Flathead holds off Glacier

By KATIE BROWN

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead Braves pulled out a 28-27 win over the Glacier Wolfpack on Friday as crosstown football fever consumed Legends Stadium.

It was tight the whole way, but Flathead got a crucial stop in the fourth quarter with 2:12 remaining on a Glacier (1-4) two-point conversion that all but sealed the win. Flathead improved to 4-1 on the season.

“I thought we responded to some adversity, got some big turnovers on defense and guys just stepped up when we needed to,” Flathead coach Kyle Samson said. “I’m just very proud of them.”

Tied 7-7 at the half, Flathead burst out to a two-touchdown lead in the third quarter, led by Blake Counts and quarterback Jaden MacNeil, who Samson said was hurt early in the game but toughed it out the rest of the way.

MacNeil’s 36-yard rushing touchdown in the third was the Braves’ longest scoring play of the game. The senior rushed for 127 of Flathead’s 304 yards on the ground.

Counts came up big again for the Braves, running for 173 yards and two touchdowns. His 1-yard score in the fourth gave Flathead a 28-21 lead.

“He just did a tremendous job,” Samson said of Counts. “He’s a tough kid. Just really proud of him. He showed a lot of heart.”

The game never seemed out of reach for Glacier, who kept it close in the first half and tied the game early in the fourth quarter. Glacier attempted three two-point conversions and was successful on one of them, but it was a risk Wolfpack coach Grady Bennett was willing to take, especially with the game on the line. Samson called it a “big stop.”

“It was pretty wild,” Bennett said. “Our kicking game has been pretty hit or miss so that’s why we thought we had some good momentum, let’s just go for it, try to get the win. Sometimes you make those calls and shoot, it doesn’t work out for you, but that’s sports.”

Glacier was held to 140 rushing yards and 134 passing. Preston Blain ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Evan Todd and receiver Drew Deck were both nicked for negative yardage.

“It’s obviously disappointing, just because you lose a really tight game but it was a good football game,” Bennett said. “Disappointing the way we answered the bell coming out of the half. I really wanted to come out much better, obviously, and we just didn’t come out with the fire I expected, the fire I guess I thought we would.”

Chaos ruled the second half when Glacier’s Danny Anderson intercepted MacNeil in the third quarter and the Wolfpack took over on the 14-yard line. Bennett decided to run a flea-flicker play and try to catch the defense off-guard. Colin Bowden received the handoff from Todd, but threw it into double-coverage. Flathead’s Tannen Beyl caught the ball in the end zone.

On the ensuing Flathead possession, MacNeil fumbled. Cole Crosby came up with the ball. Blain scored the first of his two touchdowns on Glacier’s next drive. The Braves stayed poised and responded with MacNeil’s 36-yard touchdown when they next had the ball.

“That was just a lot of plays there,” Samson said. “I was happy the way we responded. Our guys never panicked and when the critical situations came up, we got a big stop on defense and put it in on offense. I was very happy with that.”

It was the second year in a row Flathead claimed the crosstown victory over Glacier, and the season series stands 8-4 in favor of the Wolfpack.

Next Friday, Flathead will visit top-ranked Bozeman, while Glacier hosts Missoula Sentinel.

Flathead 7 0 14 7 — 28

Glacier 0 7 6 14 — 27

First quarter

F – Logan Siblerud 7 pass from Jaden MacNeil (Eric Gardner kick), 5:48

Second quarter

G – Drew Deck 1 run (Carter Purdy kick), 10:04

Third quarter

F – Blake Counts 1 run (kick good), 6:39

F – MacNeil 36 run (kick good), 3:14

G – Deck 19 pass from Evan Todd (PAT pass intercepted by Tanner Russell), 0:01

Fourth quarter

G – Preston Blain 2 run (Deck PAT pass from Todd), 8:47

F – Counts 1 run (kick good), 3:39

G – Blain 17 run (PAT run failed), 2:12

FLA GLA

First Downs 22 16

Rushes-yards 55-313 27-162

Passing yards 85 134

Comp-Att-Int 7-16-1 11-18-2

Total offense 389 274

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Punts-avg 2-41 2-51

Penalties 13-98 6-65

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – FLA: Blake Counts 38-173, Jaden MacNeil 15-127, Chance Sheldon-Allen 1-4. GLA: Preston Blain 21-144, Drew Deck 2--2, Evan Todd 4—2.

PASSING – FLA: Jaden MacNeil 7-15-1-85. GLA: Evan Todd 11-17-1-134. Colin Bowden 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING – FLA: Anthony Jones 3-21, Kaden Wills 2-40, Jestin Bulik 1-17, Logan Siblerud 1-7. GLA: Drew Deck 5-62, Colin Bowden 2-24, Danny Anderson 2-21, Cole Crosby 1-15, Preston Blain 1-12.