Plagued by a slow first quarter, the Flathead Braves never caught the upstart Missoula Sentinel Spartans, who downed Flathead 28-14 at Legends Stadium on Friday night.

Rowdy, rambunctious and ready to play, the Spartans hit the ground running, jumping out to an early 21-0 behind an 82-yard touchdown reception by running back Jackson King that deflated the Flathead crowd early in the contest.

Flathead (3-6), who didn’t record a first down in the opening quarter, punted on their first four possessions while Sentinel added a 13-yard touchdown pass from Kade Paffhasuen to King, ending the first quarter with a two-score lead.

“Starting off, I think we played the worst football we ever had,” Braves quarterback Easton Johnson said.

“We definitely shot ourselves in the foot. It’s hard to win a football game when you only play three quarters of football.”

After Paffhausen added a two-yard touchdown run to grow the Braves deficit to 21, Flathead’s offense came to life, marching down the field on an 11-play, 73-yard scoring drive, highlighted by junior running back Payton Boyce’s first touchdown of the year. Leaping over the pile, Boyce scored from 1 yard out with just 23 seconds remaining in the half.

Boyce finished with 35 rushing yards on nine carries, while Flathead tallied 138 yards on the ground offensively.

It was a different Braves team in the second half. The defense held Sentinel to three consecutive punts, and the offense put together another scoring drive capped off by an amazing display of athleticism from Johnson.

The senior rolled out right, reversed field, only to cut back to the right again before diving for the pylon to convert a long 5-yard touchdown scramble.

“I was booting out and no one was open so I went to cut it back,” Johnson said.

“I saw a seam at the last second, and hoped I could get in so I just dove for it and barely got it in.”

The score put the Flathead faithful into a frenzy, and with 1:09 to play in the third of 21-14 ball game, there was new life on the Braves sideline.

Sentinel (3-6) decided to put an end to the Braves momentum rather quickly. On its next possession, the Spartans drove to the Braves’ 13-yard line where King took a pitch and threw it back across the field to Paffhausen, who streak up the sideline for a touchdown early in the final quarter.

Sentinel outgained Flathead offensively, 384 to 274.

“You’ve got to hand it to (Sentinel). They started very fast and we started very slow,” Braves coach Kyle Samson said.

“The kids fought back. We were close to getting the ball back when we were down 21-14, but they’re a good football team. We made some mistakes, but at the same time they made some big plays, too. Hats off to Sentinel. They’re coached well.

“Once we finally got going, I thought we played really well. We made some big third downs, we ran the ball well and Easton was throwing it well. It was just a tough way to start the game, but our kids didn’t quit.”

Sentinel     14     7     0     7     —     28

Flathead     0     7     7     0     —     14

1st Quarter

S — Jackson King 82 yard pass from Kade Paffhausen (Gabe Peppenger kick) 7:26

S — King 17 pass from Paffhausen (Peppenger kick) 2:22

2nd Quarter

S — Pauffhausen 2 yard run (Peppenger kick) 3:33

F — Payton Boyce 1 yard run (Croymans kick) :23

3rd Quarter

F — Easton Johnson 5 yard run (Croymans kick) 1:09

4th Quarter

    S — Paffhausen 13 yard pass from King (Peppenger kick) 10:27

———

        Sentinel     Flathead

Total Yards     384    274

Rushing Yards     137     138

Passing Yards     247     136

Total Plays     58     61

First Downs     16     15

Turnovers     2     1

Penalties/Yards     8-57     6-59

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing — Sentinel 35-137, Kade Paffhausen 8-18, Jackson King 17-70, Jeff Krstulich 6-34, Colton Jacobson 1-15, Tyler Ogilve 2-0. Flathead 40-138, Easton Johnson 10-34, Payton Boyce 9-35, Josh McCracken 21-69.

Passing — Sentinel: Kade Paffhausen 17-22-0-2, 234 yards, Jackson King 1-1-0-1, 13 yards. Flathead: Easton Johnson 7-21-0-0, 136 yards.

ReceIving — Sentinel: Kade Paffhausen 1-13, Jackson King 5-151, Alec Steele 2-22, Zach Burckhard 1-8, Colton Jacobson 4-37, Tyler Ogilve 1-(-2), Walker Kay 2-10, Zanon Fulbright 1-3. Flathead: Josh McCracken 2-47, Alex Croymans 2-35, Cody Eacker 1-7, Keaton Krantz 2-47.