It was a rough night for the Flathead Braves falling 35-0 to the Bozeman Hawks. The offense was stuck in neutral, and special teams had its share of struggles. The Defense played really well last night, forcing five punts, a fourth down stop and holding Bozeman deep in Flathead territory to a FG attempt that would be blocked.
Here are the positives that I took away. The defensive line made life miserable for the Bozeman Hawks offensive line. I believe the Hawks were penalized 8 times for holding. Croy who lead Class B in rushing last season was held to 55 yards rushing on 19 attempts. Tanner Russell was almost impossible to stop from getting to the QB. The secondary held it's own and came close to a few interceptions. The defense was the bright spot of the night. This defense will keep Flathead in every game this season.
Everything else! Tough night for the offense. While the defensive line for Flathead was causing havoc so was Bozeman's. Ken Eiden finished the game with four sacks. Bozeman's defensive line made running lanes very tough as well. The Braves finished with 89 yards rushing for the game. Most of that coming from QB Cooper Smith. Special teams will be corrected this upcoming week in practice.
I think that is my biggest takeaway is while it looked rough last night for the Braves, I don't think that was a taste of things to come. It is all correctable. Special teams will get fixed and the offense will as well. While the score indicates a blowout, I don't think that accurately represents the game. The Braves trailed 7-0 at halftime and it didn't get out of hand til late in the third quarter.
The Braves have a tough schedule and will have to put this behind them quickly as they get ready for the long road trip to Billings to take on defending champion West.
