There may not have been a scoreboard to see, a postgame celebration in the locker room or a write-up in the newspaper the next morning, but the Flathead Braves won last week.

And they won in more ways than one.

The Braves officially beat Missoula Hellgate 14-0 last Friday, a forfeit victory against a Knights team that isn’t fielding a varsity squad this year. But Flathead also won in the training room, in the doctor’s office and on the practice field, reassembling a group beset by injuries in the first half of the season.

When the Braves (2-4) travel to take on Butte (2-4) today at 7 p.m. at Naranche Stadium, they will do so with a cleaner bill of health than at any point since the first week of the season.

“For the first time all year we’ll be going into a game pretty much full strength,” Flathead coach Kyle Samson said. “(The week off) actually worked out really well.”

The injuries started mounting for the Braves on their second offensive play of the season, when starting running back Ryan Skramovsky went down with a severe back injury. Flathead then survived a spate of losses at the line of scrimmage that forced several players to play on both offense and defense, before then losing two more running backs — Seth Adolph, who was moved to the position from wide receiver, and Blake Counts — to injury ahead the last game, Sept. 23 against Bozeman.

The injuries took their toll not only on Flathead’s depth chart but also on the Braves’ psyche.

“One or two injuries doesn’t affect the team but when you get five or six or seven that can kind of add up, especially when they’re your key guys,” Samson said. “We’ve got some leaders back, not just good football players. That’s a big deal.”

Flathead used the unique circumstances last week to give its players and coaches a rare full weekend off. The Braves practiced Monday-Thursday ahead of a junior varsity game against Hellgate, then took the next three days to step away from the game and refocus.

“It was interesting,” Samson said of the weekend break.

“We never really have that in high school but it was good. We didn’t really work on a lot of stuff on Butte but we worked on our stuff. We’re kind of refreshed and ready to get back at it.”

Instead of concern after an unusual two-week layoff, Samson believes the value of the rest his team received far outweighs any potential rust.

“For our team, with the injuries that we have, it’s going to be a positive,” he said.

“I think you worry about not having the game experience that you would have had playing Hellgate but we’ve tried to simulate some game-like conditions in practice and the kids have really responded well.”

Tonight’s game is crucial for both teams’ playoff hopes, as each enter as part of a four-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot with only four weeks remaining. Flathead will play three of its last four games on the road, its lone home game the annual crosstown duel with Glacier.

Last year, Flathead clobbered a young Butte team at Legends Stadium, winning 38-10 after opening up a 31-3 lead at halftime, but this year’s Bulldogs team has shown significant improvement from the club that went 1-9 in 2015. Butte features a high-scoring, pass-first offense led by quarterback Tyler Peterson and they boast an improving defense that includes a number of battle-tested starters.

“They’ve got some good skill kids and we fully expect them to come out and throw the ball against us,” Samson said.

“They’ve really competed, even in the games they haven’t won.

“Defensively they’re pretty dang solid and a lot of the kids that we played against last year are the same kids there now, so they’ve got some experience.”

The Bulldogs are coming off a humbling 37-7 loss to Billings West last week, a game in which they turned the ball over seven times. As ugly as the loss to the Bears was, Butte picked up a win the previous week against Great Falls C.M. Russell, a team the Braves lost to in week one this season.

Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on KGEZ 600 AM and at www.kgez.com.