that stood out to Morris, who was heartbroken after running for a bruising 94 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.

“I was a pile of blubbering Maroons on the field after the game, crying our hearts out after the loss,” Morris said. “Someone came up, pulled me to my feet, gave me a hug, told me it was the hardest game he ever played. It was Donny D. I’ll never forget that moment.”

So much for that trashed car, the trash talk and the early bonfire. So much for the Maroons and Bulldogs hating each other.

More than four decades after that incredible football game, we learned that the best player from Butte High picked up the best player from Butte Central and offered a hug and encouragement.

Maybe that is what great sportswriter Jim Edgar was talking about when he coined the term “City of Champions” for Butte in those days.

It turns out that the greatest game ever played was even better than I thought.

And that “civil war” turned out to be more “civil” than “war.”

— Bill Foley, who still has a hard time understanding interceptions, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.