Belle Fourche may have lost a football game Friday night against West Central in Hartford, but the Broncs came out of the contest a better, more confident team.

"It does a lot for us, just a ton," Belle Fourche head coach Adam Nowowiejski said. "I really can't even put it into words. All of our seniors felt that they could play with them, but obviously the younger crowd hears West Central and fear kind of sets in. But we went down there and played with them, and we felt like we could have even possibly beaten them, so it's great for our confidence."

The Broncs jumped all over the top-ranked team in Class 11A and took a 14-3 lead at the half behind a couple of touchdown runs by senior tailback Francois Barnaud. Barnaud finished the game with 191 yards on 19 carries, but Belle Fourche couldn't quite hold on and lost 23-14.

"We played an outstanding first half and not a bad second half," Nowowiejski said. "They just played a better second half. We had a lot of missed tackles and a few penalties that hurt us."

Nowowiejski's Broncs are 1-2 overall after games against Douglas, Wyo., Hot Springs and West Central. He felt the offensive line was superb in the opening half of the game against the Trojans and hopes it can continue that level of play deeper into games.

"They really did an outstanding job and that was why Francois had such a great first half," Nowowiejski said of the offensive front. "Then fatigue set in a bit in the second half and we missed some assignments, but give West Central a lot of credit. They came out and played much better and tackled much better in that second half."

The Broncs head to Deadwood on Friday to take on Lead-Deadwood in a Black Hills Conference game.

Raider defense shows well

Belle Fourche wasn't the only West River team to hit the road and give a perennial South Dakota football power a scare.

Rapid City Stevens played Class 11AA No. 4-ranked Sioux Falls O'Gorman at McEneaney Field in Sioux Falls and led 3-0 at halftime before falling 13-6. While the Raider offense couldn't get much going, the defense kept Stevens in the game.

The Raiders (3-1 overall) have been stellar on defense all season long, allowing just 10.7 points per game.

Offensive explosion

A couple of 9-man teams went crazy at the Prospector Bowl in Deadwood as Newell racked up 44 first-quarter points in a 78-27 win over Oelrichs and Philip, which came into the game averaging 73 points per game, actually increased that average in an 81-28 victory over New Underwood.

Big foot

St. Thomas More kicker Kevin Robb blasted a kickoff against Hot Springs off the top of the goal post according to Hot Springs head coach Ben Kramer and also nailed a 51-yard field goal, the fifth-longest field goal in South Dakota high school history.