Braves hungry to achieve
By CARL HENNELL
FHS joins 5 other undefeated teams
The Daily Inter Lake
The box score of Friday night's Flathead High School football team's victory over Billings Skyview looked more like a Madden video game box score than a real football game box.
The Braves had just six first downs but rolled up 438 yards of total offense in a game that had 49 first-half points. Flathead had about 350 yards in the first half.
"We felt on offense we could have kept on rolling," Flathead coach Grady Bennett said. "That was a really good feeling but we didn't even get into our offense all that much. We script our first 10 plays and in our first eight plays we had three touchdowns. We had a plan going in that we wanted to take a look at some things on offense. But we didn't get a chance to get into our playbook because we got out to that big lead and played a lot of kids, which was good.
"The kids played up to expectations."
Just as impressive as the offense was the Braves defense, which had to go against a deceptive wing-T offense known for giving defensive coordinators gray hair.
All told, the Braves held the Falcons to 274 total yards - 220 of which came on the ground at 5.5 yards per carry.
"We put more players into the box and brought our strong safety up, but the key to stopping the wing-T is assignment football," Bennett said. "You don't call for too many stunts. You have to have each player performing his individual assignment and nothing more or else you will lose gap control."
But Bennett was really worried about the youth of his defense, which boasts seven seniors but only two returning starters.
"We had a couple kids not stay on their assignments a few times," Bennett said. "There were a few times when four guys tackled the dive back and then the quarterback kept it and went off the edge and hurt us. But we are young. It was good we got to see that in our first game because we are only going to learn from it."
Bennett said he was hoping the Braves would have received the opening kickoff but they lost the coin flip. Then the defense opened with a three-and-out.
"I am so proud of them," Bennett said. "And they are just going to get better."
Bennett said the defensive effort started with senior nose tackle Dan Ogden.
"He is so disruptive," Bennett said. "He just shows up all over the place and gives offenses fits. You have to double him and sometimes triple him just to account for him."
Bennett also mentioned senior linebacker Coltin Weber, who he had to move from outside backer to middle because the position is so unsettled right now.
Of course, senior free safety Reed Watkins was mentioned but Bennett also singled out junior strong safety Pat Hergesheimer. But the secondary took a hit with the loss of starting weakside cornerback, junior Sam Tedrow, to a broken arm.
Bennett said he didn't grade the team's overall performance but said the kids gave themselves a C-plus.
"We have a group of kids who are so focused and have such high expectations," Bennett said. "There is so much more they want to achieve. It is so neat to coach. We can play so much better. I'm excited. This is a team hungry to achieve great things."
The Braves joined five other unbeaten teams in the Class AA ranks: Bozeman, Billings West, Butte, Helena Capital and Missoula Big Sky.
The top-ranked Butte Bulldogs found a way to beat a good team on the road again in a low-scoring game. They beat Billings Senior, 10-6, after being outgained 238 yards to 209.
Like their opening-season 15-10 victory over Great Falls, the Bulldogs used defense, field position and mistake-free football to win.
Butte got an interception and fumble recovery in Senior territory and converted both into their only points to take a 10-0 lead before Senior scored on a 40-yard TD pass with 9:13 remaining in the game. The Broncs had five possessions start inside their own 22-yard line and Butte committed just two penalties.
It was a four-man show on offense for Butte. Running backs Heath McCloskey and Casey Dennehy combined for 79 yards on 23 carries and quarterback Willie Sullivan ran 16 times for 16 yards. Dennehy and McCloskey combined to catch five of Sullivan's six completions for 66 yards. Wide receiver Tony Cunneen had one catch for 45 yards.
Senior RBs Thomas Ackerman and Mo Burrough combined for 100 rushing yards on 32 carries. WR Sam Gratton had four catches for 36 yards. The Broncs ran the ball 39 times compared to 14 passes, which is a drastic change for Senior coach Mark Sulser and his five-receiver sets of recent years.
"We have three good running backs and a big (offensive) front," Sulser told The Billings Gazette. "We have some young, inexperienced players who have to find their niche."
Helena Capital has outscored its first two opponents, 87-14. The Bruins beat Missoula Sentinel, 45-7, Friday.
Halfback Matt Williams rushed for 118 yards on 15 carries and fullback Kruze Banderob added 133 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries as Capital piled up 517 total yards - 340 rushing and 174 passing.
Last year's state runners-up scored a safety on Sentinel's first play from scrimmage when all-state linebacker Clay Bignell and his brother Brian tackled and injured the Spartans' setback, Cole Lockwood.
Sentinel still managed to run 90 plays from scrimmage. It was held to 23 yards rushing on 23 attempts and QB Jordan Graves was 23-for-51 for 166 yards.
Defending state champion Billings West beat Helena, 17-10, to extend its win streak to 15 games.
Trailing 10-7 after the half, West's Tyler Roberts intercepted a third-quarter pass and returned it 63 yards for the eventual game-winning touchdown and the Bears added a fourth-quarter field goal.
Both teams quickly scored touchdowns in the first quarter before the defenses stiffened.
QB Gary Fox Jr. completed 16 of 28 passes for 178 yards and an interception in the victory. RB Nathan Ray had 86 yards and a TD on 18 carries. WRs Deryk Van Zee and Ben Lardy combined for nine catches for 154 yards.
The Bengals outgained the Bears on the ground, 166-84, and had 15 first downs compared to the Bears' nine.
Jake Sandau led the Bengals with 83 rushing yards on 16 carries. Helena is the only team in Class AA with a win and loss.
Bozeman moved to 2-0 with a lopsided 35-6 victory over Missoula Sentinel a week after squeaking by Missoula Hellgate, 7-6.
QB John Stinson went 12-for-24 for 269 yards and three TDs - all of which went to Jay Wisner, who had seven catches for 188 yards. The Hawks also scored two defensive TDs.
Bozeman is coached by former Eureka coach Troy Purcell.
Hellgate held the Hawks to 53 yards rushing on 22 attempts a week after they nearly had two RBs go for 100 yards.
Once again, Hellgate pounded the ball on offense with 51 carries. It managed only 140 yards, though, on the ground with Roy Pritchett gained 71 yards on 21 carries.
This is kind of unique: A Missoula school is off to an undefeated start and the Great Falls schools are winless.
Missoula Big Sky beat Great Falls C.M. Russell, 11-10, thanks to a safety late in the fourth quarter when CMR's long snapper sent the ball out of the end zone on a fourth-and-23 from the 2-yard line.
The safety was the only score of the second half. Big Sky outgained the Rustlers, 289-210, while intercepting three passes.
CMR running back Christian Prosperie was held to 41 yards on 15 attempts a week after rushing for 268 yards.
Charlie Talarico led Big Sky with 62 rushing yards on the strength of a 52-yard, second-quarter touchdown. Beau Donaldson had 54 yards on 17 carries. QB Steve Tuttle went 14-for-22 for 168 yards.
Great Falls fell to 0-2 with a 14-3 loss to Highland High School, out of Pocatello, Idaho. The Bison outgained the Rams on both the ground and through the air but lost two fumbles and three interceptions.
Class AA
Standings
Bozeman 2-0
West 2-0
Butte 2-0
Capital 2-0
Big Sky 2-0
Flathead 1-0
Helena 1-1
CMR 0-2
Great Falls 0-2
Hellgate 0-2
Sentinel 0-2
Senior 0-2
Skyview 0-2
Results
Butte 10, Blgs. Senior 6
Flathead 43, Blgs. Skyview 20
Blgs. West 17, Helena 10
Bozeman 35, Msla. Sentinel 6
Highland (Idaho) 14, Great Falls 3
Msla. Big Sky 11, CMR 10
Capital 45, Msla. Sentinel 7
Schedule
Blgs. Senior at Blgs. West
Msla. Big Sky at Blgs. Skyview
Bozeman at Capital
Helena at Butte
Great Falls at Msla. Hellgate
CMR at Highland (Idaho)
Msla. Sentinel at Flathead