Wednesday, Jan. 3, 1990 was a rough day for the Butte Central boys’ basketball program.

It started with high hopes for three hard-working teams that expected to upset the powerful Butte High Bulldogs at the Butte Civic Center. It ended with three losses, including a 67-36 blowout in the varsity game.

Butte High’s junior varsity team beat the Maroons 81-55 thanks to a 21-point performance from Chris Toivonen. That came after my freshman team lost 66-53 to the Bulldogs.

After looking at the boxscore, that freshman game was apparently way closer than I remembered. It really felt like a brutal beating at the time.

That was one of the many games I did not get into that year. I could only watch from the end of the bench as Josh Holdsworth, Kevin Stenson, Josh Paffhausen and Chad Roesti scored in double figures for the Bulldogs. John Keeley and Mike McLaughlin were the double-digit scores for us.

Two memories stand out from that game. The first was that Stenson and his ridiculous perm. He made at least a couple of 3-pointers, and smiled at his friends on the BC bench after each one. I swear one time he gave us the Michael Jordan palms up with a shrug of the shoulders on his way down court, with those curls bouncing on top of his head.

The second was that our coach, Don Peoples Jr., was really, really mad at us for what he said was a lack of effort in that loss. I think that was the game when he broke a dry-erase board, but I could not swear to it. So, I was not about to point out that I gave a hall of fame effort sitting on the bench.

Coach was so ticked off that he told us we had to practice at 6 o’clock the next morning. Just before the start of the varsity game, though, we learned that he changed his mind about that. We just had to practice after school the next day, and let me tell you, none of us were looking forward to that.

We would have rather gone to a root canal.

Then Curtis Smith and the Bulldogs really rubbed salt in our collective wound during the varsity game. They beat the heck out of the Maroons.

Corey Dunstan scored 19 points, and Curtis scored 18 points to go along with probably just as many assists. Curtis looked like a combination of Magic Johnson and John Stockton as he brilliantly ran the offense for the undefeated Bulldogs.

Every assist was a spectacular one, too. Each one was a highlight reel.

They could have made a full music video out of Curtis’ highlights from that one game.  You know, like they did in “NBA Superstars,” the video that we all got for free that year with our paid subscription to Sports Illustrated.

Butte High led 15-4 after the first quarter, 38-13 at halftime and 52-24 after three quarters. In the BC student section, we just quietly sat on our hands and took the beating. The players were distraught. The fans were distraught. The coaches were distraught.

It did not feel like we were ever going to win another game. The beatdown was just too much.

Of course, it was not the end of the road for the Maroons that night. Not even close. BC ended up playing in the last game of the season, dropping a 69-49 decision to Dillon in the Class A State championship game in Bozeman.

Even though the Maroons did not capture the state title, that was still a magical run by the team that beat Anaconda in the Central A Divisional championship game the week before. That Anaconda team included Cory and Tony Huot, too.

Oh, and the Bulldogs did not beat Central again until 1995.

While that loss to the Bulldogs that night probably still stings the varsity players, it also seemed to help start turning the fortune of the team. Well, that and the great Sean Walsh joining the team for the stretch run.

That 1990 game and the season that followed are what I thought about after Butte High rolled BC 71-30 two nights before Christmas in the Civic Center.

Since it was a smallish crowd for the Butte High-Butte Central game, my phone kept going off with text messages asking about the game. Was Butte High that good? Or, did BC just shoot that poorly.

The answer was a little of both, but mostly because the Bulldogs are that good. The game said more about the Bulldogs than it did the Maroons.

Butte High played an incredible game right from the start. Senior Hudson Luedtke played what will go down as at least one of the best performances by any player in the rivalry that dates back to 1916.

Luedtke tied the Butte High record for points against the Maroons with 32. He previously shared that mark with Scott Ferguson (in 1986) and Micah Downs (in 2003). Luedtke also finished with nine rebounds and five assists — though none of his dimes were as fancy as the ones Curtis Smith dished.

Luedtke did that while playing just 21 minutes. He did not step on the court once in the fourth quarter.

Luedtke wasn’t the only player making shots for Butte High. No matter what kind of shot the Bulldogs took, it went in. They just couldn’t miss.

The Bulldogs made 10 of 20 attempts from 3-point range. Luedtke hit four, including a contested one to start the game. Mitch Verlanic, Josh Liston and Rhett Arntson each hit two.

On the flip side, the Bulldogs used their decided size advantage to stymie the BC offense. But even when BC got open shots, they just did not fall.

That is how the ball bounces some times. Even the greatest shooters have an off night, and BC will probably not shoot like that again this decade.

If we can learn anything from Butte High and Butte Central basketball over the decades, it is not to worry about the Maroons after a game with the Bulldogs. That goes the other way, too. For the boys and for the girls.

When the Bulldogs play the Maroons, both sides get better. The Butte High-Butte Central rivalry is like playing a state championship game in the middle of the season. Or, in this case, early in the season.

The atmosphere, the stage and the historic significance is uplifting, and even the team on the wrong end of the scoreboard gets a boost moving forward into the season. This has been the case for decades.

Not too long ago, BC beat Butte High four games in a row, and that included a couple of blowouts. The Bulldogs ended up going to the Class AA State tournament in each of those seasons.

Butte Central won one game against Butte High in 1957 and then beat the Bulldogs two out of three times in 1958. Those Bulldogs won back-to-back Class AA State titles.

You better believe being battle tested by the Maroons helped the Bulldogs when push came to shove late in those title runs.

Likewise, that 1990 blowout loss made Central a better team, and the recent losses will end up making the BC boys and girls better.

That, is something you can take to the bank.

As long as they don’t show up with ridiculous Kevin Stenson perms, they are going to be more than fine.

— Bill Foley, one of the only people to get cut by the Butte Central and Butte High basketball teams, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.