Glacier hangs on to beat Senior 21-14

To survive the Billings Senior Broncs 21-14 Friday night at Legends Stadium, the Glacier Wolfpack needed a little bit of everything.

A circus catch; a couple red zone stands; a couple late first downs.

Connor Sullivan’s interception of a Senior option pass with 4:18 left preserved the Wolfpack’s lead, but the hosts were still starting from their own 5-yard line.

The lead held up after Rendina a) hauled in a Gage Sliter pass for 9 yards on third-and-5; and b) ran 6 yards with a direct snap on third-and-4.

Most of Rendina’s 95 rushing yards were hard-earned against a Senior squad that looked much better than 5-5.

“That’s playoff football, right there,” Rendina said. “That’s what we love.”

“Coach (Chris) Murdock, he’s a tough-minded coach,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said after his club improved to 6-3, and earned a quarterfinal matchup next week in Butte. “They’ve been more physical than us the last few times they’ve beat us.

“That was a physical football game and I’m proud of how our guys held up. From like eight minutes left to 4:00 was a flurry of activity, and man — credit them for just battling.”

Let’s back up. Glacier led 7-0 early, going 57 yards on its opening drive with Sliter finding Luke Bilau with a 16-yard touchdown pass.

Then things got tough. Glacier wasted a muffed punt return by Senior later in the quarter, giving the ball up on downs at the Broncs’ 23.

From there sophomore quarterback Peyton Oakley completed pases of 13, 9, 11 and 21 yards to guide the Broncs downfield. Jacob Miller ran in from 11 yards out to knot the score in the second quarter.

The Broncs had a golden opportunity at a halftime lead, with Maclain Burckley’s 17-yard reception setting up first-and-goal with 37 seconds left in the half. That march ended with a host of Glacier tacklers bottling up Miller, who ran for 103 yards, on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

Senior can wonder about that drive, and about a couple defensive pass interference calls on Glacier’s last two scoring drives (the Pack also had one), and then that final drive.

One play after Senior’s second DPI, Sliter found Jake Turner wide open for a 54-yard touchdown that made it 21-7, with 8:01 left in the game. Turner, playing for the first time in three weeks, adjusted to the wind-blown ball and dodged a couple tackles for his eighth TD of the season.

“I’m just so proud to play by his side. He has a hurt wing right now; he’s healing up,” Rendina said, then added: “Obviously it’s not that hurt if he can run 80 yards. I love playing with that kid, he’s the toughest kid I know.”

The Broncs were not cooked. A personal foul on Glacier made for a short field, and Senior drove 50 yards, closing to 21-14 on a 5-yard run from Oakley with 7:15 left in the game.

Two snaps later a Sliter pass to Tate Kauffman was jarred loose and Vincent Meza ended up with the tip-drill interception.

Senior started at Glacier’s 32, lost yardage on a hold, then gained 29 yards on a pass to Peyton Morton.

From there Glacier’s Royce Conklin gathered up Miller for a 3-yard loss, and a run by Morton went nowhere. Eventually Sullivan got the pick, at his own 5.

“Our guys come up big with the stop, and how about that offense to come out with four minutes and just grind it out?” Bennett asked.

“I was a little late,” Sliter, who threw for 253 yards, said of his interception. “That was not Tate’s fault, that was on me. But that’s all right, we got it back on D.”

The pass to Rendina was critical, coming at the 2:00 mark. Senior soon expended its timeouts.

“That’s just one we had in the playbook,” Sliter said. “ We ran it early and really liked it against these guys. And it worked. We have a go route on the outside and a little cross on the inside, so it worked pretty well.”

Glacier came in without kicker Patrick Rohrbach, who’s injured: Rhett Meadows handled the place kicking and Kaid Buls the punting duties with aplomb. Sullivan had seven catches for 118 yards; Turner had two for 66.

“He’s a guy that you always love playing with,” Sliter said of Turner. “You know whether he’s in pain or not, he’s going to give his all. That’s what he did tonight. Love that kid.”

The Pack gets another trip to Butte, where it lost 20-17 on Oct. 13.

Senior 0 7 0 7 - 14

Glacier 7 0 0 14 - 21

G — Luke Bilau 16 pass from Gage Sliter (Rhett Measure kick), 9:55-1Q

S — Jacob Miller 11 run (Maclain Burckley kick), 8:01-2Q

G — Rendina 2 run (Measure kick), 11:48-4Q

G — Jake Turner 54 pass from Sliter (Measure kick), 8:57-4Q

S — Peyton Oakley 6 run (Burckley kick), 7:15-4Q

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Senior (34-160) — Miller 20-103, Peyton Morton 6-28, Oakley 4-24, DeMarcus Johnson 1-21, Team 1-minus 16. Glacier (35-127) — Rendina 27-95, Kash Goicoechea 2-21, Slier 4-11, Team 2-0.

PASSING: Senior — Oakley 11-21-0 for 140 yards; Maclain Burckley 0-1-1 for 0 yards; Chrstian Emineth 0-1-0 for 0 yards. Glacier — Sliter 16-24-1 for 253 yards.

RECEIVING: Senior — Burckley 5-62, Bubba Bergen 2-26, Simpson 2-16, Morton 1-28, Aundre Ruff 1-8. Glacier — Connor Sullivan 7-118, Turner 2-66, Bilau 2-38, Rendina 2-15, Goicoechea 1-8, Joe Limberis 1-5, Tate Kauffman 1-3.