Dakota Arndt’s nose was bleeding.

But he didn’t know it, and he didn’t care.

The senior sold out to deflect in a Sam Gonzalez cross in the 69th minute to give Flathead another crosstown soccer win, 1-0, on Saturday night at Legends Stadium.

“I don’t remember,” Arndt said when asked why his nose was bleeding after the decisive goal. “Either I headed the ball with my face or I got elbowed or something. I didn’t know it was bleeding until someone told me. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the entire game.”

Arndt and his teammates weren’t just shrugging off pain after the upset win over their rivals at Glacier; they were practically walking on air. And Braves head coach Nate Evans understood the feeling.

“For our guys to play in a game like that and get a win, it’s a huge experience for a team that for four years didn’t win a game. Now they’re winning on a big stage like this? It’s pretty fun,” he said.

Evans’ exuberant players doused their coach with a cooler of water after the victory, which improved Flathead to 3-1-2 in their last six matches against the Wolfpack. In front of a boisterous crowd at the two schools’ normal football venue, the sides battled tightly before the winning sequence.

“It was a great counter-attacking goal,” Evans said of the winner. “Sammy (Gonzalez) beat a guy one-on-one and sent in a great ball over the keeper. Dakota crashed hard and got a bloody nose out of the deal but scored the goal.”

“It’s the greatest feeling on earth,” Arndt said of scoring the goal. “There had been moments all game, but when I saw (Gonzalez) going down the line I said ‘right here, this is going to be the moment.’”

“When I crossed it in I saw that two players were on(side), then I saw (Arndt) and it just went in,” Gonzalez said. “(When it goes in) it feels awesome.”

The two teams played to a 2-2 draw in their first meeting in September, but on a more narrow pitch Saturday neither team generated consistent offense. Glacier (5-3-1) put a few chances wide of the net, but the Wolfpack and their 10-goal scorer Colton Becker were held mostly in check.

“We tried to neutralize (Becker) but not give him too much attention,” Evans said. “I thought our backline was extremely organized dealing with (Becker)’s movement. And we were winning balls out of the air and weren’t giving up any chances.”

“That was the most physical we’ve ever been against each other,” Flathead center back Carter Warnell said of his matchup with Becker. “But it’s supposed to be like that. It’s our last game to go like that against each other. It made it more meaningful.”

The Braves win was more impressive considering they were playing without leading scorer Kaleb Frame, who was serving a red card suspension, and coming off an ugly 5-0 loss at Missoula Hellgate in their previous match.

“It’s a family game,” Evans said of playing without Frame. “We can’t win with one and we certainly don’t lose with one. We had to come out here and battle for 80 minutes and win as a team.”

The win for the Braves gives them three conference wins for the first time since 2008, but Flathead’s seniors know there can be even greater things ahead.

“We need to keep doing what we’re doing,” Warnell said. “Our year’s been going up and up and up, and if we keep doing this it will stay like that.”

Flathead 0 1 — 1

Glacier 0 0 — 0

FLT — Dakota Arndt (Sam Gonzalez), 69:00

Shots on goal — Flathead 7, Glacier 6. Goalie saves — Flathead 6 (Micah Bucy), Glacier 6 (Ryker McIntyre). Corner kicks — Flathead 2, Glacier 7. Fouls — Flathead 14, Glacier 19. Cards — None.