Flathead falls to Sentinel, 21-7

MISSOULA — Rudy Hess threw for one touchdown and ran for two more, and Missoula Sentinel outlasted Flathead 21-7 in Western AA football action Friday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Hess ran 13 times for 113 yards for the Spartans, helping the host team to a 14-0 lead with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Haslam, then an 8-yard scoring run. 

The latter came at 5:12 of the second quarter. Flathead got a 3-yard Eli Coopman scoring run with 1:32 left in the first half, but that’s as close as the Braves got. 

But they had some chances. 

Twice the Braves were in prime position to draw even in the third quarter. An interception quelled one drive, but then Flathead’s defense forced a 3-and-out — and then got a jail-break punt snap from Sentinel that put the Braves at Sentinel’s 11-yard line. 

That possession ended on a failed fourth-and-goal from the 1. 

“For most of the third quarter we lived in the red zone and couldn’t finish,” first-year Flathead coach Mac Roche said. “Overall our defense played outstanding. It wasn’t until the last couple minutes when they scored.
“Coach (Daniel) Simmons and Coach (Mitchell) Czerniak had a phenomenal game plan.” 

Flathead held Sentinel to 279 yards of offense in the defensive battle, while gaining 222. Eli Coopman was 9 of 20 for 66 yards and ran 14 times for 46 yards. 

Leum Saisbury had 11 carries for 59 yards and Nolan Campbell rushed for 51 yards on nine attempts. 

Sentinel (7-2, 5-2 in league games) takes the Western AA’s No. 3 seed into the playoffs, which begin next week. Flathead, which had an outside shot of making the AA playoffs with a win, ended up 2-6 overall and 1-6 in league. Two of the Braves’ losses were by one score; one came in overtime. 

“Outside of Glacier, in the West anybody could win any game,” Roche said. “I am really proud of my kids’ buy-in. We competed in every game. They never gave up, they left it out there. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids to coach.” 

Campbell had nine tackles to lead Flathead’s defense. Brett Chivers had eight stops, one for a 3-yard loss. 

Sam Sirmon had eight tackles and an interception for the Spartans. 

Flathead    0    7    0    0    -    7 

Sentinel    7    7    0    7    -    21

S — Kyler Haslam 28 pass from Rudy Hess (Blaise Olson kick), 4:12-1Q 

S — Hess 8 run (Jamison Baumgardtner kick), 5:12-2Q 

F — Eli Coopman 3 run (Brett Chivers kick), 1:32-2Q 

S — Hess 7 run (Baumgardtner kick), 2:18-4Q 

Individual Statistics 

RUSHING: Flathead (34-146) — Leum Saisbery 11-59, Nolan Campbell 9-51, Coopman 14-46. Sentinel (41-195) — Hess 13-113, Kaden Thennis 20-75, Tucker Laslovich 3-11, Jeager Lisle 1-minus 2, TEAM 4-minus 2.  

PASSING: Flathead — Coopman 9-20-1 for 66 yards. Sentinel — Hess 7-8-0 for 73 yards; Laslovich 3-8-0 for 11 yards. 

RECEIVING: Flathead — Boston Case 4-8, Oliver Rosenberg 2-17, Dillon Wink 2-9, Tim Zundel 1-32. Sentinel — Haslam 6-57, Kade Robinson 1-18, Jayce Eby 1-5, Hess 1-4, Sam Sirmon 1-0.