Ryan Skramovsky waited patiently last season, biding his time as all-state running back Josh McCracken barreled through defenses and helped Flathead football surge back to relevancy and the Class AA playoffs.

When McCracken graduated this spring, the keys to the running back position were handed to the 5-foot-11 Skramovsky, who put on weight before his senior season in preparation for the heavy workload that awaited him.

Last Friday was finally Skramovsky’s first crack as a starting varsity running back, and he took his first handoff on the Braves’ second offensive play. He burst swiftly through the line of scrimmage, gamely leaned forward for extra yardage and took a helmet squarely to the small of his back.

Now Ryan Skramovsky has to wait again.

Flathead (0-1) returns to Legends Stadium today at 7 p.m. against Helena High, trying to shake off a disappointing 41-31 loss to Great Falls C.M. Russell last week. And they’ll have to do so without their starting running back.

Skramovksy did not return to last week’s game against the Rustlers and will not play for the Braves tonight as he rehabs his injury. That means a Flathead team that was inconsistent in the passing game and ran the ball most effectively when they had a wide receiver — Seth Adolph — taking shotgun snaps against CMR will turn to an unproven trio of youngsters to carry the load against the Bengals.

Sophomore Blake Counts and juniors Eric Reyna and Bobby Lowry all figure to see action at running back.

“It’s their time to shine,” Flathead coach Kyle Samson said. “I’m very confident in them and know that they are going to go out there and give it all they’ve got to carry on for Ryan [Skramovsky]. We’re just hoping we can get him back as soon as possible.”

Counts saw the most action of the three last week, carrying nine times including a one-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Counts’ nine carries produced only 12 yards, however, and the three young backs combined for more carries (13) than yards (nine) against the Rustlers.

The three backs do bring different dimensions to the attack. Reyna and Lowry are speedsters who lack much bulk, weighing 165 and 155 pounds, respectively. The 5-10, 185-pounds Counts is a bruising inside runner who lacks the breakaway ability of the other two.

“They’re all young,” Samson said. “They haven’t had the varsity experience so we don’t want to throw it all on them at one time. We want to tell them, ‘hey, three’s better than one sometimes.’”

The Skramovsky injury aside, Flathead’s opening game was a tale of missed opportunities, with mistakes ranging from unforced penalties to errant snaps and breakdowns in the secondary. The Braves lost despite forcing six turnovers, including takeaways on each of the defense’s first three series.

“I’ve never really been in a game where you’re plus-five in turnovers and don’t win,” Samson said. “It was just an interesting game.

“In that first game you always make mistakes, and you hope to not make as many as we did. We’ve learned from them, I hope. The kids have had a great week of practice. They’ve bounced back.”

Helena (0-1) enters today’s game licking some wounds of its own after they were routed 35-7 at home by Glacier last week. The Bengals rushed for just 14 yards on 26 carries against the Wolfpack and allowed 520 yards of Glacier offense.

“Honestly, I don’t think the score was indicative of what kind of team they are, I really don’t,” Samson said of the Bengals.

“We fully expect them to come out and be a heck of a challenge for us.”

Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on KGEZ 600 AM.