Butte rallies past Pack
BUTTE — A late turnover, a go-ahead touchdown and a safety lifted the Butte Bulldogs past Glacier Friday, in a 20-17 Western AA football win at Naranche Stadium.
The win puts Butte (5-2 overall, 4-1 in league) in prime position for a home playoff game; Glacier (4-3, 2-3) has lost three of four after a promising start.
“Just real disappointing,” a subdued Grady Bennett, Glacier’s coach, said. “Lots of errors and lots of mistakes. I don’t know of one drive where we didn’t have a penalty, a false start or a holding. So we were behind the chains all night long.
“That’s kind of two games we could not get out of our own way. We’ve got to find some answers. We have to be better for sure.”
Wiley Dallaserra provided the key interception near midfield for Butte, and it took four plays for the Bulldogs to cover 39 yards for the touchdown.
Jace Stenson set up his 1-yard scoring run with an 18-yard scramble the play before, and Butte had its first lead, 18-17, with 10:02 left in the game.
The Bulldogs, who rushed for 196 yards, pushed the gap to 20-17 when a holding call in the end zone resulted in a safety against Glacier.
“We threw a deep ball that was completed near midfield,” Bennett noted. “And unfortunately had a holding all in the end zone.”
The Wolfpack free-kicked the ball away with 4:28 left, got it back with 2:19 remaining and committed false start and holding penalties to submarine any chance at a clock drive.
All this happened after Gage Sliter fired scoring passes covering 55 and 54 yards to Jake Turner and Connor Sullivan. The Pack led 14-3 early in the second quarter, and 17-12 when Patrick Rohrbach drilled a 51-yard field goal at 2:56 of the third.
“This one’s on us. We just did not play well,” Bennett said. “We’re still in this thing. Let’s play better next week. Let’s’ be angry at ourselves for the way we played tonight and play better next Friday.”
The Wolfpack and Flathead renew their crosstown rivalry at Legends Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday.
Glacier 7 7 3 0 - 17
Butte 3 3 6 8 - 20
G — Jake Turner 55 pass from Gage Sliter (Patrick Rohrback kick), 10:35-1A
B — Casey Kautzman 45 FG, 4:58-1Q
G — Connor Sullivan 54 pass from Sliter (Rohrback kick), 11:45-2Q
B — Kautzman 34 FG, 2:37-2Q
B — Jace Stenson 1 run (run failed), 5:58-3Q
G — Rohrbach 51 Fg, 2:56-3Q
B — Stenson 1 run (pass failed), 10:02-4Q
B — Safety, Glacier holding penalty in end zone, 4:28-4Q
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Glacier (20-74) — Jake Rendina 16-75, Turner 1-10, Wyatt Thomason 1-4, Sliter 1-0, Sullivan 1-minus 15. Butte (52-196) — Gavin Vetter 29-122, Stenson 17-70, Kenley Leary 3-3, Dylan Snyder 1-2, Team 2-minus 1.
PASSING: Glacier — Sliter 13-25-1 for 185 yards. Butte — Stenson 9-21-1 for 177 yards.
RECEIVING: Glacier — Turner 5-75, Sullivan 3-64, Luke Bilau 2-45, Rendina 2-0, Kash Goicoechea 1-2. Butte — Snyder 4-88, Wiley Dallaserra 1-35, Vetter 1-28, Jonas Sherman 1-28, Leary 1-1, Cole Worley 1-minus 3.