Braves look for bounce-back victory at Missoula Big Sky
A week after a season-opening loss at home to Billings Senior, the Flathead Braves football team is heading on the road in search of a win against Missoula Big Sky.
The Braves hammered Big Sky 41-15 last season, but Flathead head coach Russell McCarvel expects a tighter contest this time around as Big Sky returns most of its key players from last year while Flathead lost 33 seniors.
“They’re a lot different from last year in that they’ve got the same guys one year older,” McCarvel said. “The team we’re facing has tons of two-year starters, great athletes. They look a lot different, and by different they just look better.”
Big Sky (0-1) missed the playoffs last season, but looked like a more formidable team in its opener, forcing defending state champion Helena Capital to overtime before losing 32-25.
“Not too many teams take Capital to overtime, so you can tell that they’re obviously one of the top teams in the league, and we knew that going in,” McCarvel said.
With a big offensive line and athletic players at the skill positions, Big Sky’s offense could be tough for Flathead to handle. Senior quarterback Cole Baker returns after finishing fourth in Class AA in passing last season, but he’s also a threat on the ground, which he showed last week against Capital with 64 rushing yards on 10 carries.
“He’s a great athlete,” McCarvel said. “Capital had a tough time containing him. We’ve got to make sure we contain him and keep him in the pocket, which is tough to do.”
Big Sky also returns its top target in the passing game in senior all-state wide receiver Nico Graham. Graham caught five passes for 123 yards and a touchdown against Capital.
“The quarterback trusts him a lot,” said Flathead cornerback/wide receiver Kevin Grosswiler.
“He’ll go up and get the ball no matter where it’s at, so we’ve just got to play tight coverage on him and do the best we can do.”
McCarvel said Big Sky is bigger than Flathead on both the offensive and defensive lines, but Braves lineman Gage Marcum said that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“We’re a lot smaller, but I think we can get them with quickness and skill,” Marcum said.
“I think we can beat them.”
Flathead has a dual-threat quarterback of its own in senior Matt Tokarz, who led three touchdown drives against Senior before leaving the game with leg cramps early in the second half. Running back Austin Root also had a productive game against Senior, running for 75 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Grosswiler said those performances give him confidence as the Braves look to notch their first win today.
“Our confidence level is really high,” he said.
‘We looked really good last week in some parts.”
McCarvel said it’s difficult to assess how much his team has progressed since the opener because minor injuries have kept the first team from logging much practice time as a complete unit.
“We’re filling in with more and more backups, so that slows things down a little bit,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll get a couple guys to get a little healthier and be ready to go Friday night.”
Grosswiler said that shouldn’t be a problem by the time kickoff rolls around.
“We’ve got a good group of guys. I think they’ll be ready by game day.”
Today’s game begins at 4 p.m. in Missoula. A tape-delay broadcast will air at 10:35 p.m. on KAJ (cable channel 8, air 18) on Saturday and will be available on demand by Monday morning at www.kpax.com.