Pack pulls away on Eagles
MISSOULA — Gage Sliter threw four touchdown passes, ran for another score and Glacier pulled away to beat feisty Missoula Big Sky 55-14 Thursday at MCPS Stadium.
The Wolfpack, 3-0 overall and 1-0 in Western AA football, led 17-0 in the first quarter — Kobe Dorcheus got the Wolfpack on the board with a 67-yard touchdown burst, and Sliter scrambled and hit Van Scholten with a 29-yard scoring pass.
Missoula Big Sky (0-1, 1-2) quickly cut the gap to 17-14, getting two TD passes from Drew Martens, sandwiched around a muffed kickoff by the Pack.
Colter Ramos caught the first, covering 67 yards, on the first play of the second quarter. Then Joey Sandberg scored on a 5-yard pass with 8:52 left in the first half.
“You’ve got to keep your foot on the gas pedal with them, because they can turn in a moment,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “It’s happened before. With us experiencing that against CMR last week (up 35-14, the Pack won 42-35), it was, ‘OK fellas, we have to keep playing.’ “I was proud of the guys this week, they kept their heads in it and kept playing.”
After that it was all Wolfpack. A 45-yard pass to Kaid Buls set up Sliter’s 9-yard TD scramble midway through the quarter; a 49-yard pass to Van Scholten set up a 7-yard scoring pass from Sliter to Buls with 1:26 left in the half.
In the third quarter Jackson Hensley had a second-and-third effort, 8-yard scoring run, not long after Rhett Measure hauled in a fourth-down pass to give Glacier first-and-goal.
Then Buls caught a 12-yard TD pass, set up by Alex Hausmann’s 60-yard interception return.
Bridger Smith hauled in a 4-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter, before Rhett Measure hit his second field goal of the game to complete the scoring.
“I thought Big Sky was right there, had some possessions deep in our territory,” Bennett said of the Eagles, who saw Ramos rack up 153 receiving yards, including a catch off a fake punt. “Eventually our defense got some stops as we extended it out.”
Sliter threw for 367 yards, with Buls and Scholten the main beneficiaries.
“Gage Sliter ws tremendous tonight. The offensive line did a great job, gave him great protection,” Bennett said. “(Dorcheus) broke that big one early and that led them to tighten up their run defense, and that opened things up for Gage and the passing game. Hopefully that’s what our offense does all year, just taking what the defense gives us.”
Kash Goicoichea saw his first action this season, getting a pair of carries. Glacier didn’t punt and outgained the Eagles 482-217.
Kaleb Shine was the top tackler for the Pack with seven, including two sacks. Cameron Shaw had a sack as well. Dylan Whitten had six stops.
Glacier 17 14 14 10 - 55
Big Sky 0 14 0 0 - 14
G — Kobe Dorcheus 67 run (Rhett Measure kick), 9:39-1Q
G — Measure 35 FG, 4:37-1Q
G — Van Scholten 29 pass from Gage Sliter (Measure kick). 1:33-1Q
MBS — Colter Ramos 67 pass from Drew Martins (Martins kick), 11:45-2Q
MBS — Joey Sandberg 5 pass from Martins (Martins kick), 8:52-2Q
G — Sliter 9 run (Measure kick), 6:40-2Q
G — Kaid Buls 6 pass from Sliter (Measure kick), 1:26-2Q
G — Jackson Hensley 8 run (Measure kick), 6:14-3Q
G — Buls 12 pass from Sliter (Measure kick), 3:44-3Q
G — Bridger Smith 6 pass from Sliter (Measure kick), 6:49-4Q
G — Measure 21 FG, 3:27-4Q
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Glacier (21-115) — Dorcheus 7-67, Hensley 7-18, Kash Goicoichea 2-8, Cohen Kastelitz 1-7, Sliter 4-6. Big Sky (31-35) — Sandberg 14-53, Drew Paxton 3-4, Aiden Marceau 1-minus 1, Martins 13-minus 21.
PASSING: Glacier — Sliter 25-32-0 for 367 yards. Big Sky — Martins 15-29-2 for 182 yards.
RECEIVING: Glacier — Bulls 6-95, Smith 5-55, Van Scholten 4-89, Hensley 3-33. Big Sky — Ramos 9-153, Sandberg 2-13, Root Connor 1-10, Mason Fulford 1-7.