Glacier holds off Braves in crosstown football
One thing is for sure - the Glacier Wolfpack can score in the first quarter.
Another thing is also sure - not too many people went home early from Friday night's fourth annual crosstown football game.
The Wolfpack (2-3) scored three first quarter touchdowns, then held off a second half Flathead rally to defeat the Braves 48-35, drawing the crosstown series even at two-all.
"Finally! Finally," smiled Glacier coach Grady Bennett.
"I'm proud of the kids for finally getting it going in the first quarter. That was my worry. You know how good (the Braves) are offensively.
"We almost couldn't get enough ahead just to keep the cushion.
"But we finally got out of the gates. I really thought Colter Hanson - for the first time this year - really got comfortable early. He came out and competed well and that was the difference for us," the coach said.
"From the get-go he was confident, seeing things. He made a couple good audibles, couple good changes on plays, had some good reads on things that really got us rolling," Bennett said.
It took Hanson - and Glacier - less than 90 seconds and just five plays to drive 74 yards on its opening drive.
Brendan Hagen capped it with a 9-yard run.
"We game-planned for them pretty good," Hanson said. "I thought we came out and played with a lot of intensity. We haven't scored a point in the first quarter, so that was really a big thing for us," he said.
"The second half was a little sloppy, but the first half we executed really well. Both teams played hard. We knew Flathead wasn't going to give up or roll over, because it's crosstown, but our ‘D' did a really good job of shutting them down early," he said.
Flathead's first drive stalled on its own 46. The Braves (0-5) faked a punt on fourth down, but George Sherwood's pass was just off the fingers of his intended receiver.
That gave Glacier the ball on the Flathead 46. It took the Wolfpack just two plays to score again - a 49-yard strike from Hanson to Jacob Leininger. It went up 20-0 on Bryan Chery's 52-yard run.
Hanson finished the night 9-for-16 for 173 yards with two touchdowns.
"We just got dominated in the first half," said Flathead coach Russell McCarvel.
"We couldn't stop them. We had a couple big miscues and they really outplayed us," he said.
The Braves bounced back a bit with two Mike VanArendonk to George Sherwood connections - 15 and 31 yards - but the first half was all Glacier.
Hanson ran one score in from the 10-yard line and found Anthony Gugliuzza from 21-yards out with just over a minute left in the half.
Hagen finished off the first half with a 35-yard interception return to put the Wolfpack on top 41-14.
The Braves, though, weren't done.
They opened the second half with an 83-yard, 14-play scoring drive. That turned the game into a bit of a shootout as they added added two more scores. Flathead was also on the Glacier 6-yard line twice in the second half only to come away empty.
"At halftime, we talked a lot about pride and I was really happy with the way our kids came out in the second half," McCarvel said.
"We were kind of down at first. (McCarvel) said we can come out and fight for this game or we can lay down and die. We came back and fought. We didn't come out very hard, but we battled," VanArendonk said.
"I thought we really took it to them. I know they had to be on their heels a little bit," McCarvel said.
"I thought Mike (VanArendonk) was fantastic in the second half, as were the receivers."
VanArendonk finished 41-for-62 for 377 yards with three interceptions and five touchdowns.
George Sherwood caught 16 of those passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
On the other side of the field, the clock couldn't run fast enough.
"I just kept looking at the clock. Man we couldn't get this thing over fast enough," Bennett said.
"I'm so happy for the kids. We needed this. We needed this bad," he said.
"We had four offensive linemen in different places and even one of those guys went down in the first half. We played with a lot of guys who had minimal varsity reps up front and they did a great job pass protecting," McCarvel said.
"We had a few breakdowns, but it's tough to be perfect when you throw it 62 times," the coach said.
"We just needed to find a way to make one more play and get one step closer. But I'm really proud of our kids and their effort. There's been a lot of things swirling around the team this week, but a few new guys got their shot and did some good things," he added.
"With all the things swirling around, I sure have appreciated all the support that I've gotten from our fans and parents. I'm really proud of the Brave group," McCarvel said.
"We got the game to where it was exciting," VanArendonk said. "Glacier just came out on top."
Glacier 20 21 0 7 - 48
Flathead 7 7 7 14 - 35
First Quarter
G - Brendan Hagen 9 run (Hagen kick), 10:37
G - Jacob Leininger 49 pass from Colter Hanson (Hagen kick), 7:19
G - Bryan Chery 52 run (Kick failed), 3:46.
F - George Sherwood 15 pass from Mike VanArendonk (Steve Olbert kick), 11.8.
Second Quarter
G - Hanson 10 run (Hagen kick), 7:30.
F - Sherwood 31 pass from VanArendonk (Olbert kick), 3:23.
G - Anthony Gugliuzza 21 pass from Hanson (Hagen kick), 1:09.
G - Hagen 35 interception return (Hagen kick), :34.
Third Quarter
F - Jeff Markavadge 17 pass from VanArendonk (Olbert kick), 7:27.
Fourth Quarter
F - Sherwood 16 pass from VanArendonk (Olbert kick), 7:52.
G - Hanson 1 run (Kyle Griffith kick), 2:37.
F G
First downs 24 18
Rushes-yards 27-32 40-236
Passing 41-64-3 0-16-1
Passing yards 377 173
Total yards 409 409
Penalties 8-80 11-100
Individuals
Rushing - Flathead: Mike VanArendonk 16-18, George Sherwood 1-2, Travis Ozegovich 9-13, Larry Francis 1-minus 1. Glacier: Colter Hanson 11-27, Brendan Hagen 14-121, Bryan Chery 2-47, Jacob Konen 3-9, Stormy Day 10-32.
Passing - Flathead, Mike VanArendonk, 41-62-377-3-5, Matt McLean 0-2-0-0-0, Glacier, Colter Hanson 9-16-173-1-2.
Receiving - Flathead, George Sherwood 16-161, Travis Ozegovich 2-7, Ian Gillespie 3-26, Matt McLean 7-49, Gaige Mower 2-17, Jeff Markavadge 8-85, Braxton Nimmick 2-18.