Glacier knocks off CMR, again
GREAT FALLS - Two straight!
Aaron Mitchell punched in a one-yard touchdown with five seconds remaining Friday night as the Glacier Wolfpack (2-0) rallied to down Great Falls Russell (1-1) for the second straight year, 31-28.
The Wolfpack drove 65 yards in the final three minutes.
"I can't say enough about these kids. What an unbelievable effort!" said Glacier coach Grady Bennett.
"For these kids to come over here and (beat CMR) again. It's unreal. They just never quit," he said.
There was just under three minutes left on the clock when the Wolfpack got the ball for its final drive.
"That's a lot of time, especially with the offense we're running. We really didn't panic and we actually ran the ball pretty well," Bennett said.
Glacier converted three fourth downs on the final drive - Kalen Reed caught one pass on fourth-and-nine.
"Our offensive line was fantastic. What's so neat is so many kids made so many big plays. So many kids that stepped up at different times. I think that's what I'm most proud of," the coach said.
"We just ran it straight at them. That was awesome effort and Aaron got it across," Bennett said of the final score.
"CMR played well offensively, had our defense off balance a little bit. The offense kind of had their back tonight," he added.
This was a back-and-forth affair.
CMR led 13-3, but Glacier bounced back to go up 17-13 at the half. CMR rallied, and led 21-17 after three quarters. Glacier took the lead back early in the third quarter, only to watch CMR go ahead with 3:57 to play.
Anthony Gugliuzza had a huge night - a 70-plus yard kickoff return and eight catches for 60 yards, including touchdown snags of six and 33 yards.
Taylor Hulslander turned in a complete performance for Glacier as he was 24 for 37 for 232 yards and threw three touchdowns.
Kyle Grifftith also had eight catchs, for 89 yards and a 21-yard score and kicked a 37-yard field goal.
Glacier 31, CMR 28
Glacier 3 14 0 14 - 31
CMR 7 6 8 7 - 28
First Quarter
CMR - Russ Morin 13 pass from Bryan Durocher (Cameron Oswook kick), 7:55
Glacier - FG Kyle Griffith 37, 1:00
Second Quarter
CMR - Hunter Thomsen 11 run (kick failed), 10:40
Glacier - Anthony Gugliuzza 6 pass from Taylor Hulslander (Griffith kick), 8:02
Glacier - Gugliuzza 33 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 1:25
Third Quarter
CMR - Morin 9 pass from Durocher (Thomsen run), 9:34
Fourth Quarter
Glacier - Griffith 21 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 9:58
CMR - Josh Horner 9 run (Oswood kick), 3:57
Glacier - Aaron Mitchell 1 run (Griffith kick), 0:05
Glacier CMR
First downs 16 21
Rushes-yards 28-75 4-252
Passing yards 232 126
Total yards 307 378
Comp-Att-Int 24-37-0 13-20-3
Punt returns-yards 2-16 2-4
Kickoff return-yards 4-112 94
Punts-avg. 5-28.2 4-39.5
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 7-40 4-32
Individual statistics
Rushing - Glacier, Aaron Mitchell 14-63, Kyle Griffith 4-3 Taylor Hulslander 8-0 Anthony Gugliuzza 2-4. CMR, Hunter Thomsen 18-120, Josh Horner 13-107, Bryan Durocher 8-13, Jayse McLean 3-12.
Passing - Glacier, Taylor Hulslander 24-37-0-232. CMR, Bryan Durocher 10-15-1-97, Jayse McLean 3-5-2-29.
Receiving - Glacier, Kyle Griffith 8-89, Anthony Gugliuzza 8-60, James Cutler 2-21, Andrew Nelson 1-7, Kalen Reed 3-43, Nic Cramer 1-15, Aaron Mitchell 1-(-3). CMR, Russ Morin 6-67, Josh Horner 5-52, Hunter Thomsen 1-10, Colton Carter 1-7.