Rustlers defeat Billings West behind Tucker, Grinde

BILLINGS – The C.M. Russell High Rustlers roared to a four-touchdown lead before weathering a furious rally by Billings West and finally posting a 42-33 here Friday night in a Class AA football game.

Versatile senior Karl Tucker II caught two touchdown passes and ran for a pair of scores, and star halfback Andrew Grinde rushed for 139 yards and a score for the Rustlers.

Junior quarterback Lane Jensen threw three touchdown passes, two to Tucker in the second quarter and another to Grinde in the second half as the Rustlers built a 42-14 lead.

But Billings West wasn’t done.

The Bears rallied as quarterback Bryson Deming threw for nearly 300 yards and four touchdown passes. West recovered two straight onside kicks and, with 2:31 left, scored on a Deming sneak to shave the deficit to 42-33. But the two-point conversation failed.

West got the football back once more, but finally ran out of downs deep in CMR territory. The 75 total points is believed to be the most ever scored in the CMR-Billings West series, which is almost 50 games old.

Tucker also rushed for more than 100 yards as the Rustlers of coach Gary Lowry evened their record at 1-1. West, under new head coach Rob Stanton, fell to 0-2.

West scored early in the first quarter to take the lead. The Bears’ defense came up with a goal-line stand later in the stanza following Grinde’s 43-yard run to the West 3-yard line.

CMR scored on Grinde’s 11-yard touchdown run to tie the score, then Jensen came in at quarterback for Tucker and promptly threw a TD pass to him. The 16-yard touchdown pass came after a Patrick McAllister interception set up the Rustlers in West territory.

Wyatt Bleskin also had an interception for the CMR defense.

West tied the score with 1:12 left in the half, but the Rustlers quickly responded and took a 21-14 halftime lead on Jensen’s 9-yard touchdown strike to Tucker.

Jensen threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Grinde early in the third quarter as the Rustlers took control. Tucker then tacked on a long touchdown run later in the quarter as CMR took a 35-14 lead. It was 42-14 moments later after Tucker scored again to provide enough of a cushion to withstand West’s late assault.