Preview: Big Sky Eagles vs. Helena Bengals
Big Sky is 0-5 against Helena since August of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Big Sky Eagles will square off against the Helena Bengals at 7:00 p.m.
Last Thursday, Big Sky had to suffer through a rough 56-21 loss at the hands of Glacier. Big Sky was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 35-14.
The losing side was boosted by Joey Sandberg, who rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Sandberg's longest rush was for an incredible 83 yards.
Meanwhile, Helena had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.3 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They beat Butte by the very same score they won with last week: 33-7. The result was nothing new for Helena, who have now won four games by 26 points or more so far this season.
Among those leading the charge was Carter Kraft, who threw for 213 yards and four touchdowns while completing 72.4% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Jaxan Lieberg was in the mix too, providing Helena with two touchdowns.
This is the second loss in a row for Big Sky and nudges their season record down to 3-5. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 14 points per game. Helena is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season.
Big Sky was taken down by Helena 40-3 when the teams last played back in October of 2022. Can Big Sky avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
