Helena Capital did that and came away with a 31-17 victory over Billings West in the Class AA cha... Ed West: Capital continues

The Bruins, who had lost to West two weeks earlier, cut their turnovers from five to one, which was probably the most significant statistic in the game.

"We kind of sold them on that," said Capital coach Pat Murphy. "We had the ball four times inside their 20 (in the first game) and turned it over three times. We thought if we could take those away, we could get some scores." The only time Capital lost the ball was when West's Tyler Roberts stole the ball from Grant Boynton on a punt return with the game tied 10-10 in the second quarter. However, the Capital defense negated that turnover when Aron Satre made an interception and Capital went to drive 56 yards for the go-ahead touchdown by Kruze Banderob.

The Bruins scored again just 23 seconds before halftime after quarterback Jared Hunt reeled off a 46-yard run to set up a seven-yard score by Cameron Dana and a 24-10 lead.

"The key to the game was that interception," Murphy said. "Then we marched 90 yards for a touchdown right before the half and that put us up two scores."

Capital, of course, was fortunate to escape with a semifinal victory over Helena, rallying for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to overcome a 17-0 deficit.

Murphy becomes the fifth coach in Capital history to win a state championship. Tim Dennison guided the Bruins to their first title in 1978. The late Jim Tuss followed and put together an outstanding tenure, claiming state championships in 1987 and 1993. Walt Chauncy coached the Bruins to a 12-0 record in 1996. Mark Samson took over and posted a 67-12 record, including state titles in 1999, 2000 and 2002, before leaving for MSU-Northern where he's done a great job with that program.

Murphy arrived in 2004 and promptly went 5-6 which probably didn't make him the most popular guy in town. But last year Capital advanced to the title game and put a scare into West before falling 21-17.

"This has been a great program," Murphy said. "We have a good solid base, a great weight room. I feel fortunate to just be part of something special."

For West, it was also a pretty good year, considering the loss of 20 starters. Despite an early-season loss to Senior, the Bears didn't lose again until Friday.

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