Helena knocks out Glacier

HELENA - Grady Bennett gazed in the direction of the scoreboard in Vigilante Stadium and kept staring for a few moments longer than he seemed like he wanted to.

Then the Glacier coach shook his head and walked onto the field to join his team underneath the lights for the last time this season.

Seven turnovers and a key injury are hard to overcome, especially in the Capital City.

The state's best defense out of Helena High knocked out Glacier 48-16 in the first round of the Class AA football playoffs on a cool Friday night.

The second-seeded Bengals advance to the semifinals where they will play at home next Friday against third-seed Billings West, who edged Billings Skyview 14-13 on Friday.

Seventh-seed Glacier finishes the season 6-5 after making the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Friday was definitely a battle between the state's two best defenses.

There were 10 turnovers in the game, only 433 yards of combined offense and just 16 total first downs. Unfortunately for the visitors, the stats tilted in Helena's favor.

By game's end, the Bengals had marked off a defensive Christmas list - nine sacks, four interceptions and three fumble recoveries. And then there was the tackle that changed everything.

On a first and 10 with 1:33 left in the first quarter, Glacier senior quarterback Colter Hanson was surrounded by a pack of blitzing Bengals right after taking the snap. Hanson scrambled out of the pocket but couldn't escape a defensive player who wrapped up the quarterback and slammed him onto the cold, hard ground. Hanson lay there a moment, then climbed to his feet and carried himself to the Glacier sideline, never to be the same, just like the Wolfpack.

Hanson returned to the field two plays later and threw an interception that Helena returned for the game's first touchdown. Glacier's next two offensive plays were turnovers, including another interception returned for a touchdown. Three plays, three turnovers, two touchdowns, and one backbreaking, game-changing loss. Hanson came out of the game for good due to a concussion with Glacier down 14-0 midway through the second quarter.

"We saw what happens when our senior quarterback goes down," Bennett said.

"It's unfortunate because our defense played so great tonight. That's one of the most untelling scores ever. People will see 48-16 and think Glacier got their butts whipped but our defense played easily good enough to win this game.

I thought our defense shut them down."

The Glacier defense allowed only one touchdown in the first half and forced three turnovers in the game including two impressive interceptions by Bryan Chery and Trey Griffith. Helena's top running back, Sy Keltner, was limited to under 100 yards for the first time in four weeks.

"Glacier's good, that front seven is good," Helena coach Tony Arntson said. "They play the run real well and we couldn't establish a running game. My hats off to them."

Two wide-eyed sophomores had to fill in at quarterback for Glacier - Taylor Hulslander and Dawson Day - and what followed was baptisms by fire. The Wolfpack finished with only four first downs, 45 rushing yards and 159 passing. Field positioning didn't help either. The 'Pack started with the ball from its own 20-yard-line or closer seven times. Three of those were within the 10-yard line.

"The pick Colter threw ... that got it started for them," Bennett said.

"Against a team like that you would need so much more time to prepare a sophomore with a whole different gameplan. It's like ‘here's the best defense in the state coming at you.' I feel bad that it worked out this way because I think we're good enough to beat that team and that score will never tell that obviously. We just felt so good coming in."

Day finished the game with two TDs, the first on a 5-yard run following a 60-yard pass to Kyle Griffith. Glacier's lone TD pass came in the final seconds as Day found a streaking Andrew Nelson for a 50-yard TD as time expired. But by that point Vigilante Stadium had already begun emptying.

An impressive number of fans and students showed up to support Glacier, and everyone mulled around as the Glacier pep band packed up afterward. Bennett wanted to thank them all for turning out in support. He said he felt bad about how it played out on Friday, and that this is the part of the game he dreads most.

"I'm going to tell my guys I'm proud of them and proud of what they did at Glacier High School," Bennett said. "This senior class is special, the first group to go all the way through all four years.

"They made the playoffs two out of the four years, their record overall is very good as players. They're wonderful young men and as I've said many times, they have come so far as people, as young men. Now the hard part is I have to go say goodbye. This is always the hardest part about coaching sports, is these goodbyes. But I'm proud of them. I just wish for their sake that it wouldn't have had to work out this way."

Glacier 0 0 3 13 - 16

Helena 7 14 14 13 - 48

First quarter

Hel - Richie Van Swearingen 41 interception (Simac kick), 0:22

Second quarter

Hel - Dylan Simac 30 interception return (Simac kick), 3:20

Hel - Sean Blomquist 3 run (Simac kick), 0:22

Third quarter

Gla - Kyle Griffith 27 field goal, 7:46

Hel - Nate Hinrichs 11 pass from Taylor South (Trevor Thompson kick), 3:17

Hel - Sy Keltner 10 run (Thompson kick), 0:28

Fourth quarter

Hel - South 1 run (kick failed), 7:40

Gla - Dawson day 5 run (Griffith kick), 5:27

Hel - Nate Caldwell 13 run (Thompson kick), 0:17

Gla - Andrew Nelson 50 pass from Day, 0:00

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Gla Hel

First downs 4 12

Rushes-yards 32-45 41-169

Passing yards 159 60

Passing 10-21-4 6-16-2

Punts/Avg. 5-37.8 4-21

Fumbles-lost 4-3 2-1

Penalties-yds 10-114 8-60

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INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing - Gla, Brendan Hagan 20-47, Aaron Mitchell 1-20, Colter Hanson 2-3, Dawson Day 7-(-4), Taylor Hulslander 2-(-21); Hel, Sy Keltner 18-86, Trey Vincent 1-(-1), Sean Blomquist 4-12, Taylor South 8-42, Chase Williams 1-5, Will Gold 2-9, Nate Caldwell 6-25, Dawson Reardon 1-(-9).

Passing - Gla, Hanson 3-6-1-26, Hulslander 3-7-2-17, K. Griffith 0-1-0-0, Day 4-7-1-116; Hel, South 4-13-2-41, Reardon 2-3-0-19.

Receiving - Gla, K. Griffith 1-61, Andrew Nelson 1-50, Bryan Chery 2-20, Trey Griffith 2-18, Jacob Leininger 3-11, Anthony Gugliuzza 1-(-1); Hel, Ty Weideman 1-14, Simac 2-16, Hinrichs 1-11, Alex Kelsey 2-19.

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Class AA Playoffs

Friday's Scores

Quarterfinal

Billings West 14, Billings Skyview 13

Bozeman 63, Butte 41

Helena 48, Kalispell Glacier 16

CORRECTION: Kyle Griffith, not Anthony Gugliuzza, caught a long pass from Dawson Day in the fourth quarter for Glacier.