Glacier Shuts Down Belgrade
A little bit of lightning delayed but did not stop the Glacier Wolfpack from pummeling Belgrade 52-0 in their opening game at Legends Stadium. Jake Rendina ran for three touchdowns and Gage Sliter threw for three more as the Wolfpack defense shut out the Panthers. Glacier proved to be more than a one-man running show — even as Rendina scored from 3, 9 and 2 yards out, the Wolfpack’s throwing game was just as successful. Sliter tossed his TDs to Jake Turner (23 yards), Tate Kauffman (29) and Luke Bilau (7), who threw one of his own from 39 yards out to Connor Sullivan. Patrick Rohrbach was 7-for-7 on extra points and kicked a 22-yard field goal for the Wolfpack in the fourth quarter.
Flathead Drops Opener
The Braves opened up their first season under head coach Alex Cummings with a 34-7 loss to the Skyview Falcons. Dylan Goodell ran for three touchdowns for Skyview, scoring on runs of 2 and 3 yards in the second quarter and from 5 yards out in the third quarter. Goodell also threw a 20-yard TD pass to Kailua Fatupaito. Trey Dye statted the game on the right note for the Falcons with a 45-yard kick return for a TD. Trailing 34-0, the Braves finally got on the board in the final two minutes of the fourth with a 15-yard pass from Jason Walker to Dylan Kratofil.
Flathead’s Class A Teams Kickoff with Victories
Isaiah Roth scored rushing TDs from 62 and 16 yards out and caught a 20-yard scoring toss from Cody Schweikert as Columbia Falls cruised past Stevensville 35-6. Roth ran for 170 yards on 14 carries. Schweikert threw two touchdown passes, the other a 12-yarder to Jace Duvall.
In what might be the surprise of the opening night, Ty Schwaiger ran for two touchdowns and Fynn Ridgeway ran for one and threw for the fourth as Whitefish held on for a 28-26 victory at Dillon. After a scoreless first quarter, the Bulldogs led 28-14 when Ridgeway connected with Jaxson Schlauch on a 23-yard touchdown in the third quarter. The Beavers rallied within two points on a 68-yard TD catch by Treyton Anderson from Kee Christiansen but the two-point conversation for the tie was unsuccessful. A 57-yard Christiansen-to-Anderson connection brought the Beavers within 28-20 in the third quarter. Whitefish will host Frenchtown next week.
In a last minute replacement, Glacier’s junior varsity team played against Polson in the Pirates’ season opener. Jarrett Wilson threw four touchdown passes — three to Colton Graham — and ran for the other two as the Pirates pummeled Glacier 49-21. Originally slated to play Butte Central, the Maroons forfeited due to an unspecified school and team policy violation. Wilson’s tosses to Graham went for 7, 30 and 11 yards. He also hit Robert Perez from 36 yards away and added rushing TDs of 4 and 25 yards. Polson led 35-7 at halftime.