Flathead storms back, rolls past Bison

Overcomes 13-0 deficit to defeat G. Falls High 28-20

The Great Falls High Bison came into Legends Stadium with the No.1-ranked defense in Class AA.

But it was the Flathead Braves who made all the needed stops on Saturday as Flathead defeated No. 5-ranked Great Falls High 28-20.

Flathead (4-3) forced Great Falls (4-3) to turn the ball over on downs twice, the Bison punted three times and gave up one interception.

Offensively, the Braves did what they do - they racked up 330 total yards, 243 through the air.

Quarterback Brock Osweiler was 14-for-22 with four touchdown passes and 40 yards rushing.

Running back/defensive back Bryce Stacy ran for 47 yards and caught five passes for 122 yards, including a 57-yarder that put the icing on the game.

"He gets a lot of tough yards running, but he's able to get out in space receiving. He popped them on a couple big ones," Flathead coach Russell McCarvell said of Stacy.

"He plays as many snaps as any running back in Class AA. We don't give him a lot of rest. We've just kind of got to ride him. We're not super deep. We've got a lot of guys going both ways and they go hard as heck," the coach said.

"Our defense did play great. I'm proud of those guys. They really flew around, got off the ball well. I think we finally, maybe, have our feet underneath us defensively," McCarvel added

"Guys are getting to the right spots, guys believe in what we're doing," he said.

"It was definitely our best game yet," said Flathead senior defensive back Ian Damon.

"We started out kind of slow - they had a few breaks with the turnovers and the dropped kickoffs and whatnot, but we stayed tough and we gave it our all," Damon said.

"It was amazing," Stacy agreed.

"Of course, there were some downfalls, but overall I think that was one of our better defensive games. I give a lot of credit to our defensive line, our linebackers did well with their responsibilities and our defensive backs came up with some big pass breakups that really helped us out.

"I'm really proud of our whole team," Stacy added.

Things didn't look rosy in the opening moments.

Great Falls drove the opening kickoff 66 yards - 15 plays - and scored on a 10-yard pass. The Bison chewed up more than 8 minutes of the first quarter clock.

And then they recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.

They took over on the Flathead 21 - and led 13-0 two plays later.

The game was nearly 10 minutes old and Flathead's vaunted offense had yet to get on the field.

"That was scary, but we knew we had a long time to go and that we just had to play tough," Damon said.

"We've been in that situation before. I knew our offense would get rolling," Stacy agreed.

"I told the players after the game … this game was a little bit of a microcosm of our season," McCarvel said.

"We were 0-3 and there were probably a lot of doubters outside the football family. But our players still believed in what we were doing.

"We were down 13-0 and there was no panic on the sideline. As soon as we got that first score I knew we'd be fine. I knew we'd battle the rest of the way," the coach said.

The fireworks started when Flathead's offense finally got on the field. The Braves put together a 79-yard, 12 play scoring drive, then capitalized on Stacy's interception of a Great Falls pass.

That set the Braves up on the Great Falls 27.

Osweiler found Nolan Grosswiler on the first play. When Mike Windham tacked on the extra point, the Braves took a lead they would never relinquish.

Flathead opened the second half with a 6-play, 54-yard drive. Osweiler again found Grosswiler, this time from 10 yards out.

Then the defense did its thing.

Great Falls appeared to be heading in for the tying score - it was inside the Flathead 15. But on fourth-and-four, Damon stopped Bison receiver Matt Schmitz just short of the first down.

"I just saw the ball. I went up to fight for it. He made a good catch, good effort on his part," Damon said.

"I just kept going, trying to make the tackle, break it up. He came up short," he said.

"That was huge, no doubt about it," McCarvel said.

"Whenever you have a close game, I don't know if there's any one play of the game, but that one was big," the coach said.

Great Falls 13 0 0 7 - 20

Flathead 0 14 7 7 - 28

First Quarter

G-Jake Olson 10 pass from Trylan Wassman (Trevor Bolton kick), 3:53.

G- Wassman 13 run (Kick blocked), 2:40.

Second Quarter

F - Bryce Stacy 22 pass from Brock Osweiler (Mike Windham kick), 11:09.

F - Nolan Grosswiler 27 pass from Osweiler (Windham kick), 9:58.

Third Quarter

F - Grosswiler 10 pass from Osweiler (Windham kick), 9:44.

Fourth Quarter

F - Stacy 57 pass from Osweiler (Windham kick), 6:05.

G - Wassman 3 run (Bolton kick), 2:51.

F GFH

First downs 13 15

Total Net Yards 330 293

Rushes-yards 25-87 42-205

Passing yard 243 88

Comp-Att-Int 14-22-0 12-23-1

Kickoff ret. 4-72 4-81

Penalties/Yds 3-35 4-25

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Flathead,Bryce Stacy 12-47, Brock Osweiler 13-40. Great Falls, Maxx Galland 19-86, Trylan Wassman 16-62, Jake Olson 2-6, Zach Wichman 5-58.

RECEIVING-Flathead,Bryce Stacy 5-122, Bryant Eickert 2-19, Travis Andrus 4-54, Cody Bouley 1-11, Nolan Grosswiler 2-37. Great Falls, Chad Dobson 1-12, Maxx Galland, 1-10, Michael Zook 1-10, Jake Olson 6-42, Trevor Bolton 1-6, Matt Schmitz 1-3, Zach Wichman 1-5.

PASSING - Flathead, Brock Osweiler 14-22-243-0-4; Great Falls, Trylan Wassman 12-23-88-1-1.

Class AA

League Standings

Team Record

Helena Capital 7 - 0

CMR 6 - 1

Helena High 6 - 1

Billings West 6 - 1

Great Falls High 4 - 3

Big Sky 4 - 3

Flathead 4 - 3

Billings Skyview 3 - 4

Sentinel 3 - 4

Bozeman 2 - 5

Glacier 2 - 5

Billings Senior 1 - 6

Butte 1 - 6

Hellgate 0 - 7

Friday's Scores

Butte 12, Skyview 7

Helena 35, Glacier 20

Billings West 42, Billings Senior 7

CMR 28, Bozeman 14

Missoula Big Sky 30, Missoula Hellgate 28

Today's Games

Helena Capital 49, Missoula Sentinel 14

Flathead 28, Great Falls High 20