Capital blanks Glacier
Inexperience, injuries and an outstanding opponent looking to right its ship.
It was a perfect storm Friday night at Legends Stadium as the Glacier High School football team lost a 63-0 Class AA contest to defending state champion Helena Capital.
Fresh off a 47-28 loss to Billings West, the Bruins (5-1) scored 35 points in the first quarter and led 49-0 at halftime before matching the green Wolfpack (0-6) with their young reserves.
Capital scored six touchdowns on the ground, two through the air and one on a punt return. Michael King and Nick Retz rumbled for 100 yards apiece as the Bruins totaled 444 rushing yards to go along with 106 passing yards and 201 return yards.
Still, the Wolfpack showed flashes of promise.
Connor Fuller had eight receptions for 54 yards, while Josh Doty hung on to a 7-yard reception while absorbing a vicious lick to give Glacier a first down on its first offensive series. Kyle Montini was a special teams stalwart, smothering multiple Capital punt returns, while Taylor Hart snuffed out King's return of the opening kick at Capital's 24-yard line.
But those sparks weren't nearly enough against a Capital squad with 30 seniors on its roster. The Bruins played technically-sound defense, while their complex offense gave the Wolfpack fits.
"I knew that this game was going to be one of the toughest because Capital is solid in every area," Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.
"This is one of the offenses that, even if they're trying to take it easy on you with their JV and their sophomores … they'll still score 40 on you. I knew this one could get a little bit ugly, and it did."
The Bruins fell behind 40-0 against West last week, rendering Friday an opportunity to get back on track.
"Our goal was just to come out hard and fast and get after it right away," Capital coach Pat Murphy said. "I think we did that, so we achieved our objective."
Glacier's best chance to score came on its final possession when the Wolfpack marched to Capital's 10-yard line before time expired. Quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann completed 14 of 32 passes for 76 yards while rushing for 34 more.
Fuller bounced back from a jarring early collision to lead Glacier's defense, which took to creative personnel measures.
"Connor Fuller, on the second play of the game, just absolutely gets knocked out and is just struggling on the sidelines," Bennett said. "But that sucker - he gets back up, he gets himself collected, goes back in there and … made every tackle it seemed like."
Jacob Criner swatted a pass in the first quarter while playing defensive line. He spent the second half at middle linebacker, despite never playing the position before.
"Jake Criner, it doesn't matter where you play him, he never comes off the field," Bennett said. "We had to put him at middle 'backer tonight because we're so banged up, and he kept battling.
"There's a couple kids like that that are just amazing. And that's what we have to do - just raise everybody to that standard."
Glacier's inaugural season doesn't get much easier in the near future as the Wolfpack heads to Helena High (4-2) next week before returning home to face Flathead (4-2) in Kalispell's first cross-town game.
"The good thing is we've got some leaders that we know now are going to set the standard for the rest of the guys," Bennett said.
"I told the kids after the game that I'm going to keep celebrating those (positive) things, and then you've got to bring those other kids up to that standard."
Capital 35 14 7 7 - 63
Glacier 0 0 0 0 - 0
First Quarter
Capital - Michael King 25 run (Mike Aune kick), 10:09
Capital - King 29 run (Aune kick), 7:55
Capital - Casey Lamping 53 punt return (Aune kick), 6:11
Capital - Anthony Hogan 21 pass from Jared Hunt (Aune kick), 3:43
Capital - Lamping 52 run (Aune kick), 1:26
Second Quarter
Capital - Nick Retz 3 run (Aune kick), 8:21
Capital - Matt Miller 27 pass from Hunt (Aune kick), 5:15
Third Quarter
Capital - Retz 33 run (Aune kick), 8:02
Fourth Quarter
Capital - Josh Smith 1 run (Aune kick), 8:38
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Capital Glacier
First downs 16 7
Rushes-yards 41-444 23-60
Passing yards 106 76
Return yards 201 66
Comp-Att-Int 6-13-0 14-33-3
Punts-yards 0 8-290
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 7-60 0
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Capital, King 4-100, Retz 7-100, Lamping 3-80, Brett Nelson 4-45, Rusty Higgins 3-42, Tyler Ishak 4-30, Smith 10-25, Tim Sparing 1-11, Aune 3-10, Mathew Reyant 2-1. Glacier, Wiley Fusaro, 11-26, Shay Smithwick-Hann 12-34.
PASSING-Capital, Hunt 6-12-0 106, Joe Andriolo 0-1-0 0. Glacier, Shay Smithwick-Hann 14-32-3 76, Ben Sansaver 0-1-0 0.
RECEIVING-Capital, Hogan 2-50, Seth Long 2-26, Miller 1-27, Lamping 1-2. Glacier, Connor Fuller 8-54, Fusaro 4-8, Sansaver 1-7, Josh Doty 1-7.