AA football: Flathead crushes CMR
GREAT FALLS — Second-year coach Kyle Samson thought before the season that his Flathead Braves might be able to sneak up on some teams.
That’s not going to be the case any more.
Flathead dominated Great Falls C.M. Russell from the opening kick and rolled to a 28-7 road win Friday afternoon.
“We talked about it all summer. We had put in the work and knew if we went out and executed our game plan this could be the result,” Samson said.
“(The post-game locker room) was electric. The kids were so excited.”
The win was Flathead’s first over the Rustlers since 2003 and avenged a 30-point loss a year ago. CMR lost to Glacier in the state championship game in 2014 and figured to be stout again this year behind all-state running back Andrew Grinde. But Flathead picked off a pass on the Rustlers’ first drive of the game and quickly turned it into a 20-yard touchdown pass from Bridger Johnson to Keaton Krantz.
“That was huge to start that way,” Samson said.
“We want a three-and-out on defense and to start with a score, and we get the turnover. That gave our kids great confidence and we kept going from there.”
The Braves defense forced four turnovers, including three interceptions to match Flathead’s season total from a year ago. Cody Wiley, C.J. Dugan and Trae Vasquez — playing in his first varsity game — each had picks, and the Braves also recovered a fumble. The Flathead offense did not turn the ball over.
When Flahead’s defense was not intercepting Karl Tucker II, they were making the Rustler quarterback run for his life. The Braves recorded at least seven sacks, led by a monster game from senior Cody Howe. A senior-laden Flathead defense held Grinde to 85 yards, allowed Tucker to complete only seven passes and helped the Braves outgain CMR 298-235 yards overall.
“Our defense controlled the game,” Samson said. “(Cody) Howe just did a tremendous job. He was in the backfield the whole game.”
Johnson, who had attempted only one pass at the varsity level before Friday, was sharp in his first career start. The junior completed 15-of-21 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, with he and Krantz hooking up again from 46 yards out in the waning seconds of the third quarter.
“I felt some nerves going into it,” Johnson said. “But once we got going it felt awesome. The sideline was pumped from the start. We knew we were going to win and we showed it.”
After the Braves’ first score, the defense forced a quick punt and Josh McCracken gave Flathead a two-score lead with a 71-yard touchdown run. McCracken ran for nearly 1,000 yards a year ago and got his season started right with a 124-yard effort on the ground.
CMR started to claw back when Grinde scored from 36 yards out midway through the second quarter to trim the lead to 14-7. The Rustlers then blocked a Flathead field goal attempt just before halftime and forced a Braves punt immediately after the break. The Braves defense responded again, however, forcing a punt that was returned a momentum-shifting 78 yards by junior Seth Adolph to put Flathead in business inside the CMR 5-yard line. Payton Boyce did the rest, pounding the ball into the end zone from four yards out.
“It was a huge swing for us to get up 21-7,” Samson said. “I don’t think our team ever felt worried. There are always momentum changes in the game but we showed our toughness tonight to avoid some adversity.”
The Braves ran down the clock in the fourth quarter behind McCracken and Vasquez picked off Tucker II in the final minute to secure the victory.
The 28 points scored by the Braves were more than they scored in all but one game last season. Flathead’s seven points allowed were fewer than in any 2014 contest, with Friday’s defensive effort a far cry from a team that gave up an average of 28.5 points per game last year.
Flathead will ride the win into Friday’s game at Helena, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
“I told the kids after the game to enjoy it tonight and to be proud of what they did,” Samson said. “But it’s only one. We’ve got to back to work and start focusing on Helena. Our goal this year wasn’t just to win our first game.”
Flathead 14 0 14 0 — 28
CMR 0 7 0 0 — 7
First quarter
FLA – Keaton Krantz 20 pass from Bridger Johnson (Justin Gardner kick), 9:07
FLA – Josh McCracken 71 run (Gardner kick), 0:12
Second quarter
CMR – Andrew Grinde 35 run (Dylan Sandefur kick)
Third quarter
FLA – Payton Boyce 4 run (Gardner kick), 7:01
FLA – Krantz 46 pass from Johnson (Gardner kick), 0:24
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FLAT CMR
First Downs: 11 17
Total Net Yards: 298 235
Rushes-Yards: 30-130 40-154
Passing: 168 81
Comp-Att-Int: 15-21-0 7-14-3
Punts-Ave: 5-38 5-35
Fumbles-Lost: 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 10-85 4-36
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: FLAT: McCraken 19-124-1, Boyce 3-11-1, Adolph 1-2-0, Johnson 4- -7-0. CMR: Grinde 12-85-1, Tucker 26-70-0, Pepin 2- -1-0
PASSING: FLAT: Johnson 15-21-2—168. CMR: Tucker II 7-14-0--81.
RECEIVING: FLAT: Smith 3-31, Flannagan 3-25, McCraken 3-24, Krantz 2-66-2, Adolph 2-13, Skramvsky 1-9, Reyna 1-0. CMR: Grinde 5-54, Pepin 2-27.