Titans ground Blackhawks, 82-0

SEELEY LAKE – For a few brief, shining moments Friday night Seeley Swan looked like they were going to give the Flint Creek Titans a run for their money. They won the toss, executed an onside kick and had the ball near midfield

Then the wheels fell off the bus. In fact in automotive lingo, the engine blew up and the transmission fell all the way to the ground.

The Titans forced turnovers, capitalized on others and just generally ran over, under and around the Blackhawk defense on their way to their biggest win ever, 82-0. The win elevates #1-ranked Flint Creek to 4-0 while Seeley Swan drops to 1-3.

“I feel bad for those kids,” said Flint Creek Head Coach Mike Cutler after the game, speaking of the Seeley Swan players. “I can’t help that he (Seeley Swan Head Coach David Cahoon) decides to go for it on fourth down three straight times inside his own 20. I don’t want to run the score up, but he’s not even giving his kids a chance to think when he does that.”

Despite the questionable decisions by the Blackhawks coaching staff, there was little that the host team could do to stop the Titans.

After Seeley’s first series ended on downs, It was three straight running plays that covered some 35 yards by senior Colby Manley. Manley punched the ball in from the two and added the conversion for an 8-0 lead.

That proved to be more than enough; but wasn’t even close to being the end.

On Seeley’s next possession they found themselves pushed back to their goal line on fourth and long. When trying to punt their snapper put the ball over the kicker’s head and out of the back of the end zone for a safety. That gave the visitors a 10-0 margin.

Before the end of the first quarter Kane Hess added a 13-yard rushing TD, Conley Wagner scooped up a Blackhawk fumble at the eight and ran it in and Kade Cutler hit Jaxon Lee with a 12-yard scoring pass that gave Flint Creek a 32-0 lead.

The second quarter must have seemed like déjà vu for Seeley, as the scores for the Titans just kept on coming.

Cutler and Lee connected again on an 18-yard score to make it 40-0. Wagner, who had a good night on the defensive side of the ball, came up with another fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff that he returned 17-yards for a score. Then on the following kickoff a line drive from Lee’s foot went off one of the Blackhawk up players and right into the arms of Daniel Brabender, who returned it 37 yards to the Seeley eight. One play later Cutler hit Brabender with an eight-yard scoring pass to make it 54-0.

Braden Huberg added a 16-yard rushing touchdown and Lee ran a punt back 63 yards for a score to make it 68-0 at halftime.

Lee had Flint Creek’s only score in the third with a 53-yard punt return for a TD and a 76-0 lead.

Huberg finished off the onslaught with a 25-yard scoring run in the fourth.

“The good thing is, we’re healthy,” added Cutler. “I don’t know that there was a bad thing. We’ll have to see that on video.

“We just play hard. Kids get hurt when they’re not playing hard and we aren’t going to do that.”

Flint Creek now looks toward its Homecoming game Friday (Sept. 21) against Plains at 7 p.m. The Horsemen are 1-3 on the year, having lost to Arlee Friday night 54-24. Their only win was against Seeley Swan.

Linescore

Flint Creek – 32/36/8/6 – 82

Seeley Swan – 0/0/0/0 – 0

Scoring

First Quarter

FC 8-0 – 9:14 – Manley 2-yard rushing TD. Manley Conversion Run.

FC 10-0 – 7:01 – Seeley snaps punt out of end zone. Safety.

FC 18-0 – 6:40 – Hess 13-yard rushing TD. Manley Conversion Run.

FC 26-0 – 4:49 – Wagner fumble recovery, 8-yard return for TD. Cutler to Allen Conversion Pass.

FC 32-0 – 3:20 – Cutler to Lee 12-yard TD pass. Conversion pass failed.

Second Quarter

FC 40-0 – 9:57 – Cutler to Lee 18-yard TD pass. Cutler to Holland Conversion Pass.