Bengals take advantage of FHS errors
Photo Cutline:<br>Flathead High School's Jareth Wilson can't quite pull in a touchdown pass during second half play against Helena High Friday night at Legends Stadium. Chris Jordan/Daily inter Lake
The bad news started early - midway through the first quarter.
Three musts.
Prior to Friday's Class AA football game Flathead football coach Grady Bennett listed three things he believed the Braves had to do to defeat the Helena High Bengals.
The Braves needed to stop the run, hang onto the football and win the battle of field position.
The facts, though, were as follows:
Helena gained 185 yards on 40 rushes, enjoyed seven Flathead turnovers and started four drives inside the Flathead 30-yard line.
End result?
Helena (4-2, 4-2) dealt the Braves (1-4, 1-5) a 49-24 homecoming game loss.
"We've got to quit doing that to our poor defense," Bennett said afterward.
This was a game Bennett really believed Flathead had a chance to do well in.
"If we took care of the ball and didn't put our defense in bad situations," the coach said.
The bad news started early - midway through the first quarter.
Trailing 10-3 and deep in their own territory, Flathead's Luke Gallagher was intercepted by Bengal Witt York.
That set Helena up at the Flathead 19.
Very soon thereafter, Helena led 14-3.
Flathead started the ensuing drive on its own 29.
A fumble in the backfield two plays later gave Helena the ball at the Braves' 13.
Very soon thereafter, Helena led 21-3.
But the real killers came in the second quarter.
Flathead fought back from that 18-point deficit.
It put together a nine-play, 64-yard scoring drive to end the quarter on a positive note, stopped Helena on its next drive, then blocked the Bengal punt.
The Braves recovered on the Helena 29-yard line.
They followed that up with a little trickery - a 29-yard flea flicker completion from Gallagher to junior Jareth Wilson.
Suddenly, Flathead was back in business. It trailed 21-17 and momentum was shifting.
"We felt kind of good about ourselves. We felt like we kind of had a chance," Bennett said. "Here we go."
That didn't last long.
Helena's Tyson Bogumill took the ensuing kickoff at his own 7-yard line. He ran into a host of Braves at the 10, but slipped to his left and finished his run 93 yards later.
"We just lost control on the right side, got excited thinking he was down," Bennett said.
That put Helena up 28-17. It led 35-17 at half.
"I thought the second half, we were better on play action. We stopped their run pretty well," Bennett said.
That was true.
Bogumill finished the night with 76 yards on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns. He had 66 of those yards in the first half.
As a team, Helena had only 25 second-half yards.
Offensively, the Braves did everything they could to shake things up.
Junior Jason Russell replaced Gallagher at quarterback for the third Flathead series of the second half.
Gallagher needed a break and to catch his breath, the coach said. It also turns out Gallagher suffered a concussion.
"I thought Jason did some nice things," said Bennett. "Showed me some things, made some plays. He really gave us a lift."
Russell completed 6-of-18 passes for 58 yards.
"This is not a 1-5 team," Bennett said. "People look for certain characteristics and label it, but this is not that type of team.
"We know these kids are going to come back next week - it's just a great group of kids to be around."
BENGALS 49, BRAVES 24
Helena 21 14 7 7 -49
Flathead 10 7 7 0 -24
First Quarter
F -Ryan Ross 32 field goal, 10:05.
H - Matt Komac 8 run (Cody Chaet kick), 8:13.
H - Tyson Bogumill 15 run (Chaet kick), 6:00.
H - Tyler Grimm 3 run (Chaet kick), 4:57.
F - Luke Gallagher 12 run (Ross kick), :33.
Second Quarter
F -Jareth Wilson 29 pass from Gallagher (Ross kick), 6:30.
H - Bogumill 93 kickoff return (Chaet kick), 6:15.
H - Brandon Day 20 pass from Komac (Chaet kick), 2:44.
Third Quarter
H - Witt York 39 interception return (Chaet kick), 8:50
F - Reece Stahlberg 6 run (Ross kick), 1:34.
Fourth Quarter
H -Day 1 run (Chaet kick), 10:15.
H F
First downs 12 9
Total Net Yards 295 247
Rushes-yards 40-185 28/108
Passing 110 139
Comp-Att-Int 7-11-1-110 10-32-5-139
Punts 4-89 5-141
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 3-2
Penalties-Yards 8-60 4/24
Kickoff returns 5-164 7-80
Punt returns 1-0 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Helena, Tyson Bogumill 18-76, Tyler Grimm 6-35, Matt Komac 3-16, Brandon Day 3-8, Troy Campbell 4-minus 4, Josh Stuberg 5-54. Flathead Reece Stahlberg 20-56, Luke Gallagher 6-25, Nick Hergesheimer 1-27.
PASSING-Helena, Matt Komac 7-10-0110, Troy Campbell 0-1-1-0. Flathead, Luke Gallagher 4-13-3-80, Reece Stahlberg 0-1-1-0, Jason Russell 6-18-1-58.
RECEIVING-Helena, Brandon Day 4-68,Cole Whitmoyer 1-20, Cory Spalinger 1-10, Jay Anderson 1-12. Flathead,Jareth Wilson 5-58, Beau Borowski 1-17, Foston Reilly 1-18, Reece Stahlberg 1-4, Jeff Hogan 2-42.
Missed field goals: None.