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The Red Devils are going to the State 6-Man playoffs. The only question remaining is will it be a home or a road game in the first round?

Noxon clinched a spot in the upcoming Montana 6-Man playoffs by defeating Valley Christian 56-19 in Noxon Friday.

Now 3-1 in Western Conference action and 5-2 overall, coach Bart Haflich and his Red Devils head to White Sulphur Springs Saturday for an important confrontation with the 3-1, 5-3 Hornets, with second place in the conference and the No. 2 seed from the West going to the winner.

The surging Devils were ranked No. 9 in the most recent 406mtsports.com poll while White Sulphur, which was previously ranked No. 8, have fallen to No. 10 after losing to No. 4 Hot Springs last week.

Hot Springs has since moved back up to No. 3 this with that victory over White Sulphur Springs.

It is an exciting time for Red Devil football in the West End as Noxon has now qualified for the State playoffs for a third straight season, in addition to being named to the Top 10 this season for the first time in school history.

If the Devils win Saturday, Noxon will be hosting a playoff game at Jenny Lampshire Memorial Field the first weekend in November, another first for the Red Devil football program.

“It would be special, having a home playoff game has been one of our goals,” coach Bart Haflich said. “White Sulphur is a solid opponent and we will have to play well to win.

“They have really good team speed and get after you defensively,” he added. “Hopefully we can get them figured out early and get squared away on what we need to do to react to that.”

As for his thoughts on his 2019 Devils, Haflich said, “this is a testament to these kids. They have put a lot into this season, and into the program in general. They have earned the right to feel good about themselves as a football team and the playoffs are a great reward for that.”

The Devils took control of the proceedings immediately against Valley Christian Friday, roaring out to a lead of 22-6 after one quarter and extending the advantage to 48-12 by halftime. With the clock in continuous motion in the second half due to the MHSA’s 35-point mercy rule, each team scored another touchdown to complete scoring.

Senior Rylan Weltz, playing his final regular season game on Lampshire Field, scored three touchdowns to lead Noxon, on runs of 27, 5 and 21 yards, and Josh Baldwin also scored three TDs on runs of 12, 6 and 18 yards.

Jared Webley added another touchdown on a 50-yard kickoff return and Riley Wood recovered a fumble in the end zone for the other Red Devil TD in the game. Noxon’s defense started scoring in the game by scoring a team safety in the first quarter, which led to Webley’s big scoring return.

Derreck Christensen had two successful two-point kicks for the Devils.

Eyan Becker, Tyler Gannon and Roman Becker scored touchdowns for Valley, which fell to 0-4 in conference play and 1-7 overall with the loss.