Wolfpack gridders head to MCPS on short rest
Glacier wide receiver Evan Barnes (8) heads to the end zone on his second of four touchdown receptions against Great Falls CMR at Legends Stadium on Friday, Sept. 2. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
On the heels of a walkover-turned-nail-biter, the Glacier Wolfpack football squad has a short week and a game at Missoula Big Sky to contend with.
On paper Thursday’s game, at 7 p.m inside MCPS Stadium, looks like a mismatch: Big Sky needed overtime to beat Billings Skyview 20-14 last Friday, and the week before that Skyview fell to Flathead 26-0.
Glacier coach Grady Bennett is not having it.
“It’s a typical Matt Johnson-coached team,” he said of the 1-1 Eagles. “We tell our kids every time we play Big Sky, it’s a matter of respect: They play so hard. They don’t worry about record or the scoreboard, they just fly around.”
Aside from that, there’s little information on the Eagles, who have not updated their Maxpreps page. Mitch Muralt, a tight end last year, appears to be the QB; in Ben Maehl they have an excellent player at receiver and the defensive backfield.
Again, this could be more about the Wolfpack, who had to mount a clock drive to subdue Great Falls Russell 42-35 last Friday.
“Clearly, a lot of lessons to learn for a young team,” said Bennett, whose club led 35-14 at intermission. “We said all the right things at halftime: It’s not over, it’s 0-0, we need to keep playing hard.
“But credit CMR, they’re a tough, physical team. I still think they’re going to win the East.”
The Pack started at its own 23 for the winning drive. Crucial was QB Gage Sliter hitting Bridger Smith for 34 yards on third-and-22.
“That’s game, right there,” Bennett said. “Because if we punt it, I don’t know.”
Then Kobe Dorcheus caught a pass from 9 yards, then had runs of 11 and 13 yards to set up Sliter’s TD plunge from the 1.
“I felt good,” Bennett said of the final possession. “There was four minutes to go and just listening to Gage address the offense before that drive, I felt good about things.”
Dorcheus is Glacier’s top rusher with 127 yards in two games. He averages 7.1 yards a pop. Five receivers have 5-7 receptions, and Sliter has thrown for 11 touchdowns. It’s a potent offense helped by an opportune defense.
Kaleb Shine, Cameron Shaw, Carson Gulick and Aidan McShane all recovered fumbles for Glacier; McShane’s recovery sealed the outcome in the final moments.