AA football: Bozeman bumps Glacier
Missed opportunities marred any hope for Glacier to build momentum in a 24-10 loss to Bozeman on Friday at Legends Stadium. The loss drops Glacier to 0-2 for the first time since its inaugural season in 2007.
The game didn’t start well for Glacier, the Wolfpack going three-and-out on its first possession then giving up a 58-yard punt return to set Bozeman (2-0) up at the Glacier 7-yard line.
The Hawks capitalized two plays later to take a 7-0 lead on a four-yard pass from DJ Perdaems to Cade Wessell.
Bozeman would add to that on its next possession, ripping off a 14-play drive that ended in a 27-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead.
Penalties, a problem for Glacier in its opening loss to Helena High last week, began top pile up again as it pulled off its first promising drive of the game.
The Wolfpack rode a series of wide receiver screens to senior Caleb Jones deep into Bozeman territory, but stalled at the 4-yard line when called for holding. Backed up to the 16, Bozeman’s Trace Bradshaw sacked Glacier’s Leif Ericksen for a four-yard loss on the next play. Glacier would get back to the 11, but missed a 27-yard field goal wide right.
The Wolfpack would find traction on its next drive, taking advantage of a shanked punt to set up at the Hawks’ 37-yard line.
Glacier cut into the lead shortly after when Noah Lindsay made a catch along the sidelines, turning upfield and driving through a trio of Bozeman defenders to convert an 18-yard touchdown and cut the lead to 10-7 with 4:20 to play in the half.
However, a late touchdown stung the Wolfpack again as Perdaems found Bennett Hostetler in the back of the end zone for a touchdown with 1.5 seconds on the clock, giving the Hawks a 17-7 lead at halftime.
Glacier cut the lead back to one score with a field goal early in the third quarter, but Bozeman answered on its next drive with a touchdown, Perdaems taking it himself from 15 yards out to put the Hawks ahead 24-10.
The Wolfpack drove to the Bozeman 4-yard line on the next drive, but couldn’t convert, Ericksen sailing a fourth-down pass out of the back of the end zone to end what would be Glacier’s last good chance at scoring.
“On offense we missed (opportunities) we really needed, defensively, every time we needed a stop we couldn’t get it,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.
Bozeman dominated time of possession in the contest, holding the ball nearly twice as long as Glacier. It was most deadly in the first half, when the Hawks scored on all but one possession.
Glacier scored just twice on five trips inside the Bozeman 30-yard line.
“We’ve got to look at our red zone offense,” Bennett said.
“The whole package, the whole thing. We’ve got to make some decisions in the red zone. Two games in a row now we’ve had really good opportunities and we haven’t cashed in.
“There’s clearly some issues in the red zone we’ve got to fix.”
Thomas Trefney finished the game with 14 rushes for 55 yards and Ericksen was 17 of 27 for 255 yards passing. Caleb Jones had six catches for 105 yards to lead the Wolfpack.
Perdaems was 17 of 23 for 189 yards passing with an additional 31 yards on the ground. Payton O’Reilly was one of a pair of big backs that helped wear down the Glacier defense, finishing with 16 rushes for 66 yards.
This is the worst start to a season for the Wolfpack since their 0-10 inaugural year in 2007. Glacier went 1-3 at the start of 2010 and made the playoffs as a 7 seed. In 2012, the Wolfpack began the year 1-2 and finished the season 9-3, earning the top seed in the playoffs before a semifinal loss to Bozeman.
The road doesn’t get any easier next week, traveling to Helena Capital (2-0) which beat Missoula Hellgate 55-0 on Friday.
“We’re going to be fine,” Bennett said.
“We’ve gotten accustomed in this program to being out in front. It wasn’t that long ago we started out 1-2 and fought our way into the playoffs and got to the semis. It doesn’t happen every year that you’re going to run the table.
“We’ve got to keep getting better and respond to adversity.”
Bozeman 10 7 7 0 — 24
Glacier 0 7 3 0 — 10
First Quarter
BOZ—Cade Wessell 4 pass from DJ Perdaems (Bennett Hostetler kick), 9:36
BOZ—Hostetler 27 field goal, 0:54
Second Quarter
GLA—Noah Lindsay 18 pass from Leif Ericksen (Cameron Anderson kick), 4:20
BOZ—Hostetler 11 pass from Perdaems (Hostetler kick), 0:01
Third Quarter
GLA—Anderson 29 field goal, 4:17
BOZ—Perdaems 15 run (Hostetler kick) 1:21
—————
Bozeman Glacier
First downs 14 14
Total Yards 304 321
Rushes-yards 33-115 22-66
Passing yards 189 255
Punt Returns 2-51 0-0
Kickoff Returns 3-49 4-51
Interceptions Ret. 1-22 0-0
Comp-Att-Int 17-23-0 17-27-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-4 1-2
Punts 5-23 3-34
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 13-94 12-112
Time of Possession 32:24 18:16
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Bozeman, Payton O’Reilly 16-66, DJ Perdaems 12-31, Trace Bradshaw 5-18. Glacier, Thomas Trefney 14-55, Caleb Jones 2-6, Leif Ericksen 5-4, Jaxen Hashley 1-1.
PASSING—Bozeman, DJ Perdaems 17-23-0-189. Glacier, Leif Ericksen 17-27-1-255.
RECEIVING—Bozeman, Bailey Paddock 4-80, Cade Wessell 5-42, Payton O’Reilly 2-22, Bennett Hostetler 2-13, Robert Samson 1-13, Trace Bradshaw 1-7, Bryce Lingle 1-6, Lance McCutcheon 1-6. Glacier, Caleb Jones 6-105, Scout Willcut 1-51, Noah Lindsay 3-35, Drake Dulin 2-22, Tadan Gilman 1-19, Jaxen Hashley 2-14, Thomas Trefney 2-9.