Football Defeats Baker in First Round

Glasgow's football squad advanced to the State Quarterfinal Playoff Game by defeating two opponents Saturday: the Baker Spartans and the Scotties, themselves. On their first postseason game, Glasgow took the win, 34-12, taking Baker out of the running in a gritty game.

"It's not very often that a team has four turnovers and two touchdowns called back and still gets the win," said assistant coach Dylan Hughes. Indeed, the Scotties overcame their own setbacks to claim the win, though Hughes noted, " ... we know we have plenty of things to work on this week."

Even with the mistakes, the Scotties gave a fine show with several players turning in notable performances on both sides of play.

Offensively, Tatum Hansen led the way with four touchdowns. He had 20 carries for 234 yards, with one fumble. Toryn Richards added 54 yards on eight carries, not including a called-back touchdown run. Quarterback Mason Donaldson connected on 10 of 14 passes for 116 yards – including a 24 yard throw to Wyatt Babb for a touchdown – but also had two interceptions in the game.

On the other side of the ball, rarely did a Baker possession go by without a tackle by Vaughn Miller. The Scottie junior racked up an impressive 14 tackles in the game, 10 unassisted. He had two tackles for loss and a sack. Ashton Potter, Richards and Aiden Hoerster each relieved the Spartans of a pass and ran the ball back for a Scottie gain. Potter raced 61 yards, Richards 17 and Hoerster 12 yards. The Scotties also put nine pass break-ups on the stats sheet this week.

Sam Tedrow, assistant coach, was effusive with praise for his defensive crew. "Any time you can start a game with multiple three-and-outs, it really sets the tone defensively. Credit to our guys for quelling any nerves and being ready to go from the first whistle."

After repeatedly shutting down the Baker offense, the Glasgow offense got fired up in the second quarter. Hansen showed off his moves with a 21-yard touchdown run at 8:35 before halftime. The Scotties' two-point attempt failed. Just under six minutes later, Donaldson found Babb on the toss for another six points. Hansen weaved his way into the end zone for the extra two.

With under a minute left before halftime, Baker answered with a touchdown but the Scotties halted the two-point conversion. The scoreboard read Glasgow 14, Baker 6 as the first half ran out. Six-plus minutes elapsed in the third quarter before the Scotties lit up the scoreboard again. A 53-yard rush by Hansen put Glasgow up another six with a failed two-point attempt. Baker answered with 2:16 remaining but Potter snagged the pass intended for a Spartan receiver on the two-point attempt to put the score at 20-12.

The fourth quarter started with a 56-yard rush by Hansen into the end zone. The Scottie junior padded Glasgow's lead with 7:29 remaining on the clock with a 21-yard rush over the goal line. Richards added the extra two points with a rush on the right side. Glasgow's 34-12 lead held for the remainder of the game, even as frustrations and penalties piled up.

The Scotties put up 320 rushing yards and 114 receiving yards for a net offense of 434 yards. However, 79 yards of penalties and 22 yards lost to sacks put their net offense at 333 yards.

Glasgow gave up 42 rushing yards on 20 carries and 226 passing yards to the Spartans.

The Scotties travel to Bigfork this Saturday, Nov. 5 for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The two teams have met only once before – in 2021 – with Bigfork getting the 49-0 win.

Hughes said, "I'm excited for our guys to head to Bigfork this week and have the opportunity to get into the semi-finals."

"Bigfork runs an offensive similar to ours, but with Malta-type misdirection. They have some really athletic players, but if we can get them off schedule in the run game, I like our chances when forcing them to pass," Tedrow said. "Let's keep this thing rolling out west!"

The game will be carried live on KLTZ 1240 AM and on the NFHS Network.