Great Falls stymies Wolfpack

Bison QB scrambles for 84 yards in 27-13 victory

The Glacier Wolfpack just couldn't find an answer for shifty Great Falls quarterback Trylan Wassmann Friday night at Legends Stadium.

The 5-foot-10 Wassmann, barely visible behind his own offensive line, threw for two touchdowns and 186 yards as Great Falls defeated Glacier 27-13. But it was his 84 yards of scrambling that frustrated Glacier's defense, which matched up well with the fifth-ranked Bison.

"We faced this same problem last week, and that's keeping the QB from running all over us," said head coach Grady Bennett.

His Wolfpack came out with homecoming excitement, but Great Falls' number-one ranked defense did what it does best and kept the Glacier offense off the field while sacking Shay Smithwick-Hann five times.

The Glacier defense played tough from the start and forced Great Falls into third down situation almost every drive in the first quarter. But Wassmann's scramble-happy tactics evaded incoming defenders one after the other, and the Bison took control of the game.

"They did exactly what I'm trying to get our offense to do with those long, ball-control, time- consuming drives that wear the other team down," said Bennett.

With 1:11 left in the first half, linebacker Nate Dennison stuffed Great Falls running back Zach Wickman for a short loss, and Glacier appeared to be going into halftime down 10-0. But then Wassmann said hike, and matters quickly changed.

On second down, Wassmann faced a full-on blitz from Glacier, but bounced around the pocket and just before being tackled in the backfield he lobbed a long pass down the sideline to a tightly guarded receiver. Glacier's cornerback saw the opportunity and jumped in the air, but missed, and Matt Schmitz came up with the 27-yard catch on the 9 yard line. After a defensive stop, the Bison sent out quality-kicker Trevor Bolton, who easily chipped in the field goal, putting the score at 13-0.

In the third quarter, Great Falls scored back-to-back touchdowns to make the score 27-0.

"We need to be able to put longer drives together because our defense right now is playing a lot of football," said Bennett.

After the end of the third quarter, the Glacier homecoming appeared to be cooling below zero. Coach Bennett must have felt it, because he turned around to his team and threw his arms in the air.

"Hey let's go!" he yelled.

Glacier must have listened to its coach and didn't give up. Smithwick-Hann found Tyler Lincoln open for 16 yards. Then while being tackled, the quarterback got the ball off to Wiley Fusaro for a crowd-awakening first down.

Then, similar to last week, Smithwick-Hann lined up at receiver and the team ran a flea-flicker, narrowly escaping a sack, but finding Lincoln wide open. Lincoln was tackled on the 5 yard line. Two plays later, Smithwick-Hann pushed the ball right up the middle for a touchdown.

"Even under duress and even with pressure in his face (Smithwick-Hann) can make some fantastic plays," said Bennett.

A failed onside kickoff gave Great Falls good field position, but the Glacier defense stepped up and forced Bolton to attempt a 45-yard field goal, which was blocked.

The momentum carried through to the offense, but it was too little, too late. Glacier added a final score when Smithwick-Hann threw to Matt Cope as the buzzer sounded.

"One of the things we talk a lot about is that success is not the end of the road, success is the journey you're on," said Bennett. "We wanna just enjoy this journey together and get better. So I don't care who the opponent is next week. We just want to improve."

Next week, the Wolfpack face two-time defending state champion Helena Capital.

Great Falls 7 6 14 0 - 27

Glacier 0 0 0 13 - 13

Great Falls - Michael Zook 7-yard pass from Trylan Wassmann (Trevor Bolton kick)

Great Falls -35-yard field goal by Bolton

Great Falls- 22-yard field goal by Bolton

Great Falls - Zook 34-yard pass from Wassmann (Bolton kick)

Great Falls - Maxx Galland 1-yard run (Bolton kick)

Glacier -Shay Smithwick-Hann 1-yard run (Taylor Graham kick)

Glacier -Matt Cope 11-yard pass from Smithwick-Hann (XP failed)

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GFH Gla

First Downs 14 9

Rushing yards 190 36

Passing yards 186 177

Passing (com/att/ints) 13-24-0 14-21-0

Fumbles/Fumbles lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties 7-55 2-20

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Individual Stats

Rushing - Great Falls, Wassman 20-84, Galland 10-52, Zach Wichman 10-33; Glacier, Taylor Hart 11-31, Smithwick-Hann 8-15, BJ Corporn 2-16

Passing (com/att/ints/TD) - Great Falls, Wassmann 13-24-186-0-2; Glacier, Smithwick-Hann 14-20-177-0-1

Receiving - Great Falls, Bolton 5-76, Matt Schmitz 3-82; Glacier, Tyler Lincoln 5-78, George Werk 3-51, Wiley Fusaro 3-19