Sentinel surges over Flathead, 54-0

Quarterback Zac Crews had a very efficient first half for Missoula Sentinel Friday, his four touchdown passes helping the Spartans a 48-0 lead on the way to a 54-0 win over Flathead at Legends Stadium.

The battle between the unbeaten and defending State AA champion Spartans (5-0, 3-0 in the Western AA) and the Braves (0-6, 0-4) began with a Sentinel turnover — Flathead’s Kayden Berkey forced and recovered a fumble at the Spartan 41-yard line.

Sentinel’s vaunted defense held on four downs, however, and the visitors then marched 65 yards for a touchdown. Crews found Kellen Curtiss for 27 yards and the score.

The lead grew to 13-0 when Crews scrambled out of a sack and found Joseph Weida for 18 yards and the TD at 4:21 of the first quarter.

A 40-yard scoring pass to Drew Klumph made it 21-0 before the first quarter ended; Klumph made it 27-0 when he blocked a punt, snared it on the bounce and went 45 yards to paydirt at 9:40 of the second quarter.

“We started pretty well,” Flathead coach Alex Cummings allowed. “But that’s tough. Again, we have opportunities — we have a turnover right away. We also had an opportunity for a sack and don’t wrap it up and they get a touchdown.

“We are getting better; we are. But that’s a really good group, Sentinel. They’ve put their time in and that’s a tough group that we played.”

Crews was 10-for-11 passing for 177 yards, including a TD pass covering 27 yards to Karsen Beitz.

Klumph’s punt block was the third time Sentinel got at least a fingertip on a Flathead kick.

“We really struggled on our punt team tonight, and that’s been a pretty good team for us this year,” Cummings said. “We just can’t have those mistakes. We couldn’t get the field flipped and that’s really hard on your defense.”

Quarterback Jackson Walker had a 16-yard run for the Flathead offense; his longest completion covered 8 yards. The Braves were held to 59 yards.

Chase Youso again led the defense with nine tackles. Mason Doran intercepted Sentinel backup QB Riley Allen. Berkey had a sack in addition to his fumble forced and recovered. He had three tackles.

“I think our kids played hard,” Cummings said. “They’re staying positive. This is a very young team and we just need to keep working hard and getting better — keep our vision on getting better each week.”

Flathead stays home next Friday to face Helena High.

Sentinel 21 27 0 6 - 54

Flathead 0 0 0 0 - 0

S — Kellen Curtiss 27 pass from Zac Crews (kick failed), 7:33-1Q

S — Joseph Weida 18 pass from Crews (Quintin Schraeder kick), 4:21-1Q

S — Drew Klumph 40 pass from Crews (Nolan McCaffery pass from Crews), 1:19-1Q

S — Klumph 45 blocked punt return (run failed), 9:40-2Q

S — Curtiss 1 run (Caden Dimberger kick), 6:08-2Q

S — Weida 37 run (Dimberger kick), 2:55-2Q

S — Karsen Beitz 27 pass from Crews (Dimberger kick), :22-2Q

S — Brandon Rondeau 47 run (kick failed), 5:27-4Q

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Sentinel (25-158) — Rondeau 6-72, Adam Jones 5-40, Weida 1-37, Easton Leadbtter 1-6, Curtis 2-5, Crews 1-5, Team 3-0, Tyler Christensen 1-minus 2, Riley Allen 5-minus 5. Flathead (33-41) — Jackson Walker 15-25, Joe Jones 15-6, Trevor Burke 1-5, Braden Capser 2-5.

PASSING: Sentinel — Crews 10-11-0 for 177 yards; Allen 8-13-1 for 63 yards; Jones 1-1-0 for 3 yards. Flathead — Walker 4-12-1 for 16 yards.

RECEIVING: Peyton Stevens 5-48, Rondeau 3-22, Beitz 2-39, Weida 2-21, Connor McCarthy 2-11, Klumph 1-40, Curtiss 1-27, Leadbetter 1-15, Jones 1-12, Cody McVey 1-8. Flathead — Caleb Riley 2-10, Brody Thornsberry 1-8, Jones 1-2, Dylan Kratofil 1-minus 2.