HELENA — Trygve Braun had a big night, scoring three touchdowns and kicking a field goal, to help the Helena Bengals power into the win column for the first time this season with a 45-6 victory Friday night over the Missoula Hellgate Knights at Vigilante Stadium.
The Bengals (1-2), coming off losses to top-5 teams Bozeman and Billings West, took a while to get going against a Hellgate defense that allowed 53 points last week but wound up dominating by night’s end.
Braun scored two touchdowns from 2 yards out and connected on a 29-yard field at the end of the first half to account for all 17 of the Bengals’ points in a decisive second quarter as they took a 24-0 lead at intermission.
Braun then added a 70-yard jaunt for his third score and a 31-0 lead, and seconds later Kyle Davis found the end zone when Hellgate fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Davis ran it in to extend the lead to 38-0.
A 3-yard pass from Vince Paffhausen to Evan Pyron got the Knights (0-3) on the board — though the extra point failed — but Helena answered on a Reece Silvonen 10-yard toss to Riley Schulte.
Mac Lundstrom found Jaxan Lieberg for a 14-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to give Helena a 7-0 lead.
Elsewhere in Class AA …
No. 1 Kalispell Glacier 49, Butte 14
No. 2 Bozeman Gallatin 35, Billings Senior 0
No. 3 Bozeman 42, Billings Skyview 13
No. 5 Helena Capital 41, Missoula Sentinel 6
Great Falls 38, Belgrade 7
No. 4 Billings West 38, Great Falls CMR 7 (Thursday)
Missoula Big Sky 29, Kalispell Flathead 0 (Thursday)
