Freshman shines, but Braves fall short

The Daily Inter Lake

HELENA - So close.

The Flathead Braves came within a 2-point conversion of tying the Helena Capital Bruins and possibly forcing overtime in Friday night's Class AA football game at Vigilante Stadium.

But in the end, the Braves (5-3, 5-3) fell 20-18 to Helena Capital (7-1, 7-1).

Freshman quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann was able in filling in for injured starter Brock Osweiler. Smithwick-Hann was 14-for-21 for 154 yards and threw two touchdown passes on the night.

Reed Watkins caught one of those touchdowns and Geoff Hogan the other.

"Phenomenal," Flathead coach Grady Bennett said of Smithwick-Hann's performance.

"I'm not sure that a freshman has ever come in in his first start like that and played like he did," the coach said.

"He was just poised. He was calm out there, made good reads, good throws. He was flat good tonight," he said.

"I'm really proud of our guys. They fought hard. All I asked them to do was come out and fight and they did that," Bennett said.

"That field was a muddy mess. They were just a mess. I looked at them and I said 'you guys fought a great war."

The difference, though, was mistakes.

Flathead, which had led 12-6 at the half, had three second-half turnovers. One of those came when the Braves were knocking on the Helena Capital door at the 8-yard line.

"We just made too many mistakes. We can beat anybody in the state. We've just got to eliminate those mistakes," Bennett said.

"We feel like we're right where we need to be with some minor corrections. We are better than these teams. We're just coming up a little bit short," he added.

The Braves jumped on Capital right away. Dan Ogden scored on a 60-yard rumble to start things, and Watkins caught a 25-yard pass from Smithwick-Hann to put the Braves up 12-0.

Capital answered with a 13-yard run by quarterback Jared Hunt in the second quarter, then went ahead in the third on a 35-yard run by Kasey Lamping.

The Braves finish the regular season by playing host next Friday to Missoula Hellgate.

Helena Capital 20, Flathead 18

Flathead 12 0 0 6 - 18

Helena Capital 6 7 7 0 - 20

First Quarter

F - Dan Ogden 60 run (Kick failed).

F - Reed Watkins 25 pass from Shay Smithwick-Hann 25 yards (Kick failed).

Second Quarter

HC - Jared Hunt 13 run (Kick failed).

Third Quarter

HC - Kasey Lamping 35 run (Aune Kick).

HC - Lamping 45 run (Aune Kick).

Fourth Quarter

F - Geoff Hogan 26 pass from Smithwick-Hann (Pass failed).

F HC

First Downs 13 16

Rushing-Tards 24-113 49-236

Passing Yards 177 94

Att-Comp-Int 15-22-2 8-14-0

Total yards 290 330

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Individuals

Rushing - F, Dan Ogden 4-71, Reed watkins 12-43, John Goldberg 5-4, Shay Smithwick-Hann 3-minus 5. HC, Kasey Lamping 6-94, Jared Hunt 16-52, Kruse Danderod 9-38, Matt Williams 5-37, Cameron Dana 3-12, Devon Keller 1-3, Grant Boynton 3-1.

Passing - F, Reed Watkins 1-1-23, Shay Smithwick-Hann 14-21-154.

Receiving - F, Geoff Hogan 6-74, Nick Haegele 4-52, Reed Watkins 3-48, Mike Gallagher 1-12, Shay Smithwick-Hann 1-minus 9. HC, Boynton 5-47, Lamping 2-17, Clay Bignell 1-30.