AA football semis: Glacier falls to Bozeman

A bad bounce, a tough start and another rough ending for Glacier.

Bozeman was able to take advantage of early mistakes from the Wolfpack, building a big lead and leaning on a powerful run game to win 34-21 in a Class AA semifinal playoff game on Friday at Legends Stadium.

Glacier was able to pin the Hawks deep on their first drive, forcing Bozeman to punt from its own end zone. The Wolfpack muffed the return and Bozeman’s Riley Martello took a one-hop fumble recovery nearly 80 yards to the Glacier 1-yard line, flipping the field and the momentum.

Two drives later, the Glacier offense stalled and a punt went awry, leaving the Hawks with another short field. An eight play, 45-yard drive later and Glacier had already given up as many points as it had in five weeks, less than 10 minutes into the game.

“It was such a bizarre start,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “ It seemed perfect, then just a freak bounce ... It’s one of those games where (they got all the bounces). It just seemed every time the ball was out and loose, it was them and not us.”

Bozeman was able to control the line of scrimmage for most of the game, gashing big runs as the contest drew on. Hawks running back Hunter Gappmayer had 28 carries for 188 yards, the most anyone has ran on Glacier this season. He scored three touchdowns, twice on the ground and once on a 6-yard swing pass.

Hawks quarterback WIll Weyer was able to get time in the pocket, avoiding the slew of turnovers he had in the first meeting, finding holes in Glacier defense to complete 15 of 25 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns.

“They got after us in all three phases,” Bennett said. “You have to give them credit.”

Glacier’s offense struggled for the third straight week, unable to get any consistent movement until late in the third quarter. Once the Pack switched to a hurry-up offense, it was able to find its way, scoring three times in the final 13 minutes. Quarterback Taylor Hulslander ran for one touchdown and threw for two more, going 20 of 40 for 208 yards in the air.

“I feel like offensively, we have struggled the past few weeks and it really cost us,” Bennett said. “We didn’t find a rhythm tonight until late in the second half. Too late.”

Nic Cramer led the Wolfpack in rushing and receiving, running for 22 yards on two carries and catching six passes for 68 yards.

Bozeman advances to play the winner of today’s game between Great Falls C.M. Russell and Butte. The Hawks will travel to the winner next Friday for the state championship game.

“I wish them the best next week in the state championship game,” Bennett said.

Glacier will graduate its most successful class in school history, which won 18 games in the past two seasons, making back-to-back trips to the state semifinals.

“When you think about this group of seniors and all they’ve done in the past four years,” Bennett said. “I’m so proud of them and what they’ve accomplished. How quickly they’ve taken our program into the elite, top competitive group. As hard as it is, as disappointing as it is, it doesn’t take away from what they’ve accomplished and what an incredible group they are.”

Bozeman    13    7    7    7    —    34

Glacier    0    0    7    14    —    21

First quarter

B - Will Dissly 6 pass from Will Weyer (Ben Goertzen kick miss), 10:40

B - Hunter Gappmayer 2 run (Goertzen kick), 2:42

Second quarter

B - Gappmayer 6 pass from Weyer (Goertzen kick), 5:47

Third quarter

B - Gappmayer 17 run (Goertzen kick), 3:33

G - Taylor Hulslander 13 run (Kyle Griffith kick), 0:39

Fourth quarter

G - Griffith 14 pass from Hulslander (Griffith kick), 7:07

B - Riley Martello 24 run (Goertzen kick), 5:04

G - Nic Cramer 5 pass from Hulslander, (Griffith kick), 0:46

—————

        Bozeman    Glacier

First downs    13    12

Total yards    359    287

Rushes-yards    37-211    24-79

Passing yards    148    208

Comp-Att-Int    15-25-1    20-40-0

Penalties-yards    12-101    2-10

Fumbles-lost        3-1         2-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Bozeman: Will Weyer 5-(-8), Riley Martello 3-33, Hunter Gappmayer 28-188. Glacier: Taylor Hulslander 10-20, Kyle Griffith 3-20, Aaron Mitchell 1-0, Noah James 6-17, Logan Jones 2-0, Nic Cramer 2-22.

PASSING — Bozeman: Will Weyer 15-25-148-1. Glacier: Taylor Hulslander 20-40-208-0.

RECEIVING — Bozeman: Andre Stubbs 3-25, Hunter Gappmayer 3-27, Will Dissly 6-59, Mick Delaney 3-37. Glacier: Kyle Griffith 4-46, Aaron Mitchell 2-13, Logan Jones 3-27, Nic Cramer 6-68, James Cutler 3-12, Kelan Reed 2-42.