Crosstown Clash II

Braves pull away from Wolfpack, 38-28

It's a rivalry now.

Glacier football coach Grady Bennett caught up with Wolfpack defensive coordinator Arron Deck in the locker room after Friday night's crosstown football game at Legends Stadium.

"I'm looking at coach Deck in there and telling him great job. He's like 'uhhhhhh,'" Bennett said.

"Flathead has a great offense. You can't stop those guys. It was up to us offensively to keep up with them and we're not there yet," he said.

But the Wolfpack is getting there.

Flathead (5-3) won its fifth straight game, 38-28, but it wasn't easy.

The Wolfpack (2-6) scored first, led for a fair portion of the first half and was right in the game just about all the way.

The entire game was an offensive show.

The Wolfpack put up 353 yards - 303 through the air. Flathead had 428 yards - 250 of them on the ground.

Glacier quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann was 20-for-33 for 303 yards and two touchdowns.

Flathead quarterback Brock Osweiler had quite a senior night. He was 12-for-19 for 178 yards throwing the ball, and rushed 26 times for 115 yards. All in all, he scored four touchdowns.

Flathead running back Bryce Stacy had 23 carries for 135 yards and scored one touchdown.

"I was really happy with the kids' efforts. Really happy with our ground game and I thought we threw effectively," said Flathead coach Russell McCarvel.

"We scored 38 points, we completed 63 percent of our passes. In high school football, that's a good job," he said.

"We kind of looked like the ground chuck Braves instead of the high flying Braves, but three games in a row, we've completed over 60 percent of our passes. We've run the ball well and it's a credit to coach (Jay) Green our offensive staff."

"We got it done. We got a win on senior night and in the crosstown game and that's all that matters," Osweiler said.

"Ugly wins count. I couldn't be happier right now going out on top here.

"You've got to give credit to Glacier. They had a great game plan and they executed it well.

"But our guys adjusted. We got done what we need to get done and we got a win," Osweiler said.

"They played pretty good," Flathead tight end Cody Bouley said of the Wolfpack.

"We didn't play our best game, but we came out and kept firing back. We started off pretty slow, but we picked it up pretty good and got the win," Bouley added.

It was never easy.

The teams traded touchdowns in the early going - a 3-yard run by Glacier's Taylor Hart, a 7-yard effort by Osweiler, followed by a 23-yard pass from Smithwick-Hann to Taylor Graham. Osweiler and the Braves answered with 16-play drive that ended with an Osweiler dive.

Flathead's took a 21-14 lead with 30 seconds left in the half - Osweiler found Bouley from five yards out.

"I'm really proud of my guys, really proud of them. I think everybody thought it might be a good game, but I really think overall we surprised everybody by just how well we played, how competitive it was," Bennett said.

"We had a stretch in the third quarter … it was like we just stopping believing we could do it. We were playing well. Defensively, we got a couple stops, but offensively, we just kind of went into this funk. I don't know if it was the shock of the big game … the 'wow, we're actually in this …'

"Once we snapped out of it, we fought, we battled," Bennett said.

"Defensively, we played in the middle of the game great. We struggled in the beginning and a little bit at the end, but in the middle we got a lot of stops," McCarvel said.

"We struggled offensively in the second half. But we were able to keep them from scoring and that allowed us to kind of get on track."

Flathead broke the second half freeze with a 30-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter.

That opened the offensive floodgates - both teams tacked on two more touchdowns.

"The defense played well and allowed us to kick a field goal and get another touchdown," McCarvel added.

"I'm really proud of our seniors. I don't know if they get enough credit," he said.

"This group will make the playoffs two years in a row and they went through a big change. I hope those guys get the credit they deserve for being great warriors, great teammates.

"I'm really proud of those guys," he said.

Glacier 7 7 0 14 - 28

Flathead 147 0 17 - 38

First Quarter

G -Taylor Hart 3 run (Taylor Graham kick), 6:33.

F - Brock Osweiler 7 run (Mike Windham kick), 3:02.

Second Quarter

G - Taylor Grahm 23 pass from Shay Smithwick-Hann (Graham kick), 9:50.

F - Osweiler 1 run (Windham kick), 2:45.

F - Cody Bouley 5 pass from Osweiler (Windham kick), 30.0

Fourth Quarter

F - Windham 31 field goal, 11:10.

F - Osweiler 16 run (Windham kick), 6:08.

G - Wiley Fusaro 26 pass from Smithwick-Hann (Graham kick), 5:16.

F - Bryce Stacy 10 run (Windham kick), 1:46.

G - Graham 20 pass from Smithwick-Hann (Graham kick), :29.

F G

First downs 2216

Total Net Yards 428353

Rushes-yards 50-25023-50

Passing yard178303

Comp-Att-Int 12-19-020-33-0

Kickoff ret.2-31-0

Punts-ave. 3-39.3 4-37.5

Penalties/Yds 2-13 5-60

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Flathead,Bryce Stacy 23-135, Brock Osweiler 26-115, Tanner Beaman 1-0. Glacier, Shay Smithwick-Hann7-4, Wiley Fusaro 3-11, Taylor Hart 13-35.

RECEIVING-Flathead, Bryant Eickert 3-53, Travis Andrus 5-101, Cody Bouley 1-5, Nolan Grosswiler 3-19. Glacier, Wiley Fusaro 3-52, Taylor Hart 1-13, Taylor Graham 7-98, George Werk 2-24, Matt Cope 4-62, Tyler Lincoln 3-54.

PASSING - Flathead, Brock Osweiler 12-19-178-1; Glacier, Shay Smithwick-Hann 20-33-303-2