Longtime Big Sky Conference football official John Maloney of Helena is retiring after this season. Maloney began officiating in the Big Sky in 1978 as a field judge and has been a crew chief/referee for most of his career.

"John has been a very good referee and leader as a mainstay on our staff for 28 years," Big Sky Coordinator of Football Officials Doug Toole said. "He has worked well with young officials coming into the league and has been one of our solid refs."

Maloney's retirement won't bring an end to his family's presence in the officiating realm, as his daughter Julie is a basketball official in the Frontier Conference.

Casey FitzSimmons caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Joey Harrington in Detroit's 35-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens. FitzSimmons, who played at Carroll College, now has three career TD receptions. His fourth quarter touchdown gave the Lions a 28-10 lead.

Former Capital High volleyball star Megan Zanto recorded 11 kills in Montana State's 3-0 win over Montana last week. Her 14 kills against Eastern Washington this weekend made her the 13th Bobcat to go over 1,000 for her college career.

There has been a revival of the Helena connection at MSU-Northern, but this time it's on the gridiron instead of the hardwood. It was never more evident than this past Saturday when two pairs of Capital High brothers - Dilan and Don Saisbury, and Marc and Kyle Samson - each scored a TD in a 37-19 win over UM-Western.

MSU-N has 11 Helena and one Boulder player listed on its roster. They are Chris Hert (Boulder), Josh Glahn, Cody Mattfeldt, Tyler Gullickson, Stetson Koffman, Adrian Largent, Cory Sitch, and Jake Eldridge.

In the mid-90s Helenans Ty Ridgeway, Todd Redd, and John Briney were all starters for the Lights league championship hoop team. Briney and Ridgeway are sixth and 12th, respectively, in career scoring.

Travis Lulay accounted for 425 of Montana State's 448 yards to move into sixth on the Big Sky's (12th I-AA) career total yardage list. In a down-and-up performance against Weber State Lulay threw three interceptions to aid WSU to a 24-10 lead, but came back with two fourth quarter TD runs to tie the game.

A pair of Helenans played key roles in the UM and MSU victories. Grizzly kicker Dan Carpenter (Helena High) hit three fields against Idaho State. The sophomore had just one coming into the game. Bobcat linebacker Bobby Daly had 11 tackles and a forced fumble that was recovered for a TD against WSU. The freshman now has 28 tackles, three tackles for loss, and three turnovers in three starts.

The Carroll College women's basketball team starts its season this Friday when it hosts Thompson River University of Kamloops, British Columbia. The Saints have three games against Canadian teams to start the year before they play at Montana State. Carroll is considered one of the top teams in the nation this year and their game against MSU comes at a good time with the Bobcats hiring a new coach and several new faces on the roster.