Fantastic finish for Wolfpack

It was a big night Friday for the Wolfpack football team.

Counting down the pluses - a 55-35 victory over Missoula Big Sky, an 8-2 regular season finish and clinching the first home playoff game in school history next Friday against Billings Senior.

In addition to all that were the school records set by junior running back Aaron Mitchell.

Mitchell rushed for 197 yards, scored five touchdowns (5, 2, 12, 20, 69 yards), had the longest TD run (69 yards) and also the longest run from scrimmage (69 yards).

Previous records were 137 yards in a game (Stormy Day in 2010), three touchdowns (Taylor Hart and Shay Smithwick-Hann, 2009), 66 yards from scrimmage (Smithwick-Hann, 2009) and 64-yard touchdown run (Brendan Hagan, 2010).

"We really challenged our perimeter kids this week to refuse to be tackled, to run stronger. We didn't feel like our kids were refusing to go down. It was too easy to go down sometimes," Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.

"Aaron Mitchell would not be tackled and it kind of caught fire," he said.

"Anthony (Gugliuzza) wouldn't go down. Kyle (Griffith) wouldn't go down. That is contagious. Our o-line played great and gave them holes and Aaron just ran. That's what we need," the coach said.

"When you challenge kids, when you set goals and standards - and when they rise to those, it's so much fun."

"Our o-linemen were really blocking hard. They were pushing. I wouldn't have done it without them. Everyone on our team was blocking hard, receivers, everyone. We were just executing perfectly," Mitchell said.

"Our linemen and our receivers paved the way for me. I couldn't have done any of that without them," he said.

Glacier's rushing attack and special teams were the biggest differences on Friday.

Senior kick returner Anthony Gugliuzza had two huge returns - an 89-yard kick return for a touchdown right after Big Sky had cut the Wolfpack lead to 13 points and then a 40-yard third quarter punt return that set Glacier up on the Big Sky 12. Mitchell scored on the next play.

"Special teams, wow! What a show by all those kids. Every unit was fantastic. Our kick coverage was phenomenal, our return we set up was very good. Our punt return was awesome. I'm really proud of our entire special teams group," he said.

The Wolfpack didn't get off to the best start, though. Taylor Hulslander threw an interception on Glacier's first play from scrimmage.

But the Glacier defense forced the Eagles into a three-and-out, the Wolfpack regained the ball on its own 11 and drove 89 yards in nine plays and just over three minutes.

Hulslander dove in from the one to put Glacier up, 7-0.

The Wolfpack was off to the races from there.

Hulslander finished the night 15-for-24 for 190 yards with two touchdowns.

"That's the good thing about Taylor. Nothing gets to him. Nothing rattles him. He's unflappable, just keeps going," the coach said.

Bennett also took time to talk about the Wolfpack seniors.

"I'm so proud of those seniors. Football is a tough sport. It's not for everybody. There's always going to be some attrition," he said.

But when this particular group started, there were 50-60 kids in the class.

Usually classes settle in at 30-35 kids, but four years later, there are 16 in Glacier's senior class.

"It was hard on me as a head coach. But these 16 kids stuck with it. They believed. And they brought along those juniors, accepted them and brought them right in," he said.

"I'm so proud of those kids. Eight-two, best record in school history and a home playoff game. What those kids have done, hanging in there, is really neat, really special," he added.

Big Sky 0 14 7 14 - 35

Glacier 14 20 14 7 - 55

First Quarter

G - Taylor Hulslander 1 run (Kyle Griffith kick), 7:18

G - Aaron Mitchell 5 run (Griffith kick), 3:56.

Second Quarter

G - Mitchell 2 run (Kick failed), 11:27

BS - Eric Schmidt 1 run (Nico Graham kick), 8:23.

G - Anthony Gugliuzza 18 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 5:32.

BS - Graham 71 pass from Cole Baker (Graham kick), 3:01.

G - Gugliuzza 89 kickoff return (Griffith kick), 2:47.

Third Quarter

BS - Schmidt 6 run (Graham kick), 8:35.

G - Mitchell 12 run (Griffith kick), 3:16.

G - Mitchell 20 run (Griffith kick), :58.

Fourth Quarter

BS - Lane Colyer 5 pass from Baker (Graham run), 4:59.

G - Mitchell 69 run (Griffith kick), 4:39.

BS - Graham 8 pass from Baker (Kick failed), 2:30.

Big Sky Glacier

First downs 28 13

Total yards 443 423

Rushing yards 59 233

Passing 384 190

Punt returns 2-14 5-68

Kickoff returns 6-43 5-112

Comp-Att-Int 31-46-1 15-24-190

Punts 5-178 2-70

Fumbles lost 3-0 1-0

Penalties 4-23 12-118

Individual statistics

RUSHING - Big Sky, Eric Schmidt 23-60, Cole Baker 14- minus 11, Jay Owens 2-2, Evan Colyer 1-8; Glacier, Aaron Mitchell 17-197, Kellyn Faraone 5-7, Anthony Gugliuzza 3-26, Kyle Griffith 1-5, Noah James 1-2, Taylor Hulslander 2- minus 4.

PASSING - Big Sky, Baker 30-45-363-1, Colyer 1-1-21-0; Glacier, Hulslander 15-24-190-1.

RECEIVING - Big Sky, Nico Graham 13-190, Austin Lindquist 8-93, Colyer 4-35, Jay Owens 1-4, Schmidt 1-2; Glacier, Griffith 7-84, Gugliuzza 5-78, Kelan Reed 1-13, James Cutler 1-10, Noah James 1-5.

Class AA 2011

League Standings

Team Record

Helena High 9-0

Billings West 9-1

Helena Capital 8-1

Glacier 8-2

Billings Senior 7-3

Butte 5-5

CMR 5-5

Flathead 4 -6

Big Sky 4-6

Great Falls High 3-7

Bozeman 3-7

Billings Skyview 2-8

Sentinel 1-9

Hellgate 1-9

Friday's Scores

Billings West 33, Billings Skyview 12,

Butte 42, Sentinel 28

Glacier 55, Missoula Big Sky 35

Flathead 48,Missoula Hellgate 12

CMR 21, Great Falls 7

Today's Game

Helena High vs. Helena Capital