AA football: Resurgent Flathead bombards Big Sky, improves to 3-1

It’s been a long time since the Flathead football program looked like this.

The Braves annihilated Missoula Big Sky 52-13 Friday night at Legends Stadium, improving to 3-1 for the first time since 2006, scoring more points than they have in any game since 2008 and notching their largest margin of victory since 2002.

“I think we’re playing better than we have in a long, long time,“ senior wide receiver Keaton Krantz said. “We’ve been doing pretty dang good.”

The once-moribund Flathead program has been revived as a sudden juggernaut, one that has won back-to-back home games by a combined 68 points. One week after marauding their way to 350 yards rushing, Flathead threw for 230 yards against the Eagles and piled up more than 500 yards of total offense.

“Coach said they were probably going to crowd the box because Josh (McCracken) was running over Great Falls,” quarterback Bridger Johnson said. “We felt like we could take advantage of play action and go over the top to Keaton (Krantz).”

Johnson’s 230 yards passing came on just 11 completions, as the junior went 11-for-16 through the air. Krantz caught four deep balls, including a 66-yard touchdown on the first play of the third quarter. Krantz’s four catches went for a total of 164 yards.

“I was very proud of Bridger (Johnson),“ Samson said. “He had some huge plays and Keaton (Krantz) just had a tremendous game.”

“(Krantz) has really focused on becoming a better route runner. He’s got great speed and great size, and I thought he played his best, not only catching the ball, but he had some great blocks.”

Flathead scored 21 points in the first 10 minutes of the game and was never threatened by a hobbled Big Sky (0-4) team. The Eagles lost quarterback Tyler Ogilvie in their loss to Sentinel last week and spent much of Friday’s game with 212-pound fullback Michael Banna playing quarterback.

The Braves (3-1) forced five turnovers and corralled four interceptions, including two by sophomore Trae Vasquez. Banna and sophomore Levi Janacaro combined to complete only seven passes.

“We didn’t know (about Ogilvie’s injury) until tonight when they showed up on the first play without him,” Samson said. “Our kids made some great plays on defense, it was awesome to see us get the ball back.”

Payton Boyce scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground, plowing in from a yard out early in the first quarter and adding a 28-yard run less than five minutes into the third that made the score 38-0. McCracken, Johnson, Seth Adolph and Ryan Skramovsky also ran for scores.

McCracken carried the ball only 15 times — after 31 carries last week — but still piled up 115 yards to get to 583 for the season. Samson admitted after the game they wanted to “limit his carries” to help preserve McCracken after his heavy early-season workload.

The Braves’ locker room buzzed after the game, and why not for a team that sits as one of five in Class AA at 3-1, looking up in the standings only at undefeated Billings Senior.

“We’re having tons of fun,” said Johnson. “It’s awesome. I love it.”

Samson, though, refuses to get ahead of himself.

“I think we played very well but I don’t think we played our best game,” he said. “It’s nice to come into the locker room and see everybody smiling and see the fans excited to see the kids.”

“We’re very proud and we’re very excited with where we’re at but we’ve got to understand we can’t be satisfied. We’ve got to keep getting better.”

Big Sky 0 0 6 7 — 13

Flathead 21 3 21 7 — 52

First quarter

FLT — Seth Adolph 20 run (Justin Gardner kick), 10:23

FLT — Payton Boyce 1 run (Gardner kick), 4:27

FLT — Josh McCracken 1 run (Gardner kick), 2:36

Second quarter

FLT – Gardner 23 field goal, 5:31

Third quarter

FLT — Keaton Krantz 66 pass from Bridger Johnson (Gardner kick), 11:41

FLT — Boyce 28 run (Gardner kick), 8:05

MBS — Nick Wakai 47 pass from Michael Banna (conversion failed), 7:45

FLT — Johnson 3 run (Gardner kick), 2:02

Fourth quarter

MBS — Levi Janacaro 7 run (Wakai kick), 9:45

FLT — Ryan Skramovsky 8 run (Gardner kick), 5:49

MBS FLA

First downs 13 23

Rushes-yards 39-171 37-272

Passing yards 105 230

Comp-Att-Int 7-23-4 11-16-2

Punts-avg 1-41 1-42

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-25 10-105

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MBS: Michael Banna 29-102, Kadin Lahti 2-34, Nick Wakai 3-20, Josiah Gilbert 4-8, Levi Janacaro 1-7. FLT: Josh McCracken 15-115, Ryan Skramovsky 7-50, Seth Adolph 3-45, Payton Boyce 4-39, Logan Thurston 3-12, Bridger Johnson 2-6, Eric Reyna 2-5.

PASSING — MBS: Michael Banna 2-10-3-57, Levi Janacaro 5-13-1-48. FLT: Bridger Johnson 11-16-2-230.

RECEIVING — MBS: Nick Wakai 3-77, Seamus Lucostic 1-10, Matt Carlson 1-9, Josh Malone 1-5, Kolton Sandau 1-4. FLT: Keaton Krantz 4-164, James Flannigan 3-28, Ryan Skramovsky 2-24, Seth Adolph 1-9, John Hinchey 1-5.