FOOTBALL: Braves stumble in opener

The Flathead Braves couldn’t have dreamed up a better start.

It quickly turned into a nightmare.

Flathead’s defense forced turnovers on three straight possessions to open the game but lost their starting running back on his first carry and made a handful of ill-timed miscues in a season-opening 41-31 loss to Great Falls C.M. Russell at Legends Stadium on a picturesque Friday night.

“We had a couple things happen early on and we couldn’t finish, couldn’t convert early on,” Braves coach Kyle Samson said.

“I thought our defense came out awesome and then … we’ve got to convert on those turnovers, we’ve got to get some points.”

The Braves (0-1) forced a fumble on the Rustlers’ second offensive play, intercepted quarterback Lane Jensen on his second pass attempt and forced a second fumble before the game was four minutes old. All three turnovers gave Flathead the ball inside the CMR 40-yard line, but the Braves turned those three takeaways into just 10 points.

When CMR (1-0) got its offense going later in the quarter, Flathead’s defense made a few mistakes of its own and the Rustlers surged into the lead halfway through the second quarter. The visitors led 28-17 at halftime, rattling off 21 unanswered points.

“We came out in the second half and we kind of fought back a little bit,” Samson said.

“But every time we were knocking on the door we just seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot. Give credit, CMR’s a good football team and they capitalized on our mistakes.”

The first ugly sequence for the Braves came immediately following the Rustlers’ first fumble. The shotgun snap on the game’s first play went over quarterback Bridger Johnson’s head and led to an intentional grounding penalty and 16-yard loss. One play later, senior tailback Ryan Skramovsky burst through a hole for 11 yards, only to take a vicious hit on his lower back. The injury kept Skramovsky on the sidelines the rest of the game.

“That’s a tough deal,” Samson said of Skramovsky’s injury. “Don’t know the extent of it yet, just hoping and praying that he’ll be back next week.”

Skramovsky was replaced by committee, with sophomore Blake Counts, junior Eric Reyna, junior Jonathan Baker and sophomore Bobby Lowry all getting carries.

The Braves had to punt on their first possession, but after Tucker Nadeau intercepted Lane Jensen at the CMR 37-yard line, wide receiver Seth Adolph lined up as the wildcat quarterback and ran 37 yards for a touchdown. Flathead added a 26-yard Cody Cusker field goal later in the quarter.

Flathead’s defense got on the board early in the second quarter when Jensen was hurried and had the ball pop out of his hands and into the arms of defensive end Tanner Troutman in the end zone for a Braves touchdown.

Unfortunately for Flathead, the rest of the night was not as kind to the defense.

Flathead forced six turnovers and finished plus five in turnover margin, but when the Rustlers weren’t turning the ball over they were storming up and down the field.

Jensen rebounded from a shaky start to have a monster game, particularly in the first half. The senior finished 21 for 31 through the air for 351 yards, 214 of which came before halftime. He connected with Jake Wilkins for a 31-yard touchdown late in the first half and ran for four scores of his own, all coming on quarterback sneaks behind a physical offensive line.

“They made some plays and we might have had a couple coverage breakdowns,” Samson said of his defense.

“Their quarterback’s a pretty good player.”

CMR led 35-17 after three quarters but the still Braves had chances to come back, all the way into the game’s final minutes.

After closing to within 35-24 on a Counts touchdown run, Flathead had the ball at the CMR 23-yard line with nine minutes to go. Once again, however, a shotgun snap went over Johnson’s head and another intentional grounding penalty on the same play pushed the Braves back 28 yards.

Later in the final quarter, Jaden MacNeil picked off Jensen deep in Braves territory to end a Rustler drive but Johnson was himself intercepted two plays later.

Flathead’s final score came in the waning seconds, with Johnson finding James Flannigan from 16 yards out.

Johnson was 12 for 31 in the first start of his senior season, throwing for 189 yards and rushing for 22 more. Adolph was the Braves’ leading rusher, carrying it seven times for 70 yards. He added five catches for 91 yards.

The Braves are back at home Friday, hosting Helena at 7 p.m. at Legends Stadium.

“One game’s not going to define our season,” Samson said.

“We’ve got to understand that we’ve got to go out and get a win and try to 1-1 next week.”

CMR 7 21 7 6 — 41

Flathead 10 7 0 14 — 31

First quarter

FLT — Seth Adolph 37 run (Cody Cusker kick), 8:54

FLT — Cusker 26 field goal, 4:39

CMR — Lane Jensen 2 run (A.J. Folds kick), 1:27

Second quarter

FLT — Tanner Troutman 0 fumble return (Cusker kick), 10:58

CMR — Jensen 3 run (Folds kick), 9:00

CMR — Jensen 1 run (Folds kick), 5:16

CMR — Jake Wilkins 31 pass from Jensen (Folds kick), 1:54

Third quarter

CMR — Isaiah Chargois 3 run (Folds kick), 6:10

Fourth quarter

FLT — Blake Counts 1 run (Cusker kick), 11:16

CMR — Jensen 1 run (kick blocked), 1:23

FLT — James Flannigan 16 pass from Bridger Johnson (Cusker kick), 0:27

CMR FLT

First downs 24 17

Rushes-yards 42-141 29-114

Passing yards 351 189

Comp-Att-Int 21-31-2 12-31-1

Total offense 492 303

Fumbles-lost 4-4 2-0

Punts-avg 1-37 6-34

Penalties-yards 9-81 11-111

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — CMR: Lane Jensen 22-58, Xavier Pace 6-30, Isaiah Chargois 9-25, Jake Horner 1-16, Damien Nelson 2-11, Jake Wilkins 1-1. FLT: Seth Adolph 7-70, Bridger Johnson 7-22, Blake Counts 9-12, Ryan Skramovsky 1-11, Jonathan Baker 1-2, Bobby Lowry 1-minus 1, Eric Reyna 3-minus 2.

PASSING — CMR: Lane Jensen 21-31-2-351. FLT: Bridger Johnson 12-31-1-189.

RECEIVING — CMR: Jake Wilkins 5-134, Jake Horner 6-89, James Olsen 5-81, Cade Mares 3-29, Isaiah Chargois 2-18. FLT: Seth Adolph 5-91, James Flannigan 2-30, John Hinchey 2-25, Blake Counts 1-22, Austin Demars 2-21.