2016 Class AA Playoffs (Championship)

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VimSince03
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2016 Class AA Playoffs (Championship)

Post by VimSince03 » Wed Nov 16, 2016 10:49 am

Playoff Bracket: http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/docu ... ket-AA.pdf

Kalispell Glacier at Billings Senior - 7:00 PM, Friday, 11/18 (Daylis Stadium)

Kalispell Glacier Key Players: QB Tadan Gilman, OT/DE Jaxen Hashley, RB Drew Turner, WR/FS Jackson Pepe, SS Seth Anderson, RB/OLB Cole Crosby, FS Sam Barber, WR Scout Willcut, TE/MLB Patrick O'Connell, OLB Hunter Rauthe

Billings Senior Key Players: WR/DB Gabe Sulser, WR/FS Keaton Anderson, QB Nate Dick, WR/DB Jake Orvis, OLB/SS Kevon Jackson, TE/SS Max Clarke, OT/DE Luke Poetzl, OL/DE Emmit Bartsch, FB/OLB Blake Allred, RB/MLB Nolan Askelson, WR Ben LaBeau, OT/DE Cullen Roll, DT Hayden Hegg

Both semifinal games had close halftime scores but the #1 and #2 teams pulled away late to secure victories. Billings Senior defeated Helena Capital 35-21 to advance to their second consecutive AA Championship game. Nate Dick opened the scoring with a 42-yard touchdown pass to RB Nolan Askelson where Dick escaped the pocket and threw a dart on the run. But that was the only touchdown of the 1st quarter for either team as the two best defenses in AA went at it. In the 2nd quarter, Capital QB Carter Pappas made the big play by finding TE Marcus Welnel slip behind the defense and hitting him for a 44-yard touchdown. Dick responded with his first of four rushing touchdowns, going 56 yards for the score to make it 14-6 Senior heading into halftime. After another Nate Dick touchdown run to open the third period, Pappas tossed another touchdown pass, this time to WR Bradley Haller for 13 yards as Pappas was falling backward. This made it 21-13 heading into the 4th quarter and the closest any team had been all year against Senior heading into the final frame. However, Nate Dick and the Senior rushing attack kept grinding down the Capital front seven and Dick scored two more rushing touchdowns to seal the victory for the Broncs. Capital LB Seth Schneider took an interception 90 yards to the house for the final score of the game, making it 35-21. Nate Dick finished with 362 yards of total offense (217 rushing/145 passing) and five total touchdowns (4 rushing/1 passing). RB Nolan Askelson had 73 yards rushing with a touchdown catch. WR Gabe Sulser was held to six catches and 56 yards receiving. S Keaton Anderson had two big interceptions for the Broncs defense. Capital QB Carter Pappas finished 12/30 for 172 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

In Kalispell, Helena High jumped out to an early lead. Helena QB Kaleb Winterburn hit WR Derrick Olson for 50 yards to set the Bengals up inside the Glacier 10-yard line and RB Ryan Arntson ran in the first touchdown. After a Tadan Gilman fumble inside the Wolfpack redzone, Arntson again handled his business and ran in another score to make it 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. Glacier RB Drew Turner started to heat up in the 2nd quarter as he went 35 yards to the house on the first play of the period. The play of the game came on the next Bengal possession. After Tadan Gilman through an ill-timed interception to Keair Adgerson, the Bengals were in business inside the Wolfpack's 10-yard line. Facing a 4th & Goal inside the 3-yard line, Helena High elected to give it to their workhorse RB (Arntson) but Wolpack S Jackson Pepe spied Arntson all night coming up with a huge 4th down stop to keep the Helena High lead at 14-7 entering halftime. The Bengals would be held scoreless the entire second half and it all started with a big play by DL Jaxen Hashley. The behemoth defensive lineman sacked QB Kaleb Winterburn and forced a fumble, recovered by fellow defensive lineman Kellen Bemis. QB Tadan Gilman would score on the next possession to tie the game at 14-all. After stopping Helena on the next possession, Gilman and Turner would matriculate down the field all the way to the Bengal 5-yard line where they went with some trickery. Jaxen Hashley reported in as a TE and caught a screen pass for a 5-yard score. After a successful two-point conversion, Glacier had it's first lead at 22-14. After both teams continued to stop each other well into the 4th quarter, Tadan Gilman sealed the deal with a 14-yard touchdown run to give Glacier a 29-14 win and another return to the championship game for the Kalispell Glacier football program. QB Tadan Gilman finished with 70 yards on the ground along with three touchdowns (2 rushing/1 passing). Glacier RB Drew Turner finished with 26 carries for 187 yards and one touchdown. Helena RB Ryan Arntson finished with 179 yards and two touchdowns in his final high school football game for the Bengals. For his senior season, Arntson finished with 291 carries for 1,815 yards and 27 rushing touchdowns for an average of 6.24 yards per carry.

The AA Championship game will feature two teams that did not play each other in the regular season in Senior and Glacier. Both have high-powered, up-tempo offenses but only one features a shutdown defense and that is Billings Senior. That will be the matchup in this game to watch because Glacier definitely has the dudes to score with Senior on offense. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Tadan Gilman both ways in this game. He was an All-State OLB his first two years of varsity and has solely played QB this year. But Nathan Dick is such a tough QB to contain and Glacier has struggled with mobile QB's (see Mitch Roberts performance against them in a 63-62 Wolfpack win over Sentinel earlier in the season). I think this one will be fun early but Senior is going to wear down Glacier sooner or later and once the dam breaks, Senior doesn't stop scoring. The only chance Glacier has in this one is if they can control the time of possession and score after long drives. Keeping Nate Dick on the sidelines will be key. Senior doesn't like to play the ground-and-pound game and Glacier does have a good offensive line and QB/RB duo (Gilman/Turner). If Glacier decides to go up-tempo, Senior will win this one in a blowout. If Glacier slows it down, this one will get interesting. If Gilman plays both ways, it will be even more interesting. Prediction: Senior wins 48-29.
Last edited by VimSince03 on Thu Nov 17, 2016 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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VimSince03
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Re: 2016 Class AA Playoffs (Championship)

Post by VimSince03 » Wed Nov 16, 2016 8:58 pm

Sorry these took so long this week guys. Every write-up and prediction will be done tomorrow.


"There's two times of year for me: Football season, and waiting for football season."

Bemiller49
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Re: 2016 Class AA Playoffs (Championship)

Post by Bemiller49 » Wed Nov 16, 2016 9:01 pm

It's all good. We just know they are going to be that much better.



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HelenaCat95
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Re: 2016 Class AA Playoffs (Championship)

Post by HelenaCat95 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 9:03 am

Congratulations to Billings Senior. Very well-deserved. A well coached, and good team.
This year, it was Senior's world, and we were all just living in it.



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Re: 2016 Class AA Playoffs (Championship)

Post by 91catAlum » Sat Nov 19, 2016 9:07 am

HelenaCat95 wrote:Congratulations to Billings Senior. Very well-deserved. A well coached, and good team.
This year, it was Senior's world, and we were all just living in it.
Absolutely true, nobody touched Senior this season. Their team speed especially on offense was too much for anybody to handle.


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