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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Avery Barsness and GG Fantini
Butte High volleyball player Avery Barsness and Butte Central football player GG Fantini are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
Barsness takes home the girls’ honor, while Fantini receives the boys’ award.
Barsness, a 5-foot-7 hitter, smacked a team-leading 14 kills Thursday as the Bulldogs knocked off Kalispell Flathead in a four-set match at the Richardson Gym. She added two blocks and five digs in the home victory.
The next day, Barsness spiked eight kills and registered a pair of blocks in a 3-1 home loss to Kalispell Flathead. Barsness is ranked second on the team with 139 kills on the season. She ranks fourth with 19 blocks.
Barsness also plays basketball and softball for the Bulldogs.
Fantini, a 5-11, 185-pound junior receiver/linebacker, had a monster game to help the Maroons pick up perhaps their biggest win of the last decade, a 38-27 playoff-clinching win over Dillon. Fantini hauled in six passes for 102 yards. That includes a 67-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Peoples.
Fantini also got Central’s scoring started with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The victory was the first for BC over Dillon since the 2014 regular-season, and it sends the Maroons to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
For the third year, Leskovar Honda is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photo of Barsness courtesy of Alycia Holland Photography. The photo of Fantini was provided by Jalen “Hollywood” Foley.
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Year 10 of Rock League is underway
Five teams opened the 10th season of the Rock 3 on 3 Youth Basketball League with a pair of victories Sunday at the Maroon Activities Center.
The Lil Ballers, Mining City Heat and Butte Buckets went 2-0 in the division for boys in the third and fourth grade, while the Belmont Ballers and Pit Crew won both games in the division for boys in fifth and sixth grade.
Kasen Carpino, Jaxon Bair, Case Chambers and Logan Regan make up the Lil Ballers. Beau Samson, Kellen O’Brien, Cooper Ralph and Luke McHugh play for the Mining City Heat, and Rhett Johnson, Vince Connors, Hugo Sorenson and Finn Cook play for the Butte Buckets.
In the older division, Tucker McIntyre, Brody Evenson, Conner Gallagher and Hunter Liston make up the Belmont Ballers, and Cashton Schneider, Hunter Boyle, Blake Vaira and Lucas Godbout play for the Pit Crew.
Each team will play two games on Sunday afternoons through Nov. 23. Click the link below to see Week 1 scores, standings and the Week 2 schedule.
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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of Oct. 27.
Monday
7 p.m. — Washington Generals vs. Jellyfam
8 p.m. — Someday Starters vs. RanchmensTuesday
7 p.m. — Kenworthy vs. Everett-Cook Law
8 p.m. — Everett-Cook Law vs. Jellyfam
9 p.m. — Poi Time vs. ParishWednesday
7 p.m. — Hoopballas vs. Parish
8 p.m. — Poi Time vs. Rosary Rattlers
9 p.m. — Washington Generals vs. RanchmensThursday
7 p.m. — Kenworthy vs. Hoopballas
8 p.m. — Rosary Rattlers vs. Someday Starters
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Camden Houchin runs to fourth place at MHSA Cross Country meet
Wiltsie 19th; Sophia Houchin 29th
MISSOULA — The Mining City has its first All-State cross country runner in 14 years.
Butte High senior Camden Houchin pulled off that feat Saturday, running to a fourth-place finish in the Class AA boys’ division of the Montana High School Association State Cross Country Meet on the University of Montana Golf Course. (Results)
Houchin completed the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 59.9 seconds. Bozeman senior Miles Halvorsen won the race with a time of 15:34 Bozeman junior Taylor Neil took second in 15:42, and Helena junior Milo Kauffman finished third in 15:54.
Missoula Hellgate junior Miles Miller was just behind Houchin in 16:01.
The top 15 runners in each race earn All-State honors. The last Butte High boy to stake that claim came in 2011 when Josh Panasuk placed seventh in 2011. The fourth-place finish was the best for Butte High since Ethan Shrader placed second in 2008.
Fellow Butte High senior Levi Wiltsie placed 19th with a time of 16:36, missing All-State honors by just 14 seconds. That would have been the best Butte High finish since 2011 had it not been for Houchin’s great performance. Houchin placed 21st a year ago.
As a team, the Butte High boys placed ninth, and the Bulldogs put together their best team time in the 5K era, beating their second best by almost five minutes.
Bozeman won the team title with 41 points. Helena High took second with 85, and Hellgate placed third at 101. The Bulldogs score 223 points, one point more than eighth-place Gallatin.
“We made a huge leap forward this year with the boys’ team — especially the seniors,” Bulldog coach Guy Wadas said. “We talked about leaving a legacy. Hopefully the younger runners see what’s possible for next year.”
Also for the Butte High boys, senior Lincoln Zell placed 44th with a time of 17:19, senor Charles Killebrew placed 77th 17:55, senior Bridger Luebke took 79th in 17:58 senior Ryan Hanson took 87th in 1817, and sophomore Isaac Zell placed 92rd in 18:22
Freshman Sophia Houchin paced the Butte High girls. She placed 29th with a time of 20:07. That came one year after she placed 40th as an eighth grader.
The last Butte High girl to earn All-State accolades was Keli Dennehy, who placed third in 2008 and 2009
Freshman Ada Thiel of Glacier won the girls’ Class AA race in 18:21. Junior teammate Lauren Bissen took second at 18:22, and Bozeman freshman Phoebe Maixner placed third in 18:27.
Bozeman won the girls’ team title with 49 points. Gallatin was second at 63, followed by Helena High at 88 Butte High finished 11th at 329.
“The girls are young and did a lot of good things this year, too,” Wadas said. “I hope we can build momentum with both the boys and girls through track and into next fall. Everything achieved this year was a team effort. I’m thankful for the team we had and my assistant coaches who got us to this level. “
Freshman Elsa Theiszen placed 54th for Butte High, finishing in 21:06. Sophomore Penelope Luebke took 58th in 21:15, and sophomore Wakely Burleson took 85th in 22:32. Also for the Bulldogs, senior Kellie Jo Carpenter finished in 23:53, sophomore Adalaide Thomson finished in 24:14, and sophomore Cambree O’Neill crossed in 25:45.
Two runners competed for Butte Central’s boys in the Class A race. Junior Jack Holmes crossed in 22:12, and classmate Joe Bradshaw finished in 22:57.
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Dogs, Maroons punch playoff tickets
The Butte High Bulldogs and Butte Central Maroons punched their tickets to the football playoffs Friday night with home victories.
Those wins came over some old nemeses, too.
Butte High beat Helena Capital 17-0 in a Western AA game at Naranche Stadium. That win coupled with Missoula Sentinel’s 21-7 win over Kalispell Flathead secures a spot for the Bulldogs in the Class AA playoffs. They will most likely play at Great Falls Russell next Friday night.
Butte Central beat Dillon 38-27 on Montana Tech’s Bob Green Field. The win sends the Maroons to the Class A playoffs. It was the first win by BC over Dillon since the 2014 regular season, and the first trip to the postseason for the Maroons since 2019.
Junior quarterback Raeder Grey ran for 123 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bulldogs in their win. He also passed for 85 yards and a score.
Butte High took the lead for good on a 21-yard field by Bradey Doyle early in the second quarter. The Dogs made it a 10-0 game when sophomore Kodye Kjersten made a great grab for a 27-yard TD reception from Grey.
Grey capped the scoring late in the third quarter with a 3-yard run.
Senior Peyton Johnson added 73 yards on the ground, and classmate Gunner Bushman ran for 17 as the Bulldogs amassed 212 rushing yards behind an offensive line made up of seniors Keegan Swischer, Kadyn Sommer, Gannon Sullivan, Waylond Hicks and Grady Foley, and junior Mason Swanson.
Foley filled in at right tackle after Swanson left the game with an injury.
Brady Walsh caught three passes for 45 yards. Johnson added two grabs, and senior Hudson Luedtke joined Kjersten with one.
Luedtke and junior Jaeger Hansen led the Bulldogs with eight tackles. Bushman got in on six, while seniors Mitch Verlanic and Bridger Brancamp joined Foley with five. Grey and junior Finn Wortham got in on four.
Butte High registered five sacks. Foley and Junior Max Pearston each got in on two, while Luedtke, Brancamp, Wortham and senior Jacob Galle all got in on one. Galle and Sommer each also recovered a fumble.
Butte High closes the regular season at 3-6 overall and 2-5 in conference. Their two wins to end the regular season mean the Bulldogs will be still playing next week.
The Maroons close the regular season at 5-3 and 3-2. Bruce Sayler will have a full boxscore and game story at ButteSports.com.
Click the link below for complete stats from Butte High’s win over Capital.
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Rock League starts Sunday
Year No. 10 of the Rock 3 on 3 Youth Basketball League will begin Sunday at the Maroon Activities Center.
The league will run every Sunday afternoon through Nov. 23. Click the link below to see the team rosters and Week 1 schedule.
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Podcast No. 298: Dan Lacey
Dan Lacey was an all-conference receiver for Butte High as a senior in 2002.
He played for Butte High head football coaches Steve Schulte and Greg Salo before coaching under Arie Grey as a student teacher. He also played basketball for coach John Thatcher with the Bulldogs.
Today, Lacey is on his way to writing his own legend as a high school coach in the Smelter City. Lacey is in his third year coaching the Anaconda High School football team, and the Copperheads are headed to the Class B playoffs for the first time since 2015.
First, the Copperheads have a rivalry game to close out the regular season Friday night in Deer Lodge.
Lacey took over the Copperhead program in 2023. That came after a successful nine-year run as head football coach in Whitehall, where he also coached basketball and track while serving as the activities director of the high school.
He moved to Anaconda for a change in scenery and a new challenge. Boy was it a challenge. In the five seasons before Lacey arrived in Anaconda, the Copperheads won a total of three games. The coach worked to change the culture, and now the wins are finally starting to come.
Listen in to this episode as he talks about playing for the Bulldogs and getting into coaching. Listen to how he worked on the attitude and culture before he worked on the wins and losses.
Listen to some of the coaches who influenced him along the way, and get a look at how the Copperheads are going to do when the postseason arrives in the Smelter City next week.
Today’s podcast is presented by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the local’s eat.
Photo above is courtesy Melissa Hempstead. Watch the episode on YouTube:
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It’s do-or-die time for Dogs, Maroons
Teams set to honor seniors, runners eye State success
The playoffs effectively start Friday for Butte High and Butte Central’s football teams.
Both teams will close out the regular season with Senior Night games in Uptown Butte. Butte High will play defending State champion Helena Capital in a Western AA game at Naranche Stadium, while Central will take on Dillon in a Southwestern A tilt on Montana Tech’s Bob Green Field.
No so conveniently for Butte sports fans, both games kick off at 7 p.m.
While these games are not part of a bracket, they are very much do or die for the Bulldogs and Maroons. So, for all intents and purposes, these are playoff games.
A win by the Maroons would send BC to the Class A playoffs for the first time since 2019. Butte High can qualify for the Class AA playoffs with a win over the Bruins coupled with a loss by Kalispell Flathead at Missoula Sentinel.
The Bulldogs and Bruins both enter the game at 2-6 overall and 1-5 in conference. They are vying for the No. 6 playoff seed from the West.
Butte High, which has not missed the playoff since 2017, is coming off last Thursday’s 36-10 win over Missoula Hellgate at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.
Junior quarterback Raeder Grey threw for two touchdowns and ran for one more to lead the Bulldogs in the victory that halted a five-game losing streak. He threw touchdowns to senior Hudson Luedtke and sophomore Kodye Kjersten.
Butte High got the running game going for the first time in several weeks behind the offensive line comprised of seniors Gannon Sullivan, Keegan Swisher, Waylond Hicks and Kaydyn Sommer, junior Mason Swanson and sophomore Sawyer Casey. Senior Peyton Johnson picked up 98 yards on 24 carries. Grey scrambled for 63 yards on 14 carries, and senior Gunner Bushman added two touchdowns on the ground.
Per usual, senior defensive back Mitch Verlanic led the Bulldogs with eight tackles, all of Whicher were the solo variety. Junior linebacker Finn Wortham, who has been one of Butte High’s best defenders since injury forced him into the lineup early in the season, followed with eight. Bushman, senior Bridger Brancamp and junior Jaeger Hansen each got in on four takedowns.
Brancamp also was credited with three or Butte High’s season-best six sacks. Luedke had two, and senior Jacob Galle registered one.
The Bruins come to town with wins over Belgrade and Flathead. They beat Flathead 27-20 Oct. 3 in Helena. That win was followed by a 35-14 loss at Hellgate and a 35-0 home loss to Sentinel.
Junior quarterback Carson Toivonen, whose parents were both standout athletes at Butte High, is completing 60 percent of his passes for the Bruins.
Senior Brit Linder leads a formidable Capital rushing attack. He is averaging 7.1 yards per carry for 870 yards and 12 of Capital’s 17 total touchdowns.
The Bulldogs will honor their seniors and their parents before the game. The seniors are Cayde Stajcar, Johnson, Kaleb Celli, Bushman, Jeremiah Johnson, Verlanic, Luedtke, Brooks Vincent, Preston Jensen, Cole Coyne, Galle, Brancamp, Caden Phillips, Hicks, Sommer, Grady Foley, Sullivan, Swisher, Carlos Navarro and Drew Henson.
Stajcar missed the season with a medical issue, while Jensen suffered a season-ending injury early in the campaign.
The Maroons have suffered a pair of lopsided road losses to Frenchtown and Hamilton the past two weeks. That came after BC ripped off four straight victories.
Dillon comes to town at 2-5 overall and 2-2 in Southwestern A play. BC is 4-3 and 2-2.
Junior quarterback Canin Christiansen lead the Beavers into action. He has passed for 1,309 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has been picked off just two times. He has also run for 182 yards and four touchdowns.
Senior Hank Hagenbarth averages 4.8 points per game. He has scored twice.
Senior quarterback Ryan Peoples has passed for 1,270 yards and 15 touchdowns in seven games. Senior GG Fantini and junior Joshua Sutton each caught three of the TD passes. Senior Jack Nagle caught two, while sophomores Jaxon Hiatt and Treigh Hollow and freshman Henly Mansanti each caught one.
Mansanti joined Peoples with two rushing TDs. Hiatt scored one.
Mansanti, Hollow, senior J.J. Taylor and sophomore Palmer Kellicut share the team lead in sacks. Kellicut was named the BC Player of the Week.
BC will honor their seniors and parents before the game. The seniors are Nagle, Peoples, Keltan Keane, Manny Weang, Tony Stajcar, Fantini, Taylor and Colt Hassler.
Keane missed all but the first play of the season with a knee injury.
BC spikers set to honor seniors
Butte Central’s volleyball team did not pick up a victory Saturday in Corvallis. The Maroons, though, continued to show improvement and a competitive attitude in a 25-16, 29-27, 25-21 Southwestern A loss to the Blue Devils.
The Maroons will be back on the road Thursday to take on Frenchtown in a Southwestern A battle. Then, BC will celebrate Senior Day Saturday when Hamilton comes to town.
Central’s seniors are Arika Stajcar and Logan LeProwse.
The Maroons will close out the regular season Oct. 28 at Dillon.
Butte High’s volleyball team, meanwhile, has not played since the Bulldogs beat Missoula Big Sky 3-1 Oct. 14 in Butte. Butte High will play host to Kalispell Flathead and Kalispell Glacier this Thursday and Friday.
Thursday’s varsity action begins 6 p.m., and Friday’s varsity match begins at 4 p.m.
The Bulldogs will celebrate Senior night Oct. 28 against Helena High. They will then close the regular season Oct. 30 at Helena Capital.
Butte High soccer closes season
The Bulldog soccer season came to an end Friday with losses to Kalispell Glacier Friday at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
Butte’s boys fell 6-0, while the Bulldog girls dropped a 10-0 decision. Neither Butte High team qualified for the Class AA playoffs, which start this week.
Butte High, though, saw steady progress as the season went on, and the Bulldogs are looking forward to good things to come in the near future.
On the girls’ side, Butte High will lose seniors Jessie Trudgeon, Peyton Liva, Mya Murphy, Jessica Blow, Chloe Salusso, Lydia Revenaugh and Mattie Stepan.
The team, though, will return juniors Elly Rumler, Sapphira Walking Child, Alaina Grochowski and Rory Trafford; sophomores Madi McGee, Clara Sigler, Ava Williams, Mattison Neighbor and Katie Breitmeyer; freshmen Irelynn Cullen, Frankie McNichols, Adelyn Cloonan and Adalie Grochowski; and eighth-graders Bella Salusso and Kynley Willaims.
Butte High’s boys will say goodbye to seniors Ziggy Okrusch, Obi Breeton, Josh Liston, Tino Riojas, Darryn Rossiter, Josh Schrader, Philip Russo, Jaxon Jonart, Cohen Andrews, Kyler Carpenter and Ben McAdams. The Dogs will return juniors Aiden Maesar, Kato Kuusisto and Timothy Revenaugh; sophomores Kellen Williams, Daniel Schaible and Liam Boese; and freshman Cian Irons.
State cross country set for Saturday
The prep cross season will come to an end Saturday at the MHSA State Cross Country Meet at the University of Montana Golf Course. (Schedule)
The busy day begins with the Class A boys’ race at 11 a.m. A new race is started every 30 minutes. The Class A girls run at noon, the Class AA boys go off at 1:30 p.m., and the Class AA girls close out the day with a 2:30 p.m. race.
Butte High seniors Camden Houchin, Levi Wiltse and Lincoln Zell lead the Bulldogs boys into action. Both are looking to be the school’s first All-State runner since Josh Panasuk took seventh in at the State meet in 2011. The top 15 earn All-State distinction, and Houchin placed 21st last year.
Freshman Sophia Houchin, sophomore Penelope Luebke and freshman Elsa Theiszen lead the Butte girls.
As an eight-grader last year, Houchin placed 40th, which was the highest place for a Butte High girl since Hailey Nielson took 22nd in 2020.
The last Butte High girl to earn All-State accolades was Keli Dennehy, who placed third in 2008 and 2009.
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Football has a common-sense problem
Back in my college days at the University of Montana, one of my roommates and I came up with a great idea we called the “Nacho Booth” for football games.
The idea spawned from us laughing at some of the comments made by a woman Kirk brought to a Grizzly football game with us one Saturday. This woman was well versed in soccer and lacrosse, but she had never seen a football game before.
She called it “American football.”
As she was trying to understand the game that can be quite confusing, she made us laugh with some questions that were 100 percent serious. When a Grizzly player was flagged for a late hit, she said, “So, does he get a yellow card or something?”
It was a fair question since there are no penalty yards in soccer, but it still made us spit out the beverage we snuck into the stadium.
Really, it was refreshing to hear such an honest take on the sport that everyone else always just pretends to understand. It was refreshing to hear so much common sense, and there is a serious shortage of such thinking in the sport.
Football is not always easy to explain to people. There are so many goofy things. Like, why does an offense get rewarded with the stoppage of the clock because a pass falls incomplete? Why do you get a “free kick” after a “fair catch?”
Why do they call it “football” when the game is played mostly with hands, and why can’t anybody figure out exactly what a catch is or is not?
I’ve been married for more than 21 years, and my wife still does not understand the concept of a “first down.” I have not even tried to begin to explain the “tuck rule” that screwed over the Raiders and launched the most annoying dynasty in the history of sports.
The funniest moment of the woman watching the football game with us came after one of the teams unsuccessfully ran the ball up the middle a few plays in a row.
“Why are they going up the middle?” she asked. “All the defensive players are there.”
It did not occur to her that those defensive players can move side to side. She figured if the running back decided to run around the end, the 11 defensive players would just stand in the middle like, “Awe, you got us.”
Still, why did they keep calling the same play that did not work?
That is when Kirk and I decided that we needed someone with some common sense with a hotline to the head coach. That person would sit in the “Nacho Booth,” where he or she would watch the game while snacking on food and, possibly, a few beers.
When the coach needed a verbal smack across the head, the person in the booth would buzz down and say something like, “Hey dummy, could you throw the ball on first down for a goof?”
Or, “That receiver can’t catch, so get him out of the game.” Or, “Quit running up the middle. That’s where all the defenders are.”
The beauty of the “Nacho Booth” is that you do not even have to be a football expert to offer some good advice. It might actually be better if you do not know the game all that well. Sometimes the most obvious solutions can come from what others perceive as ignorance.
We saw that with Krik’s friend, who did not have any preconceived notions going into the game.
While that concept might not go over well with most football coaches, it could be exactly what we need to fix our referee crisis in football.
No, I’m not talking about the shortage of football officials because parents like me keep yelling at the men in stripes. I mean the crisis with the NFL football officials who seem to try to ruin every Sunday, Monday and Thursday.
Those calls and silly rules interpretations eventually trickle down to college and high school to ruin our Fridays and Saturdays, too.
Most of that is not on the men and women who are officiating the game. It is more of a problem with the people making and changing the rules each year.
For instance, you never used to hear of a holding penalty on a running play. Now it is called every two or three runs. That is not because players suddenly started holding on runs. It’s because they changed the rules and interpretations.
In the NFL, the most exciting thing that an announcer says is, “no flags.” That is because we are conditioned to expect to see a flag on every big play. If our team scores a touchdown or breaks up a third-down pass, the first thing we do is look and listen to see if there was a penalty on the play.
The NFL needs to decriminalize the playing of football. We could do that be rolling back most of the new rules put in place since the 1980s and ban the type of officials who do party pumps to look good in the size smedium shirts.
Too many of these NFL officials think I paid $400 plus for the NFL Sunday Ticket just so I could watch them make 47 calls into the camera every Sunday.
So, we should incorporate the “Nacho Booth” idea into officiating. We can call it the “Comon-Sense Booth.”
We could take any fan out of Buffalo Wild Wings or the Metals Sports Bar & Grill and give them a direct line to the head official of each game. Of course, it would have to be a fan who has no rooting interest in either team because the Packers already get every call.
It would kind of build on the “expedited review” that you see sometimes in games. It is when an official buzzes down to say, “That was not a completed pass.”
When an official calls a roughing the passer penalty because he barely brushes the helmet of a quarterback — or if he looks at Patrick Mahomes — then the guy in the booth could buzz down and say, “Knock it off. This is football, not Dance Moms.”
If they call a pass interference penalty when it clearly was not pass interference, the booth could buzz down and say, “Overruled.” Then the officials would wave off the flag before the bad call is even announced.
We are talking about the obvious calls that anyone with some common sense could tell you are bad calls. They are the ones that mar the games week after week.
We’re talking about a little tug on the shirt that gave the Chiefs the Super Bowl win. Or the not-so-late hit that gave the Chiefs the Super Bowl win. Or the horrible pass interference call that gave the Chiefs the Super Bowl win.
You do not have to be well versed in football — or even have watched football before — to know that the officials are ruining the NFL. It would not take much of an effort to tell these men and women to knock it off and let the players just play the damn game.
This idea would get rid of those long delays while some official in the home office in New York tries to decide which catch counts as a catch. It would end silly roughing-the-passer calls that would not even be a foul in a basketball game. It would end the phantom pass interference calls.
Adding the “Common-Sense Booth” to NFL games would put an end to so many controversies, and it would mean we could watch games without seeing the officials steal the spotlight all afternoon.
For a lot of us NFL fans, it would mean a lot less yelling at the television and a lot more time spent enjoying the games.
If I didn’t have to yell at the officials all day, I might finally have time to properly explain a first down to my wife.
— Bill Foley, who actually kind of likes Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, 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.
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RSVP for BC Thanksgiving Dinner
The Butte Central Catholic High School student body, administration, faculty and staff will sponsor the annual Laverne Combo Thanksgiving Dinner for the elderly and home-bound of Butte.
This event will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 18th, at 5 PM in the Butte Central High School gymnasium.
Delivery is available for those unable to attend. To make dine-in reservations or arrange for delivery, call the high school office at (406) 782-6761 by Thursday, Nov. 13th, at 4 PM. There is no cost to attend the dinner or for delivery.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 