Flathead knew it would face a stiff test Friday night.

After all, the Braves were squaring off with an angry Helena team, one still stinging from a 35-7 loss at home to Glacier last week. It was a game that chopped down expectations for a Bengals squad that’s a perennial contender for the Class AA state title.

But Flathead never expected this.

Helena dominated in every facet, blowing the Braves off the Legends Stadium turf en route to a 41-7 halftime lead and eventual 47-14 victory.

It was Flathead’s worst loss since the Bengals beat them 42-6 midway through the 2014 season.

“It’s surprising, I guess,” Flathead coach Kyle Samson said. “I don’t think we showed who we were tonight but give credit to Helena High.”

The Bengals (1-1) were nearly perfect in the first half, scoring on six of their seven possessions, including the first five of the game. The Braves had no answer for Helena tailback Ryan Arnston, who ran for five touchdowns, reeled in another touchdown catch and totaled 199 yards of offense.

“That Arnston kid’s a stud,” Samson said. “We couldn’t tackle him all night.

“A kid that breaks tackles like that, we’ve just got to do a little bit better job wrapping up and you’ve got to gang tackle him, get three or four guys on him. He’s really good one-on-one.”

Flathead wasn’t much better on offense in the first half, struggling to move the ball with any consistency until Bridger Johnson connected on a pair of long passes — one at the end of the first quarter and the other on the first play of the second — to set up a Blake Counts 1-yard touchdown run to trim the Bengals lead to 20-7.

Helena rattled off 21 straight points after that, though, and by halftime the end result was no longer in doubt.

After the game, Samson and his coaching staff spent extra time behind closed doors with the team’s captains, trying to raise the spirits of a discouraged group.

“Our kids are down but they’re not out,” Samson said. “They’re not going to quit. They’re going to keep fighting. We’re 0-2, that’s what we are, there’s nothing to hide, but I believe in our kids and we’ll find a way to bounce back.

“I just feel bad for our kids, honestly,” he added. “I love these guys. It’s not an effort thing, they’re working their tails off for me and I appreciate that. It hurts me to walk into a locker room and see our kids hurting.”

When Helena wasn’t handing the ball to Arnston, quarterback Kaleb Winterburn was carving up the Flathead secondary. He didn’t throw an incomplete pass until late in the second quarter and went 13 for 14 for 156 yards through the air.

His day was helped by a jaw-dropping catch by Derrick Olsen late in the second quarter. Olsen went up for a jump ball with Flathead cornerback Trae Vasquez, who was face-to-face and interfering with the 6-foot, 4-inch wideout. Olsen reached around Vasquez’s body and snatched the ball with two hands, pinning it against Vasquez’s back as the two tumbled to the ground together.

“I don’t even know,” Olsen said when asked about the catch. “I was just focused on it, focused on it and then right behind his back I lost it and I just felt it in my hand. I just wanted to get up and I was just trying to hold on so the ref would see that I had the ball.

“It was awesome, it felt awesome.”

Helena outgained Flathead 423-182 in total offense, including a 342-61 edge in the first half. The Bengals replaced most of their starters late in the third quarter.

Flathead struggled to run the ball or protect Johnson most of the night, surrendering a handful of sacks and totaling just 14 net rushing yards on 25 attempts. Johnson went 9 for 16 through the air for 168 yards. James Flannigan made five catches and Seth Adolph had the other four.

Counts scored his second touchdown early in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.

The Braves hit the road next week when Samson will square off with his father, Mark Samson, and Great Falls on Friday at 7 p.m.

“Definitely not the start we wanted but there have been a lot of teams that started the season slow at 0-2 and fought back,” Samson said. “Big road trip this weekend. We’ve got to come back to work and just pick our heads up.”

Helena 20 21 6 0 — 47

Flathead 0 7 0 7 — 14

First quarter

HEL — Kyle Tabbert 41 run (Max Morris kick), 10:13

HEL — Ryan Arnston 11 run (kick failed), 5:19

HEL — Arnston 7 run (Morris kick), 1:40

Second quarter

FLT — Blake Counts 1 run (Cody Cusker), 11:51

HEL — Arnston 16 pass from Kaleb Winterburn (Morris kick), 9:01

HEL — Arnston 14 run (Morris kick), 4:25

HEL — Arnston 5 run (Morris kick), 0:28

Third quarter

HEL — Arnston 1 run (kick failed), 5:26

Fourth quarter

FLT — Counts 5 run (Cusker kick), 11:05

HEL FLT

First downs 19 7

Rushes-yards 45-254 25-14

Passing yards 169 168

Comp-Att-Int 14-19-0 9-16-1

Total offense 423 182

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Punts-avg 4-41 8-33

Penalties-yards 5-39 5-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — HEL: Ryan Arnston 21-152, Kyle Tabbert 18-97, Max Morris 1-3, Kaleb Winterburn 4-1, Joey Hoover 1-1. FLT: Eric Reyna 3-22, Seth Adolph 4-17, Blake Counts 6-15, Bobby Lowry 2-8, Jonathan Baker 2-7, Trae Vasquez 1-minus 3, Bridger Johnson 7-minus 52.

PASSING — HEL: Kaleb Winterburn 13-14-0-156, Gabe Walsh 1-4-0-13. FLT: Bridger Johnson 9-16-1-168.

RECEIVING — HEL: Derrick Olsen 4-80, Ryan Arnston 3-47, Taylor England 2-19, Max Morris 3-14, Zach Huth 2-9. FLT: James Flannigan 5-118, Seth Adolph 4-50.