Class AA football: Glacier shakes off Helena, moves on to state semis for fifth straight year

HELENA — There weren’t many firsts left to accomplish for the Glacier football team after a tremendous run of success the last five seasons.

With a powerful second-half performance, the Wolfpack checked off a few more, beating Helena High 23-13 to win for the first time on the road in the playoffs. It was also the first time Glacier has beaten the Bengals, ending a seven-game losing streak.

“It’s a great feeling, I can’t really describe it. To come here and beat them is an unreal feeling,” Glacier senior safety Jacob Willich said after the game. Willich was part of the Wolfpack defense that held Helena to just 57 yards in the second half, helping Glacier go on a 20-0 scoring run to close the game.

The Wolfpack fell behind early, when the Bengals, who had thrown only three passes in their first 21 plays, ran a misdirection play and found junior running back Ryan Arntson wide open down the sideline for an 87-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

Glacier was able to answer with a field goal on its next drive, but its offense sputtered for most of the first half. The Wolfpack opened its first two drives with plays of 21 and 18 yards, but quickly cooled down, having to punt each time. Glacier would follow the field goal with drives of 7 yards and -3 yards sandwiching a first play fumble.

“Mentally, I didn’t think we were the same in that first half,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “We were looking at Helena as a different opponent. We were worried about them too much.”

With the Glacier defense rounding into form, Helena was able to break free again late in the second quarter, Arntson finding a hole off tackle and running 64 yards for a touchdown and a 13-3 Bengals lead.

The Wolfpack found its rhythm on the next drive, quarterback Leif Ericksen driving the team 74 yards in three plays, capping it with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Scout Willcut with less than a minute to play in the half, entering the break down 13-9.

Glacier took the lead on its first possession of the third quarter, Thomas Trefney getting loose for 77 yards on a dive up the gut, followed three plays later by a reverse from Caleb Jones, who went untouched into the end zone.

Playing with the lead, the defense began to hone in on the Bengals run game, forcing a punt the next drive and getting two sacks with a short field on the following drive to force a turnover on downs.

Glacier again moved quickly, going 60 yards in three plays, but had a touchdown negated by a holding call and a field goal attempt was pushed wide left.

With the clock running under five minutes to play, Glacier drove the ball to the Helena 28-yard line but faced a fourth-and-13. Ericksen, who had missed on his previous five throws, dialed up a beauty for Willcut, the junior receiver pulling down a 22-yard catch to extend the drive.

On the next play, Trefney scored from six yards out to give the Wolfpack a 10-point lead.

The defense took over on the last few drives, Izaac Zunick intercepting Helena on the first drive and Gary Kenfield getting a sack and forcing a fumble on the Bengals’ final desparation play.

“We know exactly what we’re capable of,” Willich said of the defense.

“All week we had the best focus that we’ve had all year. We knew what formations were what, what we were going to see and what to look for on every single play. We read our keys and everyone did their job and did it well.”

The defense forced three fumbles and two interceptions, holding Helena to 323 yards.

Trefney was the star, rushing 28 times for 211 yards and a touchdown.

“You don’t do that against Helena High’s run defense, you just don’t.” Bennett said. “Tref had a huge day. Credit to the offensive line, that will be a fun film to watch. They opened up some nice holes for him and when he hit them, holy smokes.”

Ericksen was 10 for 22 with 211 yards passing, Willcut leading the team with 92 yards on four catches.

Arntson had 12 rushes for 123 yards and two catches for 93 yards to lead Helena.

The win advances Glacier to the semifinals for the fifth-straight year. The Wolfpack will travel to top-seed Bozeman, who beat Great Falls C.M. Russell 21-0 on Friday night.

The Hawks beat Glacier 24-10 in Kalispell the second week of the season. It is also the site of the Wolfpack’s last playoff loss, in the 2013 championship game.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Willich said. “We have Bozeman next week and they’re a really, really good team. We have to have a great week of practice again and come prepared to take it to them.”

Glacier 0 9 7 7 — 23

Helena High 7 6 0 0 — 13

First quarter

HHS – Ryan Arntson 87 pass from Jackson Thennis (Braxton Morris kick), 1:21

Second quarter

GLA – Cameron Anderson 28 field goal, 11:27

HHS – Arntson 64 run (Morris kick failed), 2:00

GLA – Scout Willicut 19 pass from Leif Ericksen (Anderson kick failed), :43

Third quarter

GLA – Caleb Jones 4 run (Anderson kick), 5:56

Fourth quarter

GLA – Thomas Trefney 5 run (Anderson kick), 4:20

GLA HHS

First downs 16 15

Rushing 39-217 39-157

Comp-Att-Int 10-22-1 10-19-2

Passing yards 211 166

Total offense 428 323

Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-1

Punts-avg 4-35.75 7-34.9

Penalties 4-35 11-85

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Glacier: Thomas Trefney 28-211, Caleb Jones 5-18, Leif Ericksen 6-minus 12. HHS: Ryan Arntson 12-123, Keair Adgerson 8-20, Jackson Thennis 10-14.

PASSING – Glacier: Ericksen 10-22-1-211. HHS: Thennis 10-19-2-166.

RECEIVING – Glacier: Jones 3-78, Scout WIllicut 4-92, Noah Lindsay 2-31, Drake Dulin 1-10. HHS: Arntson 2-93, Adgerson 2-27, Derek Jenneskens 1-6, Donovan Venner 1-7, Taylor England 1-5, Derrick Olsen 2-18.