Wolfpack gridders fall to Capital

HELENA — Tom Carter scored two touchdowns to fuel a second-half comeback by Helena Capital Friday, and the Bruins downed Glacier 35-27 in Western AA football at Vigilante Stadium.

Capital’s Talon Marsh was a major thorn as well.

Carter ran for 52 yards and had 81 yards receiving, helping the Bruins rally from a 27-14 halftime deficit. His 5-yard scoring reception on a jet sweep put Capital up 28-27 with 2:57 left in the third quarter; a 35-yard sprint around the right side capped the scoring with 4:55 left in the game.

Glacier, similar to last week, worked the clock down trying for a game-tying touchdown. This time Gage Sliter’s pass — on fourth-and-23 from the Capital 25-yard line — sailed out of the end zone with 55 seconds remaining.

Capital (5-0 overall, 3-0 in league) sits atop the Western AA. Two-time defending champion MIssoula Sentinel, which edged Glacier 38-31 last week, saw its 25-game winning streak end at home Friday, 35-7 to Helena High.

Sentinel fell to 3-2, 1-2 in the Western AA.

“Shoot, we’ve shown the gap between the top teams and us isn’t too big,” Wolfpack coach Grady Bennett said. “We just have to keep working and believing. Some of our leaders stepped up and said great things in the locker room, about fixing little things in practice and getting better. You feel good about that senior leadership.

“We still believe we have a high ceiling and we’re going to work hard to close that gap. That’s all we can do.”

Glacier looked good early, though Nick Michelotti had a 19-yard pick-6 for the Bruins, tying the game at 7-all in the first quarter.

The teams traded touchdowns before the first quarter ended: Jackson Hensley tore off a 29-yard touchdown run for Glacier, and Hayden Opitz scored on a 1-yard plunge for Capital.

The Pack built its lead with a 1-yard Hensley run — set up by a 70-yard pass from Slater to Kaid Buls — and an 8-yard scoring pass to Van Scholten.

That made it 27-14, but Capital came out up-tempo to start the second half and drove 76 yards to a Dylan Graham 6-yard TD in less than two minutes.

Then Marsh showed up. The 235-pound Montana State commit racked up four sacks, one coming on Glacier’s ensuing possession.

On the Pack’s next possession, Michelotti made his second interception to give Capital the ball at Glacier’s 39. That set up Joey Michelloti’s short scoring pass to Carter, and Capital suddenly led 28-27 at 2:57 of the third quarter.

On its next possession, Marsh had another sack, then blew up a third-down pass play for no gain.

“There was one series in the fourth quarter, where we went 3-and-out, where he made all three tackles,” Bennett said. “We’ve been really talking to our kids about repeating good plays, being consistent, playing all four quarters. But you know when the chips are down, great players make things happen. Talon Marsh did that tonight. He was amazing.”

On its final possession Glacier used a flea-flicker pass covering 16 yards to get to the Capital 12. A holding penalty moved the Pack back; so did yet another Marsh put sack.

Sliter, who hit Cohen Kastelitz with a 56-yard scoring strike before the game was two minutes old, threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns. Kastelitz had five catches for 129 yards.

Hensley ran for 59 yards on 14 carries for Glacier, which is home next Friday against the Helena Bengals.

Joey Michelotti threw for 142 yards for Capital.

Glacier 14 13 0 0 –27

Capital 14 0 14 7 – 35

G — Cohen Kastelitz 56 pass from Gage Sliter (Rhett Measure kick), 10:16-1Q

HC — Nick Michelotti 19 interception return (K LaChere kick), 6:22-1Q

G — Jackson Hensley 29 run (Measure kick), 2:32-1Q

HC — Hayden Opitz 1 run (LaChere kick), :40-1Q

G — Hensley 1 run (kick failed), 3:44-2Q

G — Van Scholten 7 pass from Gage Sliter (Measure kick), 1:08-2Q

HC — Dylan Graham 6 run (LaChere kick), 10:07-3Q

HC — Tom Carter 5 pass from Joey Michelotti (LaChere kick), 2:47-3Q

HC — Carter 35 run (LaChere kick), 4:55-4Q

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Glacier (30-159) — Hensley 14-59, Sliter 15-41, Kastelitz 1-10, Kobe Dorcheus 2-5, Team 1-minus 6. Capital (33-109) — Graham 18-104, Carter 3-52, Opitz 4-15, Team 2-0, N.Michelotti 3-minus 12.

PASSING: Glacier — Sliter 19-30-2 for 249 yards. Capital — J. Michelotti 13-23-0 for 142 yards. Nick Michelotti 1-1-0 for 40 yards.

RECEIVING: Glacier — Kastelitz 5-129, Kaid Buls 3-90, Bridger Smith 5-24, Scholten 1-7. Hensley 5-minus 1. Capital — Carter 5-81, Tyler Kovick 4-51, N. Michelotti 3-37, Opitz 2-13.