Trojans open conference play Friday night in Townsend

The Whitehall/Harrison High School football team will open up 5B Conference play Friday in Townsend with a road matchup against Broadwater High School.

After picking up two consecutive wins to open the season, the Trojans were defeated for the first time September 13 in a 47-25 road loss against perennial Class B powerhouse Missoula-Loyola.

The game was scoreless until midway through the first when Loyola took advantage of several Whitehall turnovers and would score four straight touchdowns to take a 27-0 lead.

"Field position is a huge part of the game of football. We turned the ball over way too much and gave them short fields which got us off to a tough start," said head coach Dan Lacey.

The Trojans were able to score two times before half and trailed 33-12 going into the break.

Lacey said he was very proud of how the team didn't give up.

"We had chances in the second half to make it a tight game and we came up a few plays short," he said.

Broadwater will come into the Friday matchup with a 2-1 record and opened conference play last week with a 48-6 win over Big Timber.

"This is a huge week for us against Townsend. We need to regroup and play our style of football. Taking care of the ball on offense is critical and limiting big plays on defense will be key for us to be successful this week," Lacey said.