CMR passes Wolfpack

The school with a rich history of standout quarterbacks appears to have another one in the making.

Great Falls CMR quarterback Jake Bleskin, making only his second varsity start, threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Rustlers past the Glacier Wolfpack 35-24 in Class AA football at Legends Stadium on Friday.

The junior finished 20-for-33 passing for 313 yards and added 55 yards rushing to help CMR improve to 2-0.

"Our offensive line did a good job protecting Jake (Bleskin) and that let him throw the ball," said CMR coach Jack Johnson, in his 36th year as head coach. "I was pleased with the way Jake played. I thought he had a nice game."

The Wolfpack (1-1) went back and forth with the Rustlers early on before tripping up in the second half and amassing only 112 yards of offense against a hard-nosed Great Falls line.

Glacier led 7-6 after one quarter thanks to the first of two touchdown runs by senior Taylor Hart. Hart scored again in the second quarter and finished with 44 yards on the ground.

But Bleskin, filling in the shoes of former CMR quarterbacks like Ryan Leaf and Dave Dickenson, led the offense right back down the field and converted back-to-back third downs that led to a smooth-move touchdown run. Four minutes later, he led a 7-play, 78-yard scoring drive that finished with a touchdown pass to Kurtis Parsons.

By halftime, CMR led 21-14, and after that the game began to unspool for Glacier as the CMR defensive line increased the pressure in the pocket tenfold.

"In the second half, our defensive line took control of the line of scrimmage and put some pressure on (Shay) Smithwick-Hann. That was key," Johnson said.

Smithwick-Hann finished with 199 yards passing and a touchdown and led the Wolfpack in rushing with 57 yards.

"I'm real proud of the kids. They fought hard," Glacier head coach Grady Bennett said. "The difference is their receivers made the plays. They made all the plays. That's what we didn't do tonight.

"But that's CMR. They don't make mistakes," he added. "It's a model program. Those kids have grown up around an established program that executes and wins games … CMR is a great team, but I think we have a nice team too."

Glacier senior Connor Fuller had 74 yards receiving while fellow senior Wiley Fusaro added 41 yards receiving and 23 yards rushing. Kicker Brendan Hagen made a 31-yard field goal in the third quarter to cut the lead to 21-17.

Glacier finished with 331 yards of total offense.

"Glacier is a good team," Johnson said. "Offensively they can make you look pretty bad."

NOTES: Johnson improved his overall record at CMR to 304-91.

Great Falls CMR 6 15 7 7 - 35

Glacier 7 7 3 7 - 24

First Quarter

CMR- Kurtis Parsons 20 pass from Jake Bleskin (Brian Spensor kick failed), 7:17

Glacier - Taylor Hart 2 run (Brendan Hagen kick), 3:58

Second Quarter

CMR - Bleskin 2 run (2-point conversion good, Parsons pass from Bleskin), 8:46

CMR - Parsons 4 pass from Bleskin (Spensor kick ), 4:41

Glacier - Hart 5 run (Hagen kick), 1:27

Third Quarter

Glacier - 31 yard Hagen kick, 5:15

CMR - Jordan Harper 6 pass from Bleskin (Spensor kick), 2:20

Fourth Quarter

Glacier - Bryan Chery 22 pass from Shay Smithwick-Hann (Hagen kick), 3:06

CMR - Gavin Hagfors 1 run (Spensor kick), 2:20

C G

First downs 23 16

Rushes-yards 33-162 36-132

Passing yards 313 199

Passing (com/att/int) 20-33-0 13-24-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties 4-26.5 5-24

Punts 3-106 5-226

Individual Stats

RUSHING - CMR, Gavin Hagfors 18-78, Jake Bleskin 9-53, Jared Baker 3-36; Glacier, Shay Smithwick-Hann 17-57, Taylor Hart 8-44, Wiley Fusaro 8-24.

RECEIVING - CMR, Greg Oswood 7-109, Jordan Harper 5-100, Kurtis Parsons 5-77, Hagfors 3-27; Glacier - Connor Fuller 4-74, Fusaro 3-41, Josh Criner 1-28, George Werk 2-23, Colter Hanson 3-35.

PASSING (com/att/yds/tds/int) - CMR, Jake Bleskin, 20-33-313-3-0; Glacier, 13-24-199-1-0.

Class AA Standings

W L

Missoula Big Sky 2 0

Great Falls CMR 2 0

Helena Capital 2 0

Missoula Sentinel 1 1

Glacier 1 1

Flathead 1 1

Bozeman 1 1

Billings West 1 1

Helena 1 1

Billings Skyview 1 1

Missoula Hellgate 1 1

Great Falls 0 2

Butte 0 2

Billings Senior 0 2

Friday's Results

Billings Skyview 39, Great Falls 7

Billings West 35, Bozeman 20

Helena 40, Billings Senior 20

Missoula Big Sky 21, Missoula Sentinel 16

Missoula Hellgate 14, Butte 9