GREAT FALLS — Defense dictated things in the 78th Montana East-West Shrine Game, and neither offense found much consistency on a cool and windy Saturday evening at Memorial Stadium.
But true to recent trends, the West proved to be best.
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A Merek Mihelish touchdown pass with less than a minute remaining in the first half and a pair of big defensive plays late proved crucial in the West's 14-7 victory over the East. The win was the West's fifth in a row, though the East still leads the all-time series 41-37.
Leading by seven points in the final minutes, Florence's Mason Arlington intercepted a pass on the goal line to prevent an East touchdown and help the West ultimately seal the win.
"We had to have a strong mindset," Arlington said during the West team's celebration afterward. "Defense wins championships. Everyone knows that and we never gave up."
Through a scoreless first half, the West finally broke the stalemate late in the second quarter when Mihelish hit fellow Helena Capital alum (and future Montana Tech teammate) Dylan Almquist with a 26-yard touchdown pass.
The play was set up by good field position, as a short punt by the East on the previous possession gave the West the ball on its own 33-yard line. Two plays later, the West hit paydirt with 53 seconds on the clock on Mihelish's perfectly placed throw.
It was the first breakthrough in an opening half that saw the West team miss an early field goal, come up empty on two fourth-down attempts and punt three times. The East also struggled to sustain possessions, and punted five times in the first half in addition to being stopped on a fourth-down play of its own.
The West struck with a gadget play in the third quarter, as Arlington — getting involved offensively, too — took the ball from QB Brody Hardy of Frenchtown, then threw back across the field to Hardy, who went up and made a leaping catch to set the team up at the East 26.
Hardy then hit Jefferson's Luke Oxarart out of the backfield to convert a third-down play, and that produced a 6-yard touchdown run by Oxarart on the next play to give the West a 14-0 lead with 4:41 left in the third.
The East got a jolt when Bozeman linebacker Brady Casagranda and his friends corralled Mihelish in the backfield on a fourth-and-1 play, giving its offense the ball in West territory at the 35 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.
A few plays later, Malta's Stockton Oxarart fired a strike to Centerville's Luke Kelley, who turned upfield and evaded the defense for a 10-yard touchdown catch with 12:41 left to cut the East's deficit to 14-7.
The East's defense then forced a quick three and out, and its offense converted a wild fourth-and-3 play as Stockton Oxarart leapt at the line of scrimmage and pushed a two-handed pass to Malta teammate Blaine Downing for a 20-yard gain into West territory.
Later, Bozeman Gallatin's Grant Vigen threw a heater to Kelley on a slant to move the chains on third down to the West's 17. A pass interference penalty then put the East on the 9-yard line going in. But Jefferson's Brady Armstrong later sacked Vigen after a bobbled snap, forcing a third-and-goal play with 3:30 on the clock.
On the next snap, Arlington intercepted Vigen on the 2-yard line to snuff out the East's scoring bid.
The East's defense rose up and forced a punt as the West couldn't get out of the shadow of its own goal line. A short punt gave the East the ball at the West 27.
Facing third and 10 with less than a minute left, Oxarart threw incomplete. With the game on the line on fourth and 10 with 47 seconds left, Oxarart was sacked by Armstrong and the West was able to run out the clock to secure its fifth straight win in the series.
