FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Wolfpack looks to run down Bengals

For all the bells and whistles in the Glacier playbook, there’s an aspect of its football team that would fit in any era of the Montana high school playoffs.

The Wolfpack offensive and defensive lines have been dominant in a four-game stretch that has pushed Glacier to the state semifinals for a sixth straight year, capped by a thorough dismantling of Missoula Sentinel last week in the first round. Glacier ran for 334 yards on offense, including a school-record 256 yards from junior running back Drew Turner, and accounted for nine sacks on defense in the win, setting up tonight’s home game against Helena High.

“Drew was fantastic, but the offensive line on level one last week was amazing,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “He averaged 12.2 (yards per carry), so most of that was huge holes. Oh my goodness, our offensive line was brilliant.

“No matter what people say, football is still won in the trenches. If you’re going to win championships and you’re going to get where you want to go, it’s gonna happen up front with the offensive and defensive lines. Our offensive and defensive lines have played fantastic the last few weeks and are getting better and better.”

If the Wolfpack is going to slow down Helena, it will have to start up front again, with the Bengals leaning even more on senior running back Ryan Arntson and its big offensive line. Arntson rushed 37 times for 246 yards in the Bengals’ first round win over Bozeman.

“The past few games he is getting over 30 carries a game,” senior defensive/offensive lineman Jaxen Hashley said. “That’s what they like to do. You can’t blame them, he’s a great running back. Our main focus is to stop the run. We’ll see what we can do from there.”

Helena tilted its offense heavily toward the run as well, keeping it on the ground 43 times while attempting only 17 passes. Arntson has rushed for a school-record 1,436 yards this season and has 85 carries just in the last two weeks.

“Arntson’s really rolling,” Bennett said. “He’s always been their guy but they find a way to get a steady diet of (giving the ball to) him over and over again. Obviously that’s going to be the key: try to contain him and bottle him up, which is going to be a big-time challenge.”

Glacier will have to stay hot on offense, where it is averaging 45 points per game in its four-game win streak. It is facing a defense that has largely shut down two of the top teams in the state the last two weeks, winning its regular season finale against Billings West before last week’s win at Bozeman.

“Offensively we have to continue to execute,” Bennett said. “If our execution level is high, we do some pretty good things, put some points up and move the football. We’ve been executing so well.”

Glacier has won its last two meetings with the Bengals, last year in the first round of the playoffs and the first game this season, after losing the first seven contests of the series. Those two wins, however, came at Vigilante Stadium in Helena. The Bengals are undefeated outside of the Capital City this season and have won all four previous games at Legends Stadium.

“That was one of the last hurdles,” Bennett said.

“Last year when we finally beat Helena, that was a big one for us. Then to do it again at the beginning of the year, is good for the kids mentally, psychologically. They’re always really talented and well coached. You’re going to truly have to beat them if you’re going to get the victory.”

The game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. at Legends Stadium and will be broadcast locally on 103.9 FM.