AA football: Wolfpack pound Bison, 56-6

Forcing six turnovers and exploiting mismatches on offense, Glacier roared to a 56-6 beatdown of Great Falls High on Friday night in a Class AA football game at Legends Stadium.

The Wolfpack (8-1) had a rocky start, throwing an interception on its first offensive play to set the Bison (1-8) up at the 3-yard line, in a great position to score. But, in what was a sign of things to come, Glacier’s defense sent Great Falls backwards on the drive, forcing the Bison to settle for a field goal.

It took Glacier just 19 seconds to answer, with Evan Epperly returning the ensuing kickoff 91 yards to the Great Falls 8-yard line for Noah James to punch in a touchdown one play later.

After Great Falls again drove down for a field goal, it took Glacier just 16 seconds to score the next one. This time it was a Logan Jones’ kick return to the Bison’s 35 that set up a deep ball to Epperly for another one-play touchdown.

“I’ve talked all year about how these guys play together and for each other,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “When something like that happens right away, Brady throws a pick, somebody might (get on him for it). These guys go out and get his back.

“I knew our defense would either completely stop them or hold them to a field goal. That’s just their attitude, they really have a sense of that. It’s pretty cool to watch.”

While Glacier’s offense was scoring quickly, the defense turned down the screws on the Bison. Junior lineman Charles Calobeer intercepted a pass and had two fumble recoveries in the first half as the Wolfpack held Great Falls to just 49 yards. The recoveries set up two more one-play touchdowns for the offense, which finished the game with 320 yards from scrimmage despite working with short fields for most of the contest.

Calobeer would later pick up a third fumble recovery and run it back for a 30 yard touchdown of his own.

“He’s been around the football so much the last few weeks, you just kinda figured he’d eventually get some,” Bennett said. “What an incredible game. Just being ball aware. That’s the thing about Chuck, just being smart, aware of what’s going on and getting to the football. Good things happen when you fly to the football.”

Brady McChesney shook off the opening interception to throw for five touchdowns, twice each to Epperly and Sam McCamley. McChesney was 13 for 20 passing for 261 yards. Epperly finished with four catches for 134 yards. James led the team in rushing with 15 carries for 55 yards.

The Bison finished the game with 111 total yards, most coming in the second half against Glacier’s backups. Running back Brad Humphreys carried the ball 31 times for 106 yards for Great Falls.

“We just imposed our will each and every play,” senior linebacker Todd Ogden said. “It’s fantastic. Can’t go out any better way.”

The big win allowed the Wolfpack to play each of its seniors for extended minutes in the last home game of the regular season. Glacier finishes out the regular season next week against crosstown rival Flathead (3-6).

Great Falls 6 0 0 0 — 6

Glacier 14 21 21 0 — 56

First quarter

GF — Brad Humphreys 22 field goal, 10:29

G — Noah James 8 run (Brandon Purdy kick), 10:10

GF — Humphreys 33 field goal, 7:32

G — Evan Epperly 35 pass from Brady McChesney (Purdy kick), 7:16

Second quarter

G — Devin Cochran 29 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 6:23

G — Epperly 56 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 2:18

G — McChesney 2 run (Purdy kick), 1:19

Third quarter

G — Sam McCamley 8 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 8:52

G — Charles Calobeer 30 fumble return (Purdy kick), 6:56

G — McCamley 32 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 4:13

GFH GLA

First downs 7 8

Passing yards 28 256

Comp-Att-Int 1-18-1 15-26-1

Rushes-yards 45-83 31-64

Total yards 111 320

Fumbles-lost 5-5 2-1

Penalties-yards 10-77 11-86

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING — GFH, Jordan Wilkins 8-(-24), Quade Hammell 1-(-1), Brad Humphreys 31-106, Kessler Leonard 2-(-3), Walker Ferda 1-1, Suket 2-4. Glacier, Brady McChesney 4-(-4), Noah James 15-55, Logan Jones 1-2, Thomas Trefney 6-11, Casey Kostecki 4-1, Alex Stewart 1-(-1).

PASSING — GFH, Jordan Wilkins 1-13-28-1, Suket 0-5-0-0. Glacier, Brady McChesney 13-20-261-1, Jake Willich 2-6-(-5)-0.

RECEIVING — GFH, Walker Ferda 1-28. Glacier, Noah James 1-19, Logan Jones 4-10, Evan Epperly 4-134, Kaden Schoenthal 1-0, Devin Cochran 2-42, Sam McCamley 3-51.