Braves topple Wolfpack
With big play after big play, Flathead ended its losing streak to its crosstown rivals in impressive fashion, breaking in the new turf at Legends Stadium by pounding Glacier 31-19 on Friday in a Class AA conference football game.
The Braves (2-2) ran up 541 yards of offense and forced five turnovers in the victory, winning the crosstown game for the first time since 2008.
“We made it our whole goal this week in practice (to force turnovers),” Flathead senior Trae Vasquez said. “We wanted to force at least three turnovers a day in practice. We knew we needed to give our offense more shots, not only in this game but the entire season. We haven’t been doing as great at getting turnovers this season. We made it a real emphasis this week in practice to force turnovers. That showed in the game. That was huge for this whole team to get the win.”
The Flathead offense thrived in the run game and beat Glacier (0-4) time and again on play action to rack up long gains, scoring four touchdowns longer than 29 yards.
“We didn’t want to have negative plays,” Flathead coach Kyle Samson said. “We got them in some short yardage and we were able to hit some play action.
“I’m so proud of our guys. It’s been four years in the making since my staff got here. We’re just so proud of the way that our guys fought tonight. It’s great to get a win for our fans and our seniors.”
The game started off a mess, with the teams trading five turnovers in the first quarter.
Flathead capitalized on the first play after a fumbled Glacier lateral with MacNeil running clean through the Wolfpack defense for a 32-yard touchdown.
After turnovers on its first two drives, Glacier responded with a haymaker of its own on the next drive, Evan Todd connecting with Mark Estes over the top of the Flathead defensive backfield for a 61-yard touchdown.
The next three drives ended in turnovers and Glacier shanked a punt for negative yards on the drive after that, adding to a chaotic first quarter.
Flathead was able to add some stability to its game by relying on the run game, closing out the first with four straight rushes to get to the Glacier 40-yard line.
Two plays into the second quarter, the Braves pulled the string on a play action, Taylor Morton finding Jon Baker streaking through daylight on a wheel route for a 35-yard score.
Glacier responded with a quick scoring drive again, with Drew Turner muscling 20 yards for a touchdown a minute later. The Wolfpack struggled in the kicking game again, however, getting the extra point blocked to remain one point back on the scoreboard.
Big plays again drove Flathead down the field on the ensuing drive with a 24-yard connection to Anthony Jones up the sideline leading to a 28-yard touchdown run from Vasquez on a jet sweep to give Flathead a 21-13 lead.
Flathead scored a field goal on its next drive and nearly scored on the final drive of the half, completing a 32-yard pass to Jones at the halftime buzzer that finished inside the 5-yard line.
The Braves dealt the finishing blow early on the third play of the third quarter, Morton again getting the Glacier defense to bite, finding Baker on another wheel route up the sideline for a 59-yard touchdown and a 31-13 lead.
Glacier scored a touchdown on its first drive of the fourth quarter, finding Estes on a deep post for a 30-yard touchdown, but couldn’t capitalize on most of its red zone chances. In its only other chances, the Wolfpack turned the ball over on downs after advancing to the Flathead 17 and committed a holding penalty at the Flathead 18, backing out of close range on a drive that ended in another interception. With less than five minutes to play and the Wolfpack needing a scoring drive, it fumbled on its first play, handing over the ball to the Braves for a fifth time as they ran out the clock.
“I want to congratulate coach Samson and his team,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “They had a great game plan and they executed it. His kids played hard.
“We won eight in a row, streaks end. They ended it. They just flat ended it. Now it’s their streak. Their kids just played fantastic.
“You’re not going to beat many people turning the ball over five times. It is hard to win with five turnovers.
“It wasn’t just the turnovers, but once again, a lot of execution errors. Special teams was embarrassing. There’s execution things we just have to improve.
“It’s on all of us. It starts with us as coaches to find solutions, fix those things. It’s not good. That’s on us. It’s on them too to execute.”
Blake Counts had 115 rushing yards for Flathead and Jones finished with 150 yards receiving on five catches.
Drew Turner had 172 rushing yards for Glacier and Estes had five catches for 141 yards.
“I’m just proud of this team,” Vasquez said. “We fought the whole game. It wasn’t easy. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They weren’t going to give up. Glacier’s a great team. I wish them all the best the rest of the season. But, this one’s ours. That feels great to say for once.”
Flathead 7 17 7 0 — 31
Glacier 7 6 0 6 — 19
First Quarter
F — Jaden MacNeil 32 run (Alex Coulter kick), 10:18
G — Mark Estes 61 pass from Evan Todd (Caden Harkins kick), 9:18
Second Quarter
F — Jon Baker 31 pass from Taylor Morton (Coulter kick), 11:15
G — Drew Turner 20 run (kick blocked), 9:55
F — Trae Vasquez 29 run (Coulter kick), 8:00
F — Coulter 20 field goal, 4:01
Third Quarter
F — Baker 59 pass from Morton (Coulter kick), 10:25
Fourth Quarter
G — Estes 30 pass from Todd (kick failed), 11:14
Flat Glac
First Downs 23 19
Rushes-yards 52-288 27-202
Passing 253 200
Comp-Att-Int 9-12-2 11-28-2
Punts-Avg. 5-37.4 4-30.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-3
Penalties-Yards 6-60 5-44
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Flathead, Blake Counts 24-115, Jon Baker 11-60, Jaden MacNeil 9-49, Taylor Morton 6-36, Trae Vasquez 2-28. Glacier, Drew Turner 22-172, Mark Estes 2-34, Evan Todd 3-(-4).
PASSING — Flathead, Taylor Morton 9-12-2-253. Glacier, Evan Todd 11-28-2-200.
RECEIVING — Flathead, Anthony Jones 5-150, Jon Baker 2-90, Austin Demars 2-13. Glacier, Mark Estes 5-141, Brec Rademacher 3-40, Drew Deck 3-19.
INTERCEPTIONS — Flathead, Jaden MacNeil, Eric Reyna. Glacier, Jackson Pepe, Jared Brenden.