After coming up one game shy of glory each of the past two seasons, Manhattan broke through with Saturday’s 28-7 Class B championship win over Three Forks, the Tigers’ second state title and first since 2020.

DJ Bauer
SWX Local Sports Reporter

MANHATTAN, Mont. — After two years of title-game heartbreak, the Class B state title in 2025 belongs to Manhattan.

The South’s top-seeded Tigers (12-0) are state champions following Saturday’s 28-7 victory over rival Three Forks (10-2).

Manhattan entered the day eager to erase bitter memories from 2023 and 2024, in which the Tigers lost the state championship game in the final minute to Florence and Malta, respectively.

Three Forks, meanwhile, hoped to defeat Manhattan for the first time since 2009 whilst playing in its first ever state title appearance.

But the Tigers got off to a rip-roaring start, as Matthew Fenno intercepted Kanon Reichman on the Wolves’ opening drive, setting up an eventual fourth-down, 29-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Tyson Pavlik to Fenno.

Manhattan’s early dominance continued, with Pavlik airing one 25 yards to favorite target Brayden Zikmund, who made the wild catch at the goal line over the defender to put the Tigers up 14-0.

A QB keeper by Pavlik early in the second quarter following a 16-yard scramble would extend Manhattan’s lead to 21-0, before Three Forks finally got on the board before halftime, courtesy of a 22-yard touchdown dart from Reichman to Gavin Etchison.

But defense dominated the second act as the Tigers turned over Reichman twice more via strip sack and interception for a grand total of three turnovers in the victory.

The lone score of the second half came on a goal-line handoff to lineman Brady Toner, settling on the final result of 28-7.

It’s Manhattan’s second state championship in football, following their 23-6 victory over Fairfield in 2020.

“Dude, it feels great,” Pavlik said. “I don’t know if I’ve fully embraced it because I was trying to shut out all the noise, but it’s a cool feeling, and I think I’m going to feel it a little bit more later.”

“Oh, it’s a surreal feeling,” Zikmund said. “I mean, we’ve been looking forward to this. The last two years, it’s been a little bit down. But this year, it’s just awesome. Coming out on top on our home field is great.”

“They won it for all our kids,” Manhattan head coach Wes Kragt said. “It was their expectation. They wanted to get back. Credit these kids and their grit. To only return four starters and get back to this game and win a state championship is just the way that we go with our culture.”

A major factor at play in the 2025 Class B title contest was the location, given that Manhattan and Three Forks are the two closest Class B schools to each other, just 12 miles apart.

“There were 75 minutes left in warmups, and the stands were packed,” Zikmund said. “It was an awesome experience just to hear it. The noise was crazy, and everybody was cheering everybody on. The environment was just awesome here. I’m so grateful for it.”