AA football playoffs: Glacier blasts West

It took some time for Glacier to get back in the groove.

Once it got going, it showed why it’s been a tough out all season, playing near flawlessly in all three phases of the game in beating Billings West 58-8 in the first round of the Class AA football playoffs on Friday night at Legends Stadium.

The top-ranked Wolfpack went three-and-out on its first drive against eighth-seeded West and was sacked on the first play of its second drive. West decided to bring pressure at Glacier quarterback Brady McChesney, who was hobbled with a sprained ankle two weeks ago against Great Falls High and limped throughout the game with Flathead a week ago, to test his mobility.

That gameplan backfired.

The next play was a 22-yard screen pass from McChesney to Logan Jones. Two plays later, after a ball went barely out of reach for a touchdown, another 30-yard strike to Devin Cochran. Two plays after that, McChesney found Sam McCamley over the top of the defense, 26 yards for a touchdown.

“From my perspective, the best thing that happened was on the third play, when Brady got hit right in the mouth,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.

“Then the next play he got tackled and twisted. It was the best thing that could have happened because he realized, ‘I’m OK.’ He got in that competitive groove and after that he got back in his mode. It was over.”

McChesney threw touchdown passes on three of the next four drives in the first half, throwing another on the empty drive that was called back for illegal motion. West’s defensive strategy to bring pressure and play single coverage on the outsides left gaping holes on the perimeter for Glacier’s skill positions to attack.

“They decided to bring pressure tonight, that’s what we pray for,” Bennett said. “If you’re going to pressure Brady McChesney and give our wideouts one-on-one matchups, we’ll take it and here we go.”

Glacier’s offense was stellar, scoring on all but one possession in the second half, including the first possession with its backups in the game. It barely missed on the only other drive, stalling at the West 1-yard line.

Thomas Trefney scored three touchdowns, twice rushing and once passing, to extend his streak of games with multiple touchdowns to seven. Logan Jones had three catches for 108 yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns and a punt return touchdown while McChesney finished 16 of 27 for 298 yards passing and four scores. Backup Leif Ericksen connected with junior receiver Drake Dulin on the only other touchdown.

“We’ve got matchups,” Bennett said. “That’s what’s beautiful about this team. You take away the pass, we’ll run it. You take away the run, we’ll throw it. We can do whatever. We have to continue to do that, take what the defense is giving us.”

The defense was nearly as great, forcing West to punt after a three-and-out seven separate times, forcing and recovering two fumbles, intercepting a pass and holding the Golden Bears to less than six plays and a punt in all but one drive.

West ran the ball effectively on its only touchdown drive, feeding back Cody McCombs eight times, the last a one-yard jaunt into the end zone.

“What a great effort by our defense,” Bennett said. “Execution across the board. Just a beautiful effort by those guys.”

Glacier will play fifth-seeded Missoula Big Sky in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Legends Stadium. The Eagles topped fourth-seeded Billings Skyview 28-21 on the road on the back of four rushing touchdowns from quarterback Cory Diaz. Big Sky didn’t complete a pass in the contest, only attempting two.

Helena High topped Bozeman 25-13 and Great Falls C.M. Russell beat Billings Senior 28-21. The Nos. 2 and 3 teams in the playoffs, Helena will host CMR next week in the other half of the bracket.

Glacier 58, Billings West 8

West 0 8 0 0 — 8

Glacier 14 14 17 13 — 58

First quarter

G — Sam McCamley 26 pass from Brady McChesney (Brandon Purdy kick), 5:45

G — Logan Jones 20 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 1:45

Second quarter

G — Thomas Trefney 35 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 9:15

W — Cody McCombs 1 run (McCombs run), 3:43

G — Logan Jones 65 pass from McChesney (Purdy kick), 3:28

Third quarter

G — Brandon Purdy 26 field goal, 8:48

G — Trefney 2 run (Purdy kick), 6:40

G — Trefney 1 run (Cameron Anderson kick), 1:55

Fourth quarter

G — Jones 38 punt return (Anderson kick), 11:51

G — Drake Dulin 9 pass from Leif Ericksen (conversion pass incomplete), 7:17

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West Glacier

First downs 7 15

Total yards 127 464

Rushes-yards 33-69 37-135

Passing yards 58 329

Comp-Att-Int 7-22-1 20-31-0

Return Yards 163 69

Punts-Avg. 7-32 3-26

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0

Penalties-Yards 5-42 8-65

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — West, Cody McCombs 14-47, Casey Klaboe 8-6, Remington Hjelvik 2-11, Gavin Compton 2-4, Parker Pernhardt 1-3, Bryson Deming 1-3, Jackosn Cobb 3-(-1), Zach Wolff 2-(-4). Glacier, Thomas Trefney 13-43, Logan Jones 7-35, Leif Ericksen 1-15, Patrick O’Connell 4-13, Jacob Janke 1-12, Alex Stewart 8-9, Brady McChesney 2-6, Devin Cochran 1-2.

PASSING — West, Casey Klaboe 7-22-1-58. Glacier, Brady McChesney 16-27-0-298, Leif Ericksen 4-4-0-31.

RECEIVING — West, Parker Bernhardt 2-20, Brock Bolin 2-18, Jason Leinwand 3-20. Glacier, Logan Jones 3-108, Devin Cochran 4-70, Thomas Trefney 3-45, Sam McCamley 3-40, Alex Stewart 3-22, Noah Lindsay 1-16, Jaxen Hashley 1-14, Drake Dulin 1-9, Bryce Brenden 1-5.

Friday’s Class AA Box Scores

Missoula Big Sky 28, Billings Skyview 21

Big Sky 7 7 7 7 — 28

Skyview 0 6 8 7 — 21

First quarter

BgSy — Cory Diaz 31 run (Nick Wakai kick), 4 —21.

Second quarter

Skyvw — Rashawn Kroll 6 run (kick fail), 9 —17.

BgSy — Diaz 7 run (Wakai kick), 3 —03.

Third quarter

Skyvw — Justin Keeling 3 run (Taylor Trollope pass to Zane Guse), 1 —33.

BgSy — Diaz 56 run (Wakai kick), 1 —13.

Fourth quarter

BgSy — Diaz 20 run (Wakai kick), 7 —36

Skyvw — Trollope 89 pass from Logan Nelson (Davis kick)

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Big Sky Skyview

First downs 18 18

Rushes-yards 33-310 46-144

Passing 0-2-0 12-16-2

Passing yards 0 260

Total offense 310 404

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-18 3-30

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Big Sky, Cory Diax 22-200, Michael Banna 16-103, Tristan Tahta 1-9, Luke Entzel 4-(-2). Skyview, Riley Barta 16-54, Justin Keeling 15-51, Logan Nelson 10-27, Rashawn Kroll 5-12.

PASSING — Big Sky, Diaz 0-1-0-0, Entzel 0-1-0-0. Skyview, Nelson 12-16-260-2.

RECEIVING — Skyview, Trollope 7-143, Tre’von Dixon-Strong 5-117.

INTERCEPTIONS – Big Sky, Diaz, Chance Maes.

Helena 25, Bozeman 13

Bozeman 6 0 0 7 — 13

Helena High 0 12 6 7 — 25

First quarter

B — Brady Coffman 19 pass from DJ Perdaems (kick blocked), 8:38

Second quarter

H — Paul Hart 20 pass from Jackson Thennis (kick blocked), 3:50

H — Nick VanHorssen 4 run (VanHorssen run failed), :39

Third quarter

H — Chase South 6 pass from Thennis (VanHorssen run failed), 7:53

Fourth quarter

H — Kendall Johnson 35 interception return (Willem Morris kick), 3:10

B — Bennet Hostetler 4 pass from Perdaems (Hostetler kick), 1:26

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Bozeman HHS

First downs 17 18

Rushing 26-65 41-132

Comp-Att-Int 19-45-3 13-22-2

Passing yards 248 194

Total offense 313 326

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Punts-avg 3-30 4-31

Penalties 6-62 11-75

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Bozeman, Balue Chapman 6-33, DJ Perdaems 15-19, Cordell Appel 5-13. HHS, Lane Kokoruda 20-88, Nick VanHorssen 5-14, Jackson Thennis 10-3, Nick Winfield 6-27.

PASSING — Bozeman, Perdaems 19-45-3-248. HHS, Thennis 13-22-2-194.

RECEIVING — Bozeman, Bennet Hostetler 7-104, Brady Coffman 5-56, Bailey Paddock 3-49, Payton O’Reilly 3-35, Chapman 1-4. HHS, Kokoruda 4-54, Paul Hart 4-88, Chase South 5-52.

Great Falls CMR 28, Billings Senior 21

Senior 0 7 7 7 — 21

CMR 6 8 7 7 — 28

CMR — Andrew Grinde 82 run (Dylan Sandefur failed)

SR — Sam Sparks 4 run (kick good)

CMR — Grinde 2 run (Kam Mims from Dallas Farren)

CMR — Karl Tucker II 33 run (Sandefur kick)

SR — Nathan Dick 1 run (kick good)

CMR — Grinde 13 run (Sandefur kick)

SR — Tyger Frye 41 pass from Dick (kick good)

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Senior CMR

First Downs 18 13

Total Yards 389 320

Rushes-Yards 45-147 37-288

Passing 242 32

Comp-Att-Int 16-23-1 4-9-0

Punts-Avg 3-36 5-36

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 4-42 3-23

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Senior, Sparks 26-100, Dick 17-35, Gabe Sulser 2-12. CMR, Grinde 23-160, Tucker II 6-82, Farren 3-38, Bryce Cuchine 2-7.

PASSING — Senior, Dick 16-23-1 – 242. CMR, Farren 4-9-0—32.

RECEIVING: Senior, Sulser 12-118, Frye 2-74, Connor Gaughan 2-50. CMR, Tucker II 1-12, Jacob Bahnmiller 1-11, Grinde 1-7, Cuchine 1-2.