Coming into the state championship game at Legends Stadium Friday night, questions surrounded both Glacier and C.M. Russell’s running attack. Who would rise to the occasion and bring their team a state title — Class AA’s leading rusher Andrew Grinde of CMR or the state’s touchdown leader Thomas Trefney of Glacier?

When it was all said and done, Trefney earned the glory, carrying the ball 22 times for 201 yards and four touchdowns, as the Wolfpack walloped the Rustlers 56-19 for their first state football crown.

Grinde was bottled up throughout the contest, his 83 yards on 29 carries was just the second time this season he didn’t break the century mark on the ground.

While the long Grinde run never came, Trefney delivered. His second touchdown of the night was a 72-yard run to give the Wolfpack a 14-6 lead early in the second quarter and electrified the sellout crowd.

“I saw them wide out on a blitz off the outside,” Trefney said.

“I was like, ‘just go up the middle and I’ve got that safety to beat.’ He had an angle but I just kept going an outran him.

“We knew we wouldn’t run the ball like this without our offensive line. All the credit goes to them. All of those touchdowns, everything, is because of them.”

Led by seniors Truman Pisk, Charles Calobeer, Hunter Kauffman, Harrison Kauffman and junior Andrew Klamecki, the Glacier offensive unit dominated the line of scrimmage, allowing the spotlight to find Trefney, who also scored on runs of 2, 6 and 17 yards.

“Credit to all of our guys up front. That group of lineman is unbelievable,” Glacier head coach Grady Bennett said.

“To be a good offensive line you’ve got to trust each other and know what each other is going to do to work in sync and those guys did it. I’m really proud of (Trefney). What a game he played behind a very good offensive line.”

Both running backs, phenomenal in their own right, just ended their junior season and are poised to return next year to improve their 2014 marks. As Grinde left Legends Stadium, his hands on his hips with his head down in defeat, he claimed the state’s rushing crown, finishing with an astounding 2,157 yards on 334 carries.

Although Grinde won the battle, Trefney won the war, scoring 33 touchdowns on the year for the top mark in Class AA, but most importantly, he now has a ring on his finger.