Turnovers kill Glacier
BILLINGS - The Glacier Wolfpack caught the turnover bug at a bad time.
On a brisk Friday night at Daylis Stadium, three turnovers - including two in the fourth quarter - and a turnover on downs by Glacier was all Billings Skyview needed to earn its first playoff victory in five years.
Junior Connor Lebsock totaled two touchdowns and grabbed a key interception late in the game as the Falcons scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and beat the Wolfpack 28-14 in the opening round of the AA football playoffs at Wendy's Field.
"Tonight (turnovers) kind of snakebit us," Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. "But first of all give (Skyview) credit because they took advantage of them and that's what you have to do and that's what good football teams do. That's what I'm going to tell my team now is obviously I'm proud of them … but ultimately to get to that championship level there's some good lessons to be learned from this game."
Tied 14-all heading into the fourth quarter, the Wolfpack mounted a drive that looked keen on scoring but then Lebsock came flying in on a 15-yard pass on third down and took the ball away at Glacier's 42-yard line. Seven plays later, there was Lebsock sneaking in for his second short touchdown of the game and giving Skyview the lead and newfound momentum.
"Turnovers were huge. It helped us down the stretch and we were very fortunate to pick those up," Skyview head coach Ron Lebsock said. "In the first half I think we kind of stopped ourselves with mistakes and in the second half I think Glacier kind of stopped themselves because of mistakes. But the effort from both sides, the effort from those kids out there on the field was incredible to watch tonight."
Skyview grabbed another quick interception on Glacier's following drive and then handed the ball over to trustworthy running back Carson Hilliard, who delivered the final blow with a 6-yard touchdown run with just over three minutes left. That gave Skyview a two score lead. The standout senior finished with 146 yards on 26 carries.
"Glacier's a good football team. They played very, very well tonight and we were fortunate to be able to control the ball a little bit on the ground and keep their offense off the field a little bit because they are very, very explosive," Ron Lebsock said. "Give credit to that coaching staff and that bunch of kids to come out here and be in this position this soon, as young a school as they are. That's incredible. I think that's the fastest I've ever seen a team make the playoffs."
Glacier senior quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann was 8-for-16 for 96 yards passing and totaled 45 yards on the ground with two touchdowns. Senior running back Taylor Hart rattled off 84 yards on 13 carries and fellow senior receiver George Werk caught a 54-yard pass in the third quarter that led to a score.
Defensively, senior linebacker Connor Fuller had 11 tackles.
Skyview got a break in the first quarter when Glacier fumbled a punt return in its own red zone.
Overall in the first half, Glacier had the ball for only three drives because of Skyview's running game. The Wolfpack made
good use of one late in the second quarter and put together a 13 play, 81-yard scoring drive with 40 second left in the half.
"I thought we had a little jitters early in the game, but once we got down 7-0 I thought we responded well and tied it up at half so I was
happy with that," Bennett said. "Then once we settled in we played well and played hard. It just came down to those turnovers.
"The hard part for me now is going into that locker room and having to say goodbye to a group of seniors that is really special," he added. "I'm really not looking forward to saying goodbye to them. It's been a great ride and I just can't say enough about how proud I am of them and how much I respect them and love them."
Glacier 0 7 7 0 - 14
Skyview 0 7 7 14 - 28
Second quarter
Skyview - Connor Lebsock 1 run (Lebsock kick) 11:24
Glacier - Shay Smithwick-Hann 1 run (Brendan Hagan kick) 40.7
Third quarter
Skyview - Casey Bigelow 18 run (Lebsock kick) 6:54
Glacier - Smithwick-Hann 1 run (Hagan kick) 4:13
Fourth quarter
Skyview - Lebsock 1 run (Lebsock kick) 7:18
Skyview - Carson Hilliard 6 run (Lebsock kick) 3:15
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Gla Sky
First downs 14 17
Rushes-yards 37-179 57-270
Comp-Att-Int 8-16-2 4-8-0
Passing yards 96 58
Total yards 275 328
Punts 2-37 3-45
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-56 8-60
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Individual Stats
Rushing - Glacier: Taylor Hart 13-84, Smithwick-Hann 15-45, Bryan Chery 4-28, Stormy Day 2-9, Wiley Fusaro 2-8, B.J. Corpron 1-5. Skyview: Hilliard 26-146, Bigelow 8-47, Lebsock 16-46, Ryan Guelff 7-31.
Passing - Glacier: Smithwick-Hann 8-16-2-96. Skyview: Lebsock 4-8-0-58.
Receiving - Glacier: Chery 3-17, Jacob Leininger 3-17, George Werk 1-54, Connor Fuller 1-8. Skyview: A.J. Harmon 2-34, Jake O'Brien 1-18, Mike Nguyen 1-6.
Class AA
Playoffs
Quarterfinal
Friday's Scores
Billings Skyview 28, Kalispell Glacier 14
Great Falls Russell 60, Bozeman 21
Helena Capital 33, Missoula Big Sky 7
Today
1 p.m. - Missoula Sentinel (6-4) at Helena High (7-3).