It's playoff time on the Class AA gridiron
The Daily Inter Lake
One more time.
The Flathead Braves (6-3) will face the Butte Bulldogs (7-2) in the Class AA state football quarterfinals.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday at Bulldog Memorial Stadium - a rematch of their Oct. 6 No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown in which Flathead defeated Butte 21-14.
The Braves did just about everything better than Butte that night.
They had 15 first downs to nine for the Bulldogs, outran the Bulldogs 162 yards to 69, threw for 235 yards to 184 for Butte and turned the ball over twice. Butte had three turnovers.
Quarterback Brock Osweiler was 23-for-34 for 235 yards in that game - with completions to five different receivers. He also orchestrated an 80-yard, 10-play scoring drive during which he hit six of seven passes.
Running back John Goldberg rushed for 75 yards and defensive lineman/fullback Dan Ogden scored three touchdowns. Defensively, lineman Travis Knoll intercepted a pass and recovered a Butte fumble.
The Braves were voted the No. 1 team in Class AA after that victory.
But Flathead slipped out of the rankings when it lost the next two games, to Helena High (10-7) and Helena Capital (20-18). The combined total of the losses was five points and injuries played a big part in both.
Against Helena High, Osweiler suffered a first-half leg injury that knocked him out of the next week's game at Helena Capital and junior offensive lineman Brent Smith was lost for the season.
Butte, meanwhile went on to post a shutout against Bozeman the next weekend, then fell 21-6 to Billings West before finishing out the season with a 34-13 win over Billings Skyview.
Osweiler has completed 115 of 208 attempts on the year for 1,931 yards and 18 touchdowns.
His top two receivers statistically are seniors Reed Watkins and Geoff Hogan. Watkins has 34 catches for 589 yards and seven touchdowns. Hogan has 39 catches on the year for 516 yards and four touchdowns.
In the second round, the highest seed remaining will host the lower seed.
That means that should the Braves defeat Butte, they could host a semifinal - if Bozeman defeats Billings West - or the Braves could face a long road trip to Billings on Nov. 10. The state championship game is slated for Nov. 17.
Other first round games are as follows:
. Eighth-seeded Bozeman (4-5) travels to top seed - and defending state champion - Billings West (8-1). Kickoff will be 7:30 p.m. Friday at Daylis Stadium.
Among the remaining nine teams to play West, Bozeman did as well as anyone. West defeated the Hawks 17-10 on Sept. 29 at Billings' Daylis Stadium.
But the Hawks will be without starting quarterback John Stinson, backup Caleb Campbell, senior fullback/linebacker Jimmy Underhill and senior center Carson Cowles.
All were dismissed from the team earlier this week for violating the Bozeman High's substance-abuse policy.
Senior strong safety Kellen Pierson will start at quarterback.
Pierson started two games during the 2005 season before Stinson took over.
In the lower half of the bracket, No. 7 CMR (4-5) travels to No. 2 seed Helena High (7-2) for a 7 p.m. game Friday. No. 3 seed Helena Capital (7-2) will play host at 1 p.m. Saturday to No. 6 seed Billings Senior (6-3).
. Helena High defeated CMR 34-31 in double overtime during the first week of the season. The Bengals are the overtime champs of Class AA - three of their wins have come in overtime.
In that game so many weeks ago, CMR's Christian Prosperie rushed for 268 yards and scored two touchdowns. Helena High quarterback Ryan Fetherston threw for 242 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for one score.
.The only playoff matchup this weekend in which the teams did not have a regular season game is Billings Senior at Helena Capital.