Flathead football falls, 28-7
FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 9 months AGO
Flathead running back Jaden Williams (1) celebrates after a touchdown run in the fourth quarter against Helena Capital at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead linebacker Jaden Williams (1) stops a run by Helena Capital running back Tuff Adams (42) in the third quarter at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead defenders Easton Capser (58), Stephen Riley (7) and Noah Sonju (8) bring down Helena Capital running back Cole Graham (25) in the first quarter at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead tight end Braden Capser (47) picks up yardage on a run in the first quarter against Helena Capital at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead linebacker Easton Capser (58) puts a stop to a run by Helena Capital running back Cole Graham (25) in the third quarter at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead quarterback Kaleb Sims (5) completes a pass to tight end Gabe Sims (84) in the fourth quarter against Helena Capital at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead tight end Gabe Sims (84) is tackled by Helena Capital defensive back Ryan Martinie (11) after a reception in the fourth quarter at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead wide receiver Ben Bliven (2) picks up yardage after a reception in the third quarter against Helena Capital at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead quarterback Brett Pesola (4) completes a pass to tight end Gabe Sims (84) in the first quarter against Helena Capital at Legends Stadium on Friday, Oct. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
SPORTS EDITOR Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast. IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together. | October 14, 2023 1:20 AM
A mysterious band of football players put together a workmanlike, 28-7 football win over the Flathead Braves Friday. According to the schedule it was Helena Capital.
The Bruins are pretty established, having won a State AA championship just last season. Their quarterback — if you got close enough you could see it was No. 8, Merek Mihelish — had a fine game with two touchdowns passing and two running.
One TD came in each quarter while the Bruins, wearing imperceptible yellow numbers on white jerseys, improved to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in league games. That’s about all we know for sure on them.
Flathead fell to 1-7, 0-6, getting the occasional nice option keeper from Brett Pesola and a 19-yard run on a fake punt from Nolan Campbell before finally hitting paydirt via Jaden Williams’ 1-yard plunge with 4:17 in the game.
That capped an 80-yard drive that included a leaping, 20-yard grab by Ben Bliven and a 23-yard catch and run from tightly-covered tight end Gabe Sims. The latter set up first-and-goal.
Aside from that the Braves tended to offset good plays with negative ones. A perfect example was Capital’s first possession of the second half: Easton Capser made three straight stops to set up fourth-and-4 and bring on the Bruins’ punt unit.
Then Flathead jumped offsides, and Capital — getting a 31-yard pass to… we don’t know, those jerseys should be illegal — soon was up 21-0. A 14-yard quarterback keeper capped the march.
Assuming Mihelish took every snap, he finished 12 of 18 for 192 yards — but enough about the school that can’t afford dark numbers.
Williams picked up 32 yards on eight carries for Flathead, while Pesola ran for 26 yards and threw for 85. Bliven caught three passes for 36 yards and Gabe Sims caught three for 31.
Noah Sonju led the Braves’ defense with nine tackles, and intercepted a Hail Mary at the end of the first half to keep the deficit 14-0.
Easton Capser and Brody Thornsberry had seven stops each; Stephen Riley and Austin Schaible had six tackles apiece. Braden Capser had two sacks and his brother Easton had one. Sims and Caiyou Witts shared a sack. Tanner Heichel and Campbell had five stops.
Second-year Flathead coach Caleb Aland is data-driven and sees improvement and a lot of heart from this year’s Braves.
“Guys like Stephen Riley, Brody Thornsberry, Austin Schaible, Caiyou Witts, those guys played both ways all season, probably 100-plus snaps each game, and they’re good at it,” Aland said. ”Walking into the locker room after this game, it’s hard to be mad, with the number of reps they played. Braden Capser and Easton Capser. ... I think there’s eight of them that played both ways.”
A year ago Capital prevailed 51-14.
“I’m data-driven, and you look at the scores from last year to this year, there’s huge improvement,” Aland said. “There’s one game that was just not us, the Helena High game, but outside of that huge improvement across the board. I can’t say enough about the amount of heart our guys have.”
Flathead concludes its season Thursday with a game against winless Missoula Hellgate, at MCPS Stadium.
Capital 7 7 7 7 - 28
Flathead 0 0 0 7 - 7
HC — Matteo Bugni 5 pass from Merek Mihelish (Rach Nyian kick), 7:17-01Q
HC — Dylan Almquist 50 pass from Mihelish (Nyian kick), 8:03-2Q
HC — Mihelish 14 run (Nyian kick), 8:33-3Q
HC — Mihelish 7 run (Nyian kick), 10:39-4Q
F — Jaden Williams 1 run (Miller Bushnell kick), 4:17-4Q
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