Bengals hold off Wolfpack

The Helena Bengals upheld their reputation of having the toughest defense in the state, but Glacier sure made them prove it.

With Glacier scrambling to pull off the upset on a last-ditch drive in the final minute, Helena junior Dylan Simac crushed the Wolfpack's come-from-behind hopes by intercepting a pass on the 10-yard line and holding onto the ball and the 20-14 victory as time ran out at Legends Stadium on Friday night.

"That's a great AA game," Helena head coach Tony Arntson said afterward. "That's what makes it so exciting is to come up with big plays. I think that's what I love about this group, we've been forced to make some big plays at the end of the game and we have. We knew coming into it that our defense was going to have to carry us ... So far our defense has upheld that reputation."

The Bengals' defense, ranked first in the league, held Glacier to nine yards rushing and eight first downs and had four interceptions.

Third-ranked Helena improved to 4-0 to remain one of three unbeaten teams in Class AA. Glacier fell to 1-3 despite shape-shifting in the second half to a well-rounded contender that did more than hold its own.

"I was very impressed with the way, especially in the second half, they came out and got after us pretty good," Arntson said. "My hats off to Glacier, they didn't give up."

"We're inconsistent and just seem to be lacking belief and confidence and I'm not sure why," Glacier head coach Grady Bennett said. "The teams that we have played are very good. Helena is a good football team. I told the guys after the game, same message as last week, we're fine, we're a good football team, we're doing some good things, we've just played great competition. These teams are good and we're hanging right with them. We just have to believe a little bit earlier."

Glacier failed to score in the opening quarter for the fourth game in a row and went into halftime down 14-0. After that, the Wolfpack looked like a new team.

The defense forced a four-and-out on Helena's opening drive of the third quarter, and the Wolfpack offense found its footing and marched 40 yards in seven plays, finishing with senior quarterback Colter Hanson barreling through the middle of the field into the end zone for a 12-yard TD.

A second strong stand in a row by the Glacier defense forced a Helena punt on the next drive, and the momentum clearly shifted before pouring over on Glacier's end.

In one quick play, Hanson faked a hand off and looked deep from the 49-yard line to find a streaking Anthony Gugliuzza, who caught the ball in stride and reached the end zone as the Glacier fans instantly warmed up and jumped to their feet with newfound zest.

Turns out Helena had one last gasp of offense left and it was just enough. On the following drive, the Bengals went 80 yards on 11 plays to score, but had the extra-point blocked to leave the game within Glacier's grasp.

Gugliuzza, a junior, finished with 57 yards on two catches and senior Trey Griffith caught three passes for 53 yards. Jacob Leininger had 29 yards on three receptions and Bryan Chery added two catches for 18 yards.

"When that spark, that belief factor kicks in, it's like ‘hey we can do this. A good team can take that belief out of you and that's what Helena High did," Bennett said. "But on the other hand, we shouldn't be having those doubts. I just told the guys believe in yourself, believe in what your coaches are teaching you to do, believe in your teammates working beside you. That's what we really got to focus on this next week."

Glacier plays Flathead in the fourth annual crosstown game on Friday at Legends Stadium at 7 p.m.

Helena 7 7 6 0 - 20

Glacier 0 0 14 0 - 14

First quarter

H - Sy Keltner 6 run (Dylan Simac kick), 3:06

Second quarter

H - Simac 3 run (Simac kick), :32

Third quarter

G - Colter Hanson 12 run (Brendan Hagan kick), 8:09

G - Anthony Gugliuzza 51 pass from Hanson (Hagan kick), 6:15

H - Sean Blomquist 1 run (kick blocked), 1:18

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H G

First downs 17 8

Rushing 51-218 18-9

Passing yards 115 163

Turnovers 0 4

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - Helena: Sy Keltner 36-171, Sean Blomquist 7-22, Taylor South 6-15, Dylan Simac 2-10; Glacier: Jacob Konen 2-11, Brendan Hagan 3-3.

RECEIVING - Helena: Simac 6-61, Nate Hinrichs 2-21, Dylan Kautz 2-20, Blomquist 1-13; Glacier: Anthony Gugliuzza 2-57, Trey Griffith 3-53, Jacob Leininger 3-29, Bryan Chery 2-18, Boyce Ballard 1-6.

PASSING (com/att/int/td/yds) - Helena: South 11-21-0-0-115; Glacier: Colter Hanson 11-25-4-1-163.