The Braves came out strong, but the Eagles finished stronger.
Missoula Big Sky outscored Flathead 56-7 from the second quarter onward to take a 64-20 victory and spoil homecoming for the Braves at Legends Stadium Friday.
“We came out swinging and the kids competed,” Braves coach Mac Roche said. “At the end of the day, Big Sky is a really good football team.”
The Braves (1-3 overall, 0-3 in Western AA games) put together a pair of strong drives to lead 13-8 after the first quarter. Then Big Sky (5-0, 3-0) quarterback Eli Kasberg took over, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for a pair. Kasberg finished with 281 yards through the air and 38 on the ground.
“(Kasberg) may be the best quarterback in the state,” Roche said. “He was impressive on film and he was more impressive in person.
“There were certainly times where our guys were in good position, it wasn’t like we got burned by 10 yards, we were in good position and he put the ball in a coffee can.”
On offense, the Braves found their footing in the running game as Eli Coopman carried the ball 11 times for 98 yards, including 64 on Flathead’s second touchdown drive. Sophomore Leum Saisbury went over 100 yards for the second straight week in relief of injured back Nolan Campbell.
In four games, the Eagles allowed 15 total points; Flathead managed 13 in the first quarter.
“Early on we established a run game,” Roche said. “We established a run game and then got them into man coverage and they wanted to stack the box to stop it and we were able to counter it with a few throws outside.”
In the end, Flathead’s inability to hold onto the ball doomed them. Two fumbles on handoffs, both recovered by Big Sky’s Kane McQuiston, and countless drops took the offense off the field and allowed Kasberg and company to start with short fields.
“Offensively we dropped quite a few balls tonight and had a few uncharacteristic mesh fumbles,” Mac Roche said. “A lot of things that are controllable, things that we need to clean up.”
Big Sky broke the ice five minutes in as Brady Williams weaved his way for a 36-yard touchdown run. A 2-point conversion run from Williams made it 8-0. Williams finished with three scores and 133 yards rushing.
Flathead answered back quickly as Coopman broke the plane on a tush push-esque run, after a failed 2-point run it was 8-6 Eagles. Flathead found themselves in the red zone after Coopman hit Saisbury on a wheel route up the right side for 40 yards.
Coopman and the Braves found themselves in business again as a 44-yard scamper from the quarterback set up Saisbury for a 5-yard touchdown to make it 13-8.
Big Sky then took control. Kasberg hit Cormack Batt for 55 yards and a score on the next possession. Then after the first Braves fumble, Kasberg found Augustus Goebel for a 44-yard touchdown putting the Eagles ahead 22-13.
Later in the second, Kasberg used his feet to score from 6 yards out. A minute later Williams found his second touchdown to make it 36-13.
Coopman stopped the bleeding for a moment as he found Brett Chivers from 28 yards out to cut the deficit to 36-20.
Kasberg then hit his third long touchdown, a 48-yard pass to Mason Ramos to give Big Sky a 43-20 advantage.
The Eagles threatened again before the half, but Oliver Rosenberg intercepted Kasberg in the end zone to end the half.
Out of the break, Williams broke off a 25-yard run for his third touchdown of the day, growing the lead to 50-20.
Kasberg used his legs again on a 1-yard keeper to kick in the running clock midway through the third quarter.
Caleb Hood sealed the deal after coming in at quarterback, scampering in from 8 yards out to make it 64-20.
Big Sky 8 35 14 7 – 64
Flathead 13 7 0 0 – 20
BS — Brady Williams 36 run (Williams run good), 7:23 1Q
F — Eli Coopman 2 run (run failed), 6:07 1Q
F — Leum Saisbury 5 run (Brett Chivers kick), 1:21 1Q
BS — Cormack Batt 55 pass from Eli Kasberg (Cal Marceau kick), 11:12 2Q
BS — Augustus Goebel 44 pass from Kasberg (Marceau kick), 10:24 2Q
BS — Kasberg 6 run (Marceau kick), 7:31 2Q
BS — Williams 9 run (Marceau kick), 6:28 2Q
F — Chivers 28 pass from Coopman (Chivers kick), 3:46 2Q
BS — Mason Ramos 48 pass from Kasberg (Marceau kick), 1:58 2Q
BS — Williams 25 run (Marceau kick), 9:25 3Q
BS — Kasberg 1 run (Marceau kick), 7:09 3Q
BS — Caleb Hood 8 run (Marceau kick), 7:48 4Q
Individual stats
RUSHING: Missoula Big Sky (35-260) — Brady Williams 12-133, Eli Kasberg 10-38, Kolson Stewart 2-22, Kade Dunning 1-20, Blake Williams 1-18, Colter Nicolarsen 2-13, Ethan Paugh 5-8, Caleb Hood 1-8. Team 1-0. Flathead (30-202) — Leum Saisbury 18-104, Eli Coopman 11-98, Team 1-0.
PASSING: Missoula Big Sky — Eli Kasberg 14-19-1 for 281 yards, Caleb Hood 1-1-0 for 15 yards. Flathead — Eli Coopman 9-23-0 for 112 yards.
RECEIVING: Missoula Big Sky — Mason Ramos 4-95, Blake Williams 4-54, Brady Williams 4-24, Cormack Batt 1-55, Augustus Goebel 1-44, Tristan Miller 1-24. Flathead — Leum Saisbury 2-46, Zander McLaughlin 2-14, Boston Case 2-6, Brett Chivers 1-28, Oliver Rosenberg 1-11, Tim Zundel 1-7.