Flathead's Classroom of Defeat
By CARL HENNELL
The Daily Inter Lake
Flathead High School football fans are still shaking their heads from Saturday night's 18-13 loss to previously-winless Great Falls C.M. Russell.
What happened? The Braves offense was doing just fine in the opening quarter, marching for 153 yards and two touchdowns. The defense was, too. And how could the special teams place worse? They gave up a game-opening 99-yard kickoff return for a TD and then allowed a blocked punt on the Braves own 2-yard line that resulted in another CMR TD. That all happened in the first quarter and the Braves still had a 13-12 lead going into the second quarter.
The game finished with Flathead dominating in yards, 327-166.
Flathead coach Grady Bennett ushered the 2006 team into his Classroom of Defeat, where as long as you attend the class you will learn, and he had many answers for what happened. Even better, he said the kids saw all of the mistakes and are motivated from them.
First things, first: "We clearly got whopped in special teams," Bennett said. "That's one of the three major phases of the game."
To scratch the surface: "We had too many mistakes," Bennett said. "We had way too many penalties and six dropped balls that would have been good gains."
The Braves had 95 yards in penalties, which shocked Bennett afterward because he thought there was more. But the penalties were almost all timely. One brought back a 50-yard TD.
Third-and-short: "We didn't execute things that were clearly there," Bennett said. "There were three specific short-yardage situations where we called a play and got the exact defense we wanted lined up against us. We game planned perfectly. But the play didn't materialize."
Bennett said sophomore quarterback Brock Osweiler played a courageous game. But …
"He took a lot of shots," he said. "But he is still a young sophomore quarterback. He's only got three starts. He passed up on throwing to a lot of guys that were open. Right now, when a play breaks down, he wants to chuck it deep. We've got guys that can make those plays, but that is a low-percentage pass. He needs to learn to check it down to a higher-percentage pass."
Fans might have also raised an eyebrow when they saw Flathead's 48 passing plays to 13 running plays. And Bennett blames himself.
"That absolutely bothers me," he said. "I have to admit that in the second half I abandoned the running game. That's our fault, we can't abandon it. It's been our main emphasis in practice these last couple of days."
Bennett said there were reasons for his gradual abandonment.
"We had some miscues and some concern with how things were going," he said. "And they just started winning the battle up front. Plus our line didn't protect (Osweiler) very well. I've got to give CMR credit, because their front four did a great job and beat us one-on-one. But our line has got to take some pride in keeping (Osweiler) on his feet and keeping him healthy."
Bennett said he is shuffling his offensive line around a bit and is going to try some new things with the running game Friday during homecoming against Great Falls.
Another piece of the puzzle, Bennett said, is that the team realized how much it missed senior running back Shane Komenda. Komenda partially tore his MCL in the opening-season game against CMR.
"He is such a heady guy who knows what to do in passing situations as well as the running game," Bennett said. "He knows the game and he brings a certain level of knowledge to the field. He is just so steady. This loss made us realize how much we miss him."
All-in-all, Bennett has learned in his own Classroom of Defeat.
"It just gets so easy to rely on Brock (Osweiler) and his arm," he said. "It's our fault for putting the game into the hands of a sophomore - but he almost pulled it off."
No. 1 Butte 13, No. 7 Big Sky 7
The nickname for the top-ranked Butte Bulldogs this year should be The Cardiac Kids because they have won all four of its games by a combined total of 16 points.
Butte running back Casey Dennehy scored a 5-yard TD with 6:08 remaining in the game and Big Sky's final two possessions ended with a punt and interception.
Dennehy finished with 150 yards. But the story was Big Sky's passing game, which dropped many passes. QB Steve Tuttle was 8-for-23 for 109 yards and three interceptions.
No. 2 Capital 39, Hellgate 0
Helena Capital running back Matt Williams carried the ball 11 times for 120 yards as the Bruins combined for 341 yards in the rout.
Six different Bruins scored TDs. The Bruins outgained the Knights, 419-177. QB Jared Hunt added 66 yards on five carries and Kruze Banderob added 41 yards in the victory.
No. 4 West 28, No. 8 Great Falls 7
QB Gary Fox Jr. was 18-for-37 for 201 yards, West combined for 176 rushing yards and the defense got into the scoring column with a 75-yard interception return.
West running backs Nathan Jones and Nathan Ray had 82 and 61 yards rushing, respectively, and each had a TD.
Fox Jr. completed half of his passes to Deryk Van Zee. Van Zee had nine catches for 139 yards, including a 20-yard TD.
No. 5 Senior 28, Gillette, Wyo., 16
The Broncs used the same recipe they used to hand Billings West its first loss the week before to beat another undefeated team in Campbell County High School of Gillette, Wyo.
The Senior defense created four turnovers and limited the Camels to 247 yards, 135 of which came in the fourth quarter, and running back Mo Burrough scored three TDs and ran for 166 yards on 31 carries. He also made an impact on defense and special teams - picking off a pass in the first half and returning a punt 41 yards in the third quarter which set up Senior's last touchdown.
No. 6 Bozeman 22, Skyview 15
Skyview rushed for 298 yards, including 184 by Josh Morris, but it wasn't enough after Bozeman QB John Stinson scored from 1-yard out with 5:50 left then hit the 2-point conversion for victory.
Stinson passed for 164 yards and a TD and added two rushing TDs. He engineered two scoring drives in the first quarter to take Bozeman out to a 14-0 lead. The Skyview clawed back to take a 15-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
Helena 55, Sentinel 6
Helena running back Eron Krpan rushed for 163 yards and two TDs and Sentinel tried to run more than it passed (22-16).
Helena ran 69 plays, including 54 runs, to Sentinel's 38 and had seven different kids score TDs. The Bengals (2-2) outgained Sentinel (0-4) 466-97.