Class AA Football: Glacier pounds Big Sky on road, wins eighth straight
Glacier stormed its way to a 49-28 drubbing of Missoula Big Sky in Class AA football play on Friday night at Missoula County Stadium, rolling into the playoffs as the state’s hottest team.
The Wolfpack finish the regular season at 8-2 on a state-best eight-game winning streak, but will travel for the opening week of the playoffs for the first time since 2010 because of a stacked top of the conference. Glacier, which is the fifth seed in the conference, will play at Helena High (8-2) after the Bengals handled their business against Billings West on Friday in a 27-14 win.
“That’s a good challenge, to play one of the teams that has beaten us. The guys get another shot,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.
“We were hoping things would work out and we’d get a home game, but that’s OK. When you get to the playoffs, wherever you have to go, whoever you have to play, you’re just happy that you’re in. We’ve won eight in a row and we feel like we’re playing really well, so we don’t really care.”
Glacier dominated the game against Big Sky (2-8), running out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter behind three touchdowns from senior running back Thomas Trefney, the last from 33 yards out. Trefney ran for 119 yards on only 13 carries, averaging more than nine yards a carry on the night.
The offense kept purring as the game rolled on. Leif Ericksen tossed a 14-yard touchdown to Noah Lindsay with 4:19 left in the half and a 25-yard score to Caleb Jones as the clock expired in the second quarter.
Jones would score twice in the third quarter, once on an 18-yard run and again on a 58-yard catch, to run the score out to 49-0 before the Wolfpack put in the second string.
Ericksen was 17 of 22 for 324 yards passing and three touchdowns and Jones finished with 185 receiving yards on eight catches.
“Leif Ericksen tonight played his best game by far he’s ever played,” Bennett said.
“I haven’t watched the film yet, but I can’t think of a decision he made that I wasn’t just thrilled with. He just played so good.
“The receivers caught the ball, the O-line blocked well, Tref had another huge night. Just exactly the way we wanted to finish and how we want to be playing going into the playoffs.”
The Glacier defense held Big Sky running back Michael Banna to 48 yards rushing on 22 carries. Nick Wakai had a breakout game for the Eagles, with nine catches for a game-high 190 yards.
The Wolfpack has yet to beat Helena High in its eight years, going 0-7 against the Bengals, including a 23-17 loss in its season opener this year. Glacier wasn’t close in the lone playoff meeting between the two teams, falling 48-16 in 2010. However, fortunes have turned for the Wolfpack in Helena, with the team winning its last two games at Vigilante Stadium.
Glacier won’t be the only Kalispell team headed to Helena. Flathead clinched the sixth seed and a game against Helena Capital with a win on Friday. It is just the second time both Kalispell teams made the playoffs in the same year.
Glacier 21 14 14 0 — 49
Big Sky 0 0 8 20 — 28
First quarter
G - Thomas Trefney 10 run (Cameron Anderson kick), 9:22
G - Trefney 4 run (Anderson kick), 7:24
G - Trefney 33 run (Anderson kick), 1:25
Second quarter
G - Noah Lindsey 14 pass from Leif Ericksen (Anderson kick), 4:19
G - Caleb Jones 25 pass from Ericksen (Anderson kick), :00
Third quarter
G - Jones 18 run (Anderson kick), 9:03
G - Jones 58 pass from Ericksen (Anderson kick), 3:15
B - Nick Wakai 18 pass from Levi Janacaro (Michael Banna pass from Tyler Ogilvie), 1:29
Fourth quarter
B - Banna 3 run (Wakai kick), 9:39
B - Tyler Ogilvie 25 run (kick failed), 4:11
B - Banna 12 run (Wakai kick), 3:17
Individual stats
Rushing—Glacier, Trefney 13-119, Jones 1-18, Ericksen 2-3, Turner Drew 16-43, Jackson Pepe 1-(-1). Big Sky, Michael Banna 22-48, Levi Janacaro 11-28, Tyler Ogilvie 3-26, Josiah Gilbert 2-4.
Passing—Glacier, Ericksen 17-22-0-324. Big Sky, Janacaro 14-27-0-232, Ogilvie 5-5-0-83, Banna 0-1-0-0.
Receiving—Glacier, Caleb Jones 8-185, Scout Willcut 3-62, Lindsey 3-37, Drake Dulin 2-31. Big Sky, Wakai 9-190, Seamus Lucostic 7-80, Banna 2-29, Josh Malone 1-16.