Capital shuts the door on Braves
Flathead falls to Bruins in Class AA semis, 33-12
HELENA Heading into Friday nights match-up between Flathead and Helena Capital, Braves coach Grady Bennett knew the onus would be on his offense if his team had a chance to defeat the favored Bruins.
Problem was, Capital agreed. After winning the opening toss, the Bruins deferred, giving the Braves the opening possession.
Capitals defense held, forcing Flathead to punt into a howling wind. When the punt bounced Capitals way, it had the ball at its own 44-yard line. And it didnt take long for the Bruins to find the end zone.
On their second play from scrimmage, senior running back Quinn Noel (13 carries, 107 yards) took the ball and eluded several Flathead defenders on his way to a 48-yard score. Bennett was wary of Capitals running attack, and his game plan for victory called for the Braves to get an early lead and force the Bruins to play catch-up.
Unfortunately, Capital was up 7-0 less than four minutes into the game and that was as close as Flathead would get as the Bruins went on to win 33-12.
The victory catapulted them into next weekends Class AA title game at Billings West and ended the Braves Cinderella run into the semifinals.
You have to give them (Capital) all the credit. They dominated us in every phase of the game, said Bennett, whose team ended its season at 8-3. They were able to get their ground game going and they played very well defensively against us.
Prior to the game, Bennett described Capital as a team that likes to run the ball 40 to 50 times a game. His scouting report was dead on as the Bruins carried the ball 49 times, gaining 346 yards against the Braves highly-regarded defense.
A team hadnt been that effective against us all year, he said.
The Braves didnt manage to cross the 50 until midway through the second quarter.
Then a promising scoring driver petered out first when QB Reed Watkins pass hit
receiver Foston Reilly in the helmet on a blown
assignment on second down, followed by a sack from
Capitals Nick Kessler on third-and-10. That became a
trend as Watkins was sacked five times on the night.
They were getting too much penetration against us,
Bennett said. They were able to put heat on Reed all
night.
Then came perhaps the deciding moment in the contest.
With less than a minute left in the first half,
Flathead faced fourth-and-inches from its own 39.
Bennett elected to go for it, but senior Daniel Ogden
was stopped cold at the line, giving the Bruins
excellent field position.
And they took advantage when QB Lance Parsley found
senior Corey Peterson in the end zone for an 11-yard
score with six seconds left. Though the extra point
attempt was blocked, the damage was done as Capital
led 13-0 at the break.
You could say maybe that was a bad call, but in that
situation you have to be able to trust your offense to
get half a yard, Bennett said. But the credit goes
to Capital because they stopped it.
That play and the ensuing touchdown gave the Bruins
all the momentum as they showed on the opening play of
the second half when Peterson rolled off a 68-yard
burst and the two-point run to put Capital up 21-0.
Peterson finished with a game-high 122 yards on seven
carries.
Against Butte last week, Bennett told freshman backup
QB Brock Osweiler to warm up at halftime after an
ineffective first half from Watkins. That proved to be
all the motivation Watkins needed as he was phenomenal
in the final two quarters.
Bennett did the same thing Friday, and it paid
dividends again when Watkins found Geoff Hogan for a
13-yard TD early in the third quarter. However, it was
all downhill from there.
The Bruins not only marched right back down the field
for a touchdown (a 6-yard run from Noel), but Watkins
was later pulled for Osweiler. The freshman didnt
fare much better, though he did score his first career
touchdown, from one-yard out, to cut the deficit to
33-12. But that was all she wrote.
Right after we scored I felt like we were right back
in it after that touchdown pass, Bennett said. But
every time we did something, they answered right
back.
Though the Braves failed in their quest to reach
their first state title game since 2000, no one, from
the players, to the fans, or the coaches, was
disappointed with the season.
Its not the night we hoped for, but we have a great
group of guys on this team, said senior co-captain
Jareth Wilson. Our coaches did a great job of turning
us from boys into men. It was still a great year.
BRUINS 33, BRAVES 12
Flathead 0 0 6 6 12
Capital 7 6 20 0 33
First Quarter
CapitalQuinn Noel 47 run (Craig Dalton kick), 3:23.
Second Quarter
CapitalCorey Peterson 12 pass from Lance Parsley (kick blocked), 11:54.
Third Quarter
Capital Corey Peterson 68 run (Peterson run), :25.
FlatheadGeoff Hogan 13 pass from Reed Watkins (kick fail), 4:49.
Capital Quinn Noel 6 run (kick blocked), 7:54.
CapitalCorey Peterson 28 run (run fail), 9:12.
Fourth Quarter
FlatheadBrock Osweiler 1 run (run fail), 9:14.
Flat Cap
First Downs 18 15
Rush-yds 34-47 49-346
Pass yds 200 30
Return yds 45 26
Comp-att-int 19-33-0 5-8-0
Sacked-yds 6-38 0-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-yds 7-70 8-80
Individual Statistics
RushingFlathead, Scott Cassel 15-40, Reed Watkins 15- (-2), Jason Russell 1-0, Brock Osweiler 3-9. Capital, Corey Peterson 7-122, Quinn Noel 13-107, Francis Reishus 18-84, Brian Nickel 3-19, Lance Parsley 2- (-2), Joel Nay 1-1, Jeremy Grady 1-2, Jared Hunt 1-1, Matt Williams 1-5, Garrett Gurnett 1-1, Craig Remson 1-2.
Passing Flathead Reed Watkins 11-18-0 115, Brock Osweiler 8-15-0 85. Capital, Lance Parsley 5-8-0 30.
Receiving Flathead, Jareth Wilson 5-50, Foston Reilly 6-62, Scott Cassel 1-6, Jeff Hogan 4-46, Nicklaus Haegele 3-36. Capital, Corey Peterson 2-17, Devin Sullivan 1-7, Brian Nickel 1-6, Francis Reishus 1-0.