Braves face hot Bengal team
Flathead enters homecoming contest 1-3, Helena High 3-2
There are three musts for the Flathead Braves to win tonight's homecoming football game.
They have to stop the run, hang onto the football and win the battle of field position.
That's according to Flathead head coach Grady Bennett.
The Braves (1-3, 1-4) take on the Helena High Bengals at 7 at Legends Stadium.
The Bengals (3-2, 3-2), who defeated Missoula Hellgate 60-12 a week ago, are on a three-game win streak, while the Braves are still smarting from the 47-0 lashing they endured against Great Falls Russell last weekend.
Much of that game was played on the Flathead end of the field.
Turnovers put the Flathead defense in bad situations too many times, the coach said.
"Last week was so unfair to them. CMR didn't start on their own half of the field the whole first half."
Still, the coach is optimistic.
The Braves have enjoyed "easily our best week of practice," he added.
"It was a great week. It really shows the kind of character and class I've been talking about all year."
Every day was a best, he said.
"Our best Monday of the year, followed by our best Tuesday, a good Wednesday …
"It should be a lot like the Great Falls High game (a 20-14 overtime loss for the Braves),"Bennett said.
"A well-fought battle. Two teams that I think are pretty equal - a fun football game to watch.
"They're a quality club," Bennett said of Helena.
Their offensive line is big and physical."
That line has four returners - tackles Dalton Phillips, Brad Sternberg, guard Bob Beemer and center Josh Yeager.
"They average well over 250," Bennett said.
And the Bengals love to run behind them.
"They want to control the clock and win field position.
"They just want to pound it, pound it, pound it. They could run it 65 times," he said.
Their running game doesn't feature anyone that really stands out, Bennett said.
"Just steady guys that get three and four yards a crack.
"They just want to wind up and pound it at you."
"We have to stop the run.
"We really have to do a good job with field position. We need to make them go on long drives.
"If we give them short fields, it's going to be tough. We have to win the field position."
Flathead captains tonight are junior wide receiver Jareth Wilson and senior corner back Ryan Ross.
Ross played his best game of the year against CMR, Bennett said.
"Even though we were getting beat the second half, he played hard. We were proud of his efforts this week."
As for Wilson, "his effort after the ball every time is incredible. He lays out, sells out," the coach said.
Class AA Standings
Sept. 30
Conference Overall
W-L W-L
Billings West Golden Bears 5 - 0 5 - 0
Billings Skyview Falcons 4 - 0 5 - 0
Big Sky Eagles 4 - 1 4 - 1
CMR Rustlers 3 - 1 4 - 1
Helena High Bengals 3 - 2 3 - 2
Bozeman Hawks 2 - 2 3 - 2
Great Falls Bison 2 - 2 3 -2
Billings Senior Broncs 2 - 3 2 - 3
Butte Bulldogs 2 - 3 2 - 3
Helena Capital Bruins 2 - 3 2 - 3
Flathead Braves 1 - 3 1 - 4
Hellgate Knights 0 - 5 0 - 5
Sentinel Spartans 0 - 5 0 - 5
Tonight
Helena Capital at Billings Senior
Missoula Big Sky at Billings Skyview
Billings West at Sheridan, Wyo.
Butte High at Bozeman
Missoula Sentinel at Great Falls High
Helena High at Flathead
Saturday
CMR at Hellgate
Week 5 Scores
Helena 60, Hellgate 12
Butte 29, Great Falls 22, OT
CMR 47, Flathead 0
West 63, Senior 21
Big Sky 40, Sentinel 6
Bozeman 40, Raymond, Al 6
Skyview 50, Capital 9
2004 Flathead Brave Football Statistics
Braves conference record 1-3, overall 1-4
Team Stats
Braves Opponents
49 First Downs 87
148/555 Rushes/Yds 194/1144
111.0 Avg. Rushing Per Game 228.8
3.75 Avg. Rushing Per Attempt 5.9
47/120/10 Passes/Attempts/Int 66/125/3
656 Passing Yards 830
131.2 Avg Passing Yards Per Game 166.0
13.9 Avg Passing Per Completion 12.6
1211 Total Yards 1974
242.2 Avg. Total Yards Per Game 394.8
15 Turnovers 10
45/373 Penalties/Yards 50/407
Scoring
Braves 13 34 18 14 0 - 79
Opponents 43 58 48 20 6 - 175
Individual
Points Scored
TDs 2pt PAT's FG Total
Jareth Wilson 3 18
Beau Borowski 2 1 0 0 14
Reece Stahlberg 1 0 0 0 6
Chris Hooley 1 0 0 0 6
Foston Reilly 1 0 0 0 6
Scott Cassel 1 0 0 0 6
Luke Gallagher 1 0 0 0 6
Brian Fox 1 0 0 0 6
Brian Bennett 1 0 0 0 6
Ryan Ross 0 0 3/8 0/2 5
Totals 12 1 5/10 0/3 79
Passing
Comp Att Pct Yds Avg TD
Luke Gallagher 47 125 36 656 13.9 7
Jason Russell 0 4 0 0 0.0 0
Totals 47 129 36 656 13.9 7
Receiving
Catches Yds Avg TD
Reece Stahlberg 11 95 8.6 0
Beau Borowski 8 93 11.6 2
Brian Fox 7 118 16.9 1
Foston Reilly 7 117 16.7 1
areth Wilson 5 117 23.4 3
Scott Cassel 4 71 17.8 0
Edgar Nadeau 2 23 11.5 0
Geoff Hogan 2 18 9.0 0
Nick Hergesheimer 1 4 4.0 0
Totals 47 656 13.9 7
Rushing
Att Yds Avg TD
Reece Stahlberg 91 397 4.4 1
Scott Cassel 21 95 4.5 1
Cody Carter 1 31 31.0 0
Luke Gallagher 31 34 1.1 1
Ben Moyers 1 5 5.0 0
Jason Russell 2 -9 -4.5 0
Garrett Woodson 1 2 2.0 0
Totals 148 555 3.8 3
Kickoff Returns
No. Yds Avg TD
Reece Stahlberg 7 142 20.3 0
Foston Reilly 7 116 16.6 0
Ryan Ross 5 100 20.0 0
Cody Carter 2 35 17.0 0
Duane Cooper 2 33 16.5 1
Punt Returns
No. Yds Avg TD
Foston Reilly 3 37 12.3 0
Cody Carter 1 13 13.0 0
Punting
No Yds Avg
Edgar Nadeau 23 741 32.2
Luke Gallagher 1 25 25.0