Wolfpack hope to finish on high note
By DILLON TABISH/The Daily Inter Lake
Spoiler alert!
The Missoula Big Sky Eagles are in desperate need of a home win tonight at 7 p.m. in order to cinch a comfortable playoff position, but the Glacier Wolfpack would like nothing better than to end the season with one final win.
"We just wanna come out and let it fly," Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. "We're gonna come out aggressive and enjoy that spoilers role and have fun with it."
The Eagles have won three of their last four games, including a 24-17 upset over former fourth-ranked Helena High in Missoula last Friday.
The Big Sky offense ranks in the middle of the pack, averaging roughly 134 yards passing per game and 158 yards rushing. Eagles quarterback Mike LaValley is coming off a big game against Helena in which he threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns.
As far as rushing is concerned, the Eagles rely on a number of names for carries. In last week's game, six different players ran the ball, led by Edward Apostol (15 carries for 62 yards) and Trevor Kamura (10-for-44).
Lining up as a deep threat is receiver Drew Owens, who has big play potential and showed that last week when he caught 10 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown.
"On offense they play a real tough brand of football," Bennett said. "I think (Big Sky coach Gary) Ekegren does the best job of anybody in the state of getting his kids to play physical. They're a tough, hard nosed team."
The Wolfpack is looking to end a six-game skid. They lost to Sentinel last week at home 42-28.
"We want to finish by playing our best game of the season," Bennett said. "We want to feel proud so that when we look at tape of that game, it was our best of the season."
Glacier has made strides in the right direction this season despite its appearance in the standings. With the school's first ever senior class, the club won two of its first three games. After that, it faced four of the current top five teams in the state and came out with respectable marks compared to its inaugural season the year before.
Wolfpack quarterback Shay Smithwick-Hann has progressed through the season and has a chance to cap a milestone stretch for his school. The 6-foot-4 junior exceeded 2,000 total passing yards last week, and is just one touchdown pass away from tallying 20 total. All in all, he's only thrown five interceptions, three of those coming against top-ranked Helena Capital on Oct. 3.
For receivers, senior Taylor Graham has 547 yards and four touchdowns, followed by senior Tyler Lincoln, who has 393 yards and three touchdowns. Junior George Werk has 382 and five touchdowns.
Running the ball for Glacier has been juniors Taylor Hart and Wiley Fusaro. They have combined for over 500 yards.
Both clubs bring top-notch special teams to the field - Big Sky is ranked first in kickoff returns in AA, averaging just over 23 yards per return. Glacier's return-specialist Phil Heimerl has been a hop, skip and a jump away from returning one for a touchdown all season. As a team, Glacier averages just below roughly 21 yards per return.
Rounding out a few more Glacier players who will make an impact tonight are defensive back Kramer Wilson, defensive linemen Michael Shockley, linebacker Nate Dennison, and receiver/defensive back Connor Fuller.
"I feel like we have the athletes this year and we can get some matchups," Bennett said.
"If they're gonna give us some chances, we're gonna take them … We've shown that we can have some big plays."