Football: Wolfpack blast Hellgate
It took some time, but Glacier finally broke open the floodgates, burying Missoula Hellgate 40-0 in a Class AA conference football game on Friday at Legends Stadium.
The Wolfpack (3-1) had trouble moving the ball on the Knights (0-4) early, fumbling on its first offensive play of the game and stalling on its next three drives with two three-and-outs.
It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter when Glacier was finally able to break through, taking advantage of great field position to drive 35 yards in eight plays for a touchdown. Junior quarterback Brady McChesney found Evan Epperly on a slant and the senior darted into the end zone from 12 yards out to put the Wolfpack on the scoreboard.
Seemingly, that was all the Glacier offense needed. Once, they got the ball back, it took three plays to score again. Little used running back Tucker Rauthe took advantage of his time on offense, bouncing off two tackles and breaking into the open for a 50-yard score.
“Tucker is a very good running back; He’s got great vision, good balance,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.
“I think tonight, because of our injuries, what I wanted to see was us develop more depth. A lot of kids got to play tonight, got put in high-intensity game situations. Down the road, we get our guys healthy and we’ve got more depth and more guys that have been in the fire in a AA contest.”
McChesney found reserve receiver Devin Cochran behind the defense for a 38-yard touchdown on Glacier’s next drive and the Wolfpack was in the end zone again 30 seconds later, with Epperly pulling in a streak up the right sideline for a 39-yard score.
“They just kept plugging away, working through it, then all of a sudden they scored two touchdowns,” Bennett said.
Epperly tacked on another touchdown in the third quarter as the Wolfpack pulled off the gas in the second half. Glacier tried three field goals in the half, looking to get reps for kicker/soccer player Brandon Purdy. Purdy connected on a 40-yard field goal on his final attempt of the night.
Junior running back Logan Jones led the Wolfpack in rushing with 14 carries for 73 yards. McChesney was 17 for 28 with 269 yards passing and Epperly caught six passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns.
Glacier’s defense was great again, holding the Knights to 87 total yards, and just 27 on the ground. The banged-up Wolfpack front limited a large Hellgate team from hitting big plays on the read-option, stringing out the Knights’ speed players and sacking big quarterback Andy Nemec five times, forcing one interception. Glacier also got to reserve quarterback Brayden Frohlich sacking the 6-foot-6 gunslinger in the end zone to record a safety in the third quarter.
“Hellgate is a big, big football team,” Bennett said. “I liked what our defense did. You replace one guy, two guys that’s one thing. You’re replacing four starters, that’s a whole new defense out there at times. I really liked some of the stuff they did.”
Glacier is back on the road again next week, taking on defending state champion Butte. The Bulldogs beat Billings West 41-0 at home on Friday.
Hellgate 0 0 0 0 — 0
Glacier 0 28 7 5 — 40
Second quarter
G — Evan Epperly 7 pass from Brady McChesney (Purdy kick), 7:27
G — Tucker Rauthe 50 run (Purdy kick), 2:58
G — Devin Cochran 38 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 0:47
G — Epperly 39 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 0:17
Third quarter
G — Epperly 31 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 10:21
Fourth quarter
G — Hellgate safety, 9:44
G — Purdy 40 field goal, 2:32
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Hgt Gla
First downs 8 13
Total yards 87 444
Rushes-yards 27-27 33-168
Passing yards 60 276
Comp-Att-Int 15-29-2 18-32-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties-yards 1-10 8-45
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INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING — Hellgate: Brayden Frohlich 3-(-31), Andy Nemec 12-42, John Dalpiaz 2-5, Dain Cowan 2-3, Zac Martin 8-8. Glacier: Brady McChesney 4-24, Jake Willich 1-(-2), Casey Kostecki 2-0, Caleb Jones 2-4, Logan Jones 14-73, Leif Ericksen 1-0, Evan Epperly 1-11, Thomas Trefney 5-7, Tucker Rauthe 3-51.
PASSING — Hellgate: Brayden Frohlich 11-22-42-0, Andy Nemec 4-7-18-2. Glacier: Brady McChesney 17-28-269-1, Leif Ericksen 1-3-7-0, Jake Willich 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — Hellgate: Colton Halley 6-26, Kole Swartz 3-5, Zac Martin 2-0, Bob Schenk 3-16, Paul Wilson 1-13. Glacier: Logan Jones 2-14, Devin Cochran 2-56, Evan Epperly 6-137, Sam McCamley 5-28, Caleb Jones 2-34, John Hayes 1-7.