Helena Capital forced a pair of fumbles and limited Flathead to 115 yards of total offense as the Bruins eliminated the Braves 15-0 in the first round of the Class AA playoffs on Friday night.
Helena Capital’s Braxton Kent kicked a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter and the Bruins scored touchdowns in the second and fourth quarters to sink Flathead.
Helena Capital advanced to the second round of the playoffs and will play Billings Senior next week.
Billings Senior defeated Billings West 38-9 on Friday. Bozeman beat Great Falls C.M. Russell in other playoff action.
Glacier plays Helena at 1 p.m., Saturday in the final opening-round game. The winner takes on Bozeman next week.
The Bruins successfully bottled up Flathead’s Josh McCracken, limited one of the best running backs in the state to 52 yards on 12 carries. Braves quarterback Bridger Johnson gained 33 yards on the ground and passed for 22 yards on 3-of-15 passing.
The Braves end the season with a 6-5 record, the best finish since 2008. Flathead also made its first appearance in the playoffs since 2011.
Capital 15, Flathead 0
Flathead 0 0 0 0 — 0
Capital 3 6 0 6 — 15
First quarter
CAP — Braxton Kent 33 field goal, 8:43
Second quarter
CAP – Daniel O’Malley 3 run (Kent kick failed), 1:30
Fourth quarter
CAP – Will Hunthausen 14 pass from Carter Pappas (Kent kick failed), :13
FLA CAP
First downs 7 19
Rushing 25-93 47-223
Comp-Att-Int 3-15-0 13-24-1
Passing yards 22 116
Total offense 115 339
Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1
Punts-avg 8-33.75 4-34.5
Penalties 7-52 5-56
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Flathead: Josh McCracken 12-52, Bridger Johnson 9-33, Payton Boyce 2-6, Seth Adolph 1-minus 2, Ryan Skramovsky 1-4. Capital: Daniel O’Malley 15-86, Carter Pappas 20-88, Payton Pappas 11-30, Will Hunthausen 1-19.
PASSING – Flathead: Johnson 3-15-0-22. Capital: Carter Pappas 13-24-1-116.
RECEIVING – Flathead: James Flannigan 2-13, Adolph 1-9. Capital: Brad Haller 4-26, Hunthausen 6-41, Danny Burton 2-43, O’Malley 1-6.