by John Hamilton

The Eagles have landed, with a resounding thud, thanks to the powerful Hot Springs Savage Heat, who brought the Valley Christian Eagles back down to earth Saturday.

Coach Jim Lawson’s Savage Heat dumped the Eagles 47-13 in Alberton to improve to 1-0 in Western 6-Man conference play and 5-0 overall. Ranked No. 3 in the most recent 406mtsports.com power poll, the Savage Heat will host 1-0, 3-1 Noxon in Hot Springs Friday in what is shaping up to be one of the more important games of the season.

Lawson was in Noxon Friday watching the Devils demolish Sheridan 49-8.

“Noxon is doing a lot of things well, they looked pretty sharp against Sheridan,” he said. “They have some good players, some decent size and they are starting to gain confidence. We look for a tough test Friday night.”

The Sanders County showdown will also serve as Hot Springs’ annual homecoming game.

Steadily spectacular so far this season, the Savage Heat were never really threatened in the game with Valley Christian, methodically building a 40-0 lead by halftime and cruising to the win from there.

The Savage Heat did have a hiccup early when Valley took the opening kickoff and marched down to the Hot Springs one-yard line. The Heat defense held the Eagles on downs and eventually marched down the field to score the game’s first touchdown.

“We held them on a goal line stand on the first series,” Lawson said, “but made some adjustments and played much better defense after that.”

Senior quarterback Brandon Knudsen hooked up with sophomore Kyle Lawson for three touchdown passes covering 14, 23 and 23 yards in the first half. Luke Waterbury scored touchdowns on runs of one and two yards, and Lincoln Slonaker reached paydirt on a two-yard run to complete Hot Springs scoring in the first half.

Slonaker registered the Heat’s final touchdown on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter. Jack McAllister kicked one two-point conversion and Lawson caught a pass for a one-point conversion to complete game scoring for Hot Springs.

Valley Christian scored two touchdowns – on a 49-yard pass from Ty Messer to Roman Becker, and on a seven-yard pass from Messer to Josh Streit – in the fourth quarter.

Knudsen finished the game with 122 yards passing and 66 rushing, Slonaker had eight carries for 40 yards and Waterbury eight totes for 71. Jack McAllister had two pass catches for 59 yards and Kyle Lawson four for 63.

Kyle Lawson also had a team-high 10 tackles and Knudsen nine, including a quarterback sack.