BILLINGS — If there was any doubt about how good the top-ranked and defending State A champion Billings Central football team is at this point of the season, the Rams answered those questions on Friday.
Playing in front of a large and noisy crowd on their homecoming, the Rams were sparked on the second play of the game when Howie Martin tossed a 60-yard touchdown pass to William Snell and Central never looked back in posting a 35-0 victory over their rivals from Laurel.
Layne Alexander scored on a pair of two-yard touchdown runs for Central and Ayden Salter added a one-yard scoring run for the Rams (4-0). Michael Thomas’s 44-yard scoring run at 5:28 of the second quarter, coupled with Grady Martin’s fifth conversion kick, gave the Rams a 35-0 lead and the running clock kicked in.
In earning their first shutout of the season, and winning a rematch of last year’s State A title game that was also played at Herb Klindt Field, the Rams extended their winning streak to 16 games.
It was Central’s third-straight victory over a ranked opponent and the Rams’ fourth-straight quality win to open the season as Central defeated Dillon in Week 1 prior to the first 406 MT Sports rankings of the 2025 campaign. Now, after playing four-straight nonconference games to open the season, the Rams move into their Eastern A conference schedule next week with a game at Miles City on Sept. 26.
“It feels great. We prepare the same way every single week,” said Alexander. “And the whole message this week was play downhill, use your body. It was our last out-of-conference game. So, we just leave it out on the field.”
“We prepared hard in the offseason just for this. We picked a hard out-of-conference schedule. We’re moving into the second half of the year getting ready for conference. But this has been the message the whole year. That’s been the message every single week, come out, fly around, be physical and just drag these teams into deep water.”
Rams coach Jim Stanton said his squad prepared like it usually would for its longtime and respected rival. When asked about the team’s thoughts going into a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, Stanton said it was business as usual for the Rams.
“We knew they’re a good team and they’re one of the better teams we play,” said Stanton. “We don’t really pay too much attention to that (the rankings). We know we’ve got a pretty good football team, and we just want to grow every week. We knew we’d be challenged today, and our kids rose to the occasion and came out with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of physicality and got after them good.”
The Rams started the year with a 64-28 win at Dillon and then defeated No. 4 Havre 42-7 at the Rocky bowl. Last week at Herb Klindt, Central downed No. 4 Frenchtown, 35-7. Will it be hard to keep the Rams motivated with them winning games by those margins?
“You’ve got to keep hungry,” said Stanton. “You’re only as good as your next game and we’ve got to continue to grow as a team. And we have a lot of opportunities to get guys on the field and get them some experience. And so that’s really key for us moving forward and keeping healthy. So, we’ve got a good thing going, but we know we have a lot of work to do, and we have a long season and there’s good teams out there.”
Alexander echoed Stanton in saying Central’s players know their job isn’t over. However, they’ve got to enjoy a homecoming win.
“It feels great just to let it loose and we get to go back to the school and celebrate and keep the winning tradition alive at Central,” said Alexander. “That’s really what it’s all about. We’re a big family. We had an awesome pep rally today. This is just what we do at Central, and this is the expectation. We’re just looking forward to keep it going and keep our nose to the grindstone, but this feels amazing.”
Laurel (3-1) played its second-straight game without starting quarterback Krew Hunter. Hunter injured his knee in the second quarter of the Locomotives second game of the season against Sidney. Laurel coach Travis Rauh said Hunter is “week to week.”
The Locomotives will play at No. 3 Lewistown on Sept. 26 in their Central A opener.
“Obviously Central has a very good football team,” said Rauh. “We’ll give them credit where credit is due. We need to play better football. We’ve kind of had a few weeks where we haven’t improved like we need to every week to be a good football team. So, I think we’ll have our focus back on that next weekend. I’m confident we’re going to be able to move forward from this.”
Email Gazette Sports Editor John Letasky at john.letasky@406mtsports.com or follow him on X/Twitter at @GazSportsJohnL
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