HELENA — The Townsend Bulldogs are off to a 3-0 start to this high school football season, but they played two of those games without a key defensive piece.

Senior linebacker Trenton Hoveland made his season debut Friday night in a 28-0 win over Big Timber. Hoveland fractured his left foot’s fifth metatarsal bone, located on the outside of the foot, during offseason workouts in June.

“Honestly, just pure happiness,” Hoveland said of his return to the field. “I couldn’t be more thankful. And to be able to be out here with the people I love the most and do what I do every day, it’s no better feeling.”

With Hoveland back on the field, Townsend head coach Joe Horne said the Bulldogs’ defense becomes a much different unit.

“It makes us a better football team having him back on the field,” s

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