AA football: Glacier drops Great Falls
<p>Glacier defensive back Evan Epperly (20) moves in to tackle Great Falls running back Robert Hubka (21) during first-half play Friday night.</p>
<p>Glacier quarterback Taylor Hulslander (7) looks to pass while pressured by Great Falls linebacker Matt Hronek (47) during the first half of Friday’s Class AA football game at Legends Stadium.</p>
Just when it was needed the most and just in the nick of time.
Andrew Nelson caught a 90-yard pass with 12 seconds left in the first half to help lift the Glacier Wolfpack on Friday night at Legends Stadium.
The Wolfpack scored 21 points in the first 8 1/2 minutes on Great Falls High, but then had to hold on for dear life to claim a 35-21 Class AA victory.
"Our offense has been zooming out of the gates and our defense has kind of started a little slow," said Glacier coach Grady Bennett.
"Then our offense kind of goes into a little stall and our defense turns it on and shuts them down," he said.
Nelson's score put Glacier up 28-14 - and more importantly took some of the steam out of Great Falls' sails as it had rallied to within a touchdown.
"The coaches said to go long. I guess I got lucky out there," Nelson said.
"It was an ‘all-go.' I just went straight up and tried to beat them. I saw my quarterback. It was a great ball, right over the defender's head and right into my hands. Great pass by Taylor (Hulslander)," Nelson said.
"Coming into the locker room was really nice. Everyone was really pumped. And then our defense went out and responded wonderfully," he added.
"Credit Great Falls. They obviously watched film and realized our guys have been running out on people - and it's OK. (The Bison figured) to weather the storm and (we will) let people back in it. Twenty one points, no big deal - and then here they come," Bennett said.
"Credit them for getting back in it. But once again our kids found a way. That defensive stop (Glacier stopped the Bison on fourth-and-one on the Wolfpack 6-yard-line), then that long bomb to Andrew Nelson. When it does get time, they find a way to get it done. I just love that trait about them," he said.
The Wolfpack couldn't have gotten out of the gate any better.
Nelson returned the opening kickoff 86 yards for the first score.
"I was real proud of our special teams tonight," Bennett said.
"The kids practiced hard and really bought into everything we did. We knew we could get that kickoff return. We felt really good about it and sure enough, we busted that and that helped."
Glacier followed that up with a 14-play, 93-yard drive capped by Anthony Gugliuzza's 34-yard score and then tacked on a Kyle Griffith 13-yard touchdown catch.
But the Bison bounced back.
While the Glacier offense stalled, the Bison responded with a pair of scoring drives.
The intensity level really amped up when Great Falls' Destin Wassman intercepted a Wolfpack pass on the Glacier 42 with 3:58 left in the half.
But that's when the Glacier defense really dialed in. It stopped Great Falls quarterback Colter Posey on the 6-yard-line with 44 seconds to go.
Three plays later, Hulslander found Nelson.
Hulslander finished 21-for-35 for 341 yards and four touchdowns.
Anthony Gugliuzza caught nine passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns, Nelson had two for 102 yards and Kyle Griffith five for 31 yards.
Bennett gave compliments to the Glacier special teams.
"I'm proud of all those kids on special teams. I think we've done some neat things this year. We've had fun with it and really improved overall just by spending more time on it.
"Our punt team has been getting better and better. Rial (Gunlikson) had a great night. He's a good punter. He's just trying to get consistency. Tonight, man he was good.
"He positioned it well, he had some boomers and then he angle kicked it and we downed one right inside the one.
"I'm excited about going to Capital. What a great opportunity. Nobody is going to pick us to win. They have a great program. So I told the kids, let's just relax, go down and play. It's going to be fun," Bennett said.
Great Falls 0 14 7 0 - 21
Glacier 21 7 7 0 - 3 5
First Quarter
G - Andrew Nelson 84 kickoff return (Kyle Griffith kick), 11:48.
G - Anthony Gugliuzza 34 pass from Taylor Hulslander (Griffith kick), 6:42.
G - Kyle Griffith 13 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 3:34.
Second Quarter
GF - Robert Hubka 3 run (Colter Posey kick), 11:55.
GF - Dylan Tatarka 34 pass from Posey (Posey kick), 5:39.
G - Nelson 90 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), :12.
Third Quarter
G - Gugliuzza 11 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 6:53.
GF - Kolby Sukut 13 pass from Posey (Posey kick), 5:06.
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Great Falls Glacier
First downs 16 14
Total yards 314 389
Rushing yards 170 48
Passing 144 341
Punt returns 2-7 2-8
Kickoff returns 3-96 2-45
Comp-Att-Int 18-30-1 21-35-1
Punts 6-186 4-148
Fumbles lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties 6-76 7-43
Individual statistics
RUSHING - Capital, Robert Hubka 15-99, Colter Posey 24-62, Shyke Smalls 4-9; Glacier, Noah James 7-25, Aaron Mitchell 4-27, Kyle Griffith 4-11, Anthony Gugliuzza 1-0, Andrew Nelson 1-2, Kellyn Faraone 4-4, Tyler Hulslander 7-minus 21.
PASSING - Capital, Posey 17-28-120-1, Robert Hubka 1-2-24-1; Glacier, Hulslander 21-35-341-4.
RECEIVING - Capital, Smalls 10-47, Dylan Tatarka 3-50, Ryan Doran 1-7, Sam Wingerter 2-14, Seth Liscum 1-13, Kolby Sukut 1-13; Glacier, Gugliuzza 9-146, Nelson 2-102, Griffith 5-31, James Cutler 2-27, Kelan Reed 2-23, Aaron Mitchell 1-12.
AA Standings
W-L
Helena High 8-0
Billings West 7-1
Glacier 7-1
Helena Capital 7-1
Billings Senior 5-3
Butte 4-4
Big Sky 4-4
CMR 3-5
Flathead 3-5
Great Falls 3-5
Bozeman 2-6
Sentinel 1-7
Hellgate 1-7
Billings Skyview 1-7
Friday's Scores
Missoula Big Sky 21, Missoula Hellgate 19
Billings Senior 21, Billings Skyview 7
Glacier 35, Great Falls 21
Billings West 24, Great Falls Russell 0
Bozeman 56, Flathead 26
Helena Capital 51, Butte 14
Thursday's Score
Helena 27, Sentinel 0