Wolfpack rally falls short

Midway through the fourth quarter Glacier head coach Grady Bennett turned around to find a sizable portion of the home crowd had headed for the Legends Stadium exits.

It looked like it was over - 4:56 left in the game, Glacier trailing by 15 points and it had just fumbled on its own 40-yard line.

Too bad for those who went home early.

"I don't know if you want to leave on the Wolfpack, because the finishes have all been great," Bennett said.

"It ended up being a great game."

The No. 4 Wolfpack (2-1) fell 30-22 to the No. 1 Bengals (3-0), but those last five minutes were worth the entire price of admission.

The Wolfpack defense held - and three plays later, Anthony Gugliuzza got behind the Bengals for a 74-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Hulslander with 2:27 to play.

On top of that, the Wolfpack nearly recovered the ensuing onside kick.

"We had a guy on it in the fray," Bennett said.

Helena coach Tony Arntson admitted to being a tad worried during those final minutes.

"Offensively, I thought we played well most of the game. We made a couple mistakes, but for the most part, we played well. Defensively, we gave them big plays. We played very well in the first half. Second half ... they made plays and we didn't.

"But if you can win on the road and win in Class AA, you've got to be happy," Arntson said.

Offensively, the total wound up being close - Helena outgained the Wolfpack 324 to 311.

The Bengals had 221 rushing yards - Nate Caldwell had 117 yards on 24 carries for Helena. Glacier got 260 yards through the air.

Hulslander was 15-for-21 on the night. Kyle Griffith had eight catches for 53 yards. Gugliuzza caught two for 80 yards and Andrew Nelson had two for 112 yards.

"We knew (the Wolfpack) would stay in there and keep fighting. They did. My hat is off to them. But I'm also very proud of my guys.

"We've got to finish the game a little better. We did a great job running the clock in the second half.

"They hit big plays. We didn't do a good job defensively to stop them. But we got new guys in there. They're going to have to learn," he added.

Things didn't start out pretty for Glacier.

Helena came out hard and fast and had the Wolfpack scrambling early on. It stopped Glacier in just four plays, then drove 63 yards in 1:22 to lead 7-0.

The Bengals were up 13-0 with 4:48 left in the first quarter and 20-0 at half.

"They're too good of a defense and we started rough. Sports are so mental, psychological. Last week, after witnessing last year's game ... our kids knew they could go to CMR and win. Psychologically, it was no big deal. They got down and they never panicked. It was ‘let's go, let's play. It was amazing.

"Tonight, totally different feel. I think at halftime, we were still thinking back to the playoff game last year ... how bad we got shellacked."

The halftime talk was about simply playing the game.

"I told them ‘I don't care what the light bulbs say. I never care about that. All I care about is your effort. Let's just go play.

"Then shoot, we went out and did it. All of sudden it's a ball game," Bennett said.

Caleb Harris had two sacks on Helena's first drive of the second half and Glacier recovered a Bengal fumble on its second drive to set the Wolfpack offense up on the Helena 20.

Four plays later, Aaron Mitchell scored from two yards out.

Helena answered with a 20 yard Trevin Thompson field goal, but momentum was swinging Glacier's way at that point.

Andrew Nelson scored on a 79-yard pass from Taylor Hulslander with 40 seconds left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 23-15.

But the next series was the game winner for Helena.

It drove 67 yards on 12 plays and chewed up seven minutes of the fourth quarter.

"You've got to give Helena credit. That one drive, they took about seven minutes off the clock. They've got a very, very good football team. Then again,our guys didn't quit. We came right back and got the TD to Anthony (Gugliuzza)," Bennett said.

"Tonight ... hate to lose, but this is going to teach them more than a lot of things. I'm excited. We've got a good football team. I like our football team a lot. Every game, we grow, we learn things about them."

He complimented the effort of the Wolfpack offensive line.

"Fantastic job protecting Taylor. He had time to throw, he a nice pocket. That's as good as we've protected a quarterback since I've coached against Helena," the coach said.

Helena 13 7 3 7 - 30

Glacier 0 0 15 7 - 22

First Quarter

H - Nate Caldwell 28 run (Trevin Thompson kick), 9:01.

H - Caldwell 1 run (Kick blocked), 4:48.

Second Quarter

H - Dylan Kautz24 pass from Taylor South (Thompson kick), 10:24.

Third Quarter

G - Aaron Mitchell 2 run (Kyle Griffith kick), 5:03.

H - Thompson 20 field goal, 1:38.

G - Andrew Nelson 79 pass from Taylor Hulslander (Kalen Reed pass from Hulslander), :40.

Fourth Quarter

H - Caldwell 6 run (Thompson kick), 5:02.

G - Anthony Gugliuzza 74 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 2:27.

----

Helena Glacier

First downs 14 6

Rushes-yards 51-221 21-51

Passing yards 103 260

Total yards 324 311

Comp-Att-Int 8-11-0 15-21-0

Punt returns-yards 1-4 1-26

Kickoff return-yards 4-33 6-112

Punts-avg 3-37.3 4-24.5

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-22 3-30

Individual statistics

Rushing - Helena, Taylor South 11-5, Nate Caldwell 24-117, Zach Windfield 5-21, Dylan Simac 3-58, Dylan Kautz 4-17, Dawson Reardon 4-3. Glacier, Taylor Huslander 6-4, Aaron Mitchell 7-17, Noah James 3-9, Kyle Griffith 2-1, Anthony Gugliuzza 1-5, Kellyn Faraone 2-15.

Passing - Helena, Taylor South, 7-10-1-90, Dylan Simac 1-1-0-13. Glacier, Hulslander 15-21-2-260.

Recieving - Helena, Simac 4-51, Chase Williams 3-28, Dylan Kautz 1-24. Glacier, Mitchell 1--2, Griffith 8-53, Gugliuzza 2-80, Andrew Nelson 2-112, Kelan Reed 1-1, Nic Cramer 1-14.

Class AA Standings

W L

Helena 3 0

Helena Capital 3 0

Glacier 2 1

Flathead 2 1

Billings Senior 2 1

Billings West 2 1

Butte 2 1

Great Falls 1 2

CMR 1 2

Missoula Hellgate 1 2

Missoula Sentinel 1 2

Missoula Big Sky 0 3

Billings Skyview 0 3

Bozeman 0 3

Friday's Scores

Billings Senior 53, Missoula Sentinel 7

Billings West 44, Bozeman 20

Butte 48, Missoula Hellgate 6

Helena 30, Glacier 22

Helena Capital 31, Great Falls Russell 0

Flathead 31, Great Falls 20

Missoula Big Sky 17, Billings Skyview 14