Semis streak no stranger to Kalispell
The run of success Glacier’s football team is on isn’t unprecedented, but it’s close.
On Friday, Glacier will take the field in its fourth straight state semifinal, only the third team since 2000 to complete the feat and just the second since Class AA expanded to an eight-team playoff format. The success has been building for awhile and it’s a product of the type of talent Kalispell has put on the field in the last 15 years.
Consider, one of the two other programs to make four straight semifinals since the turn of the century is Helena Capital.
A long-time power program, the Bruins were among the final four teams in the state every year from 2005-2011 and in the state championship game every year except 2010 during that stretch. Since 2000, Capital has won six state championships and been a benchmark for nearly every team in the state.
The other? Flathead, who was among the final four every year from 2000-2003, the last three having to win game to get there.
Combined, a Kalispell school has made the state semifinals in 10 of the last 15 years, with Glacier coach Grady Bennett on the coaching staff of all of them—as a head coach since 2004 and an offensive coordinator on the Braves four-year run of semis.
“Looking back I’ve been a part of all those which is pretty cool and I don’t even think of it,” Bennett said.
“There’s no question that’s why going to two schools was so special, because more kids get a chance (to play). It’s neat that we’ve been able to have the success we’ve had, instead of both school struggling.
“Definitely a lot of good players have come out of here if you look at the kids who have played for Montana, Montana State. A lot of talent.”
Though not originally a proponent of the move to an eight-team playoff, Bennett was swayed by Flathead’s performance in 2003, which saw the eighth-seeded Braves upset No. 1 Capital on the road to advance to the state semifinals for the fourth straight time.
“That year comes around and we were thankful that it went to eight because we made it in,” Bennett said.
“Then of course we upset Capital and that was a crazy game. Last second pass to do it. That was just nuts. That was a lot of fun.”
Bennett and the Braves were close to another breakout group after back-to-back semifinal appearances in 2005 and 2006. Flathead had one of the best teams in the state entering the final two seasons of future-NFL quarterback Brock Osweiler’s high school career.
“I felt like our first three years at Flathead, when I was the coach (2004-06), I felt like we were really starting to do something special,” Bennett said. “That’s of course when the school split.
“Sometimes you think back, what if it wouldn’t have split? We would’ve been the biggest school in the state. If all those kids could have stayed together, that would’ve been Brock’s junior and senior year. You like to think we could have went on a run that would have been phenomenal. How many championships could we have won and those sorts of things.”
Though a minor set back, Bennett and the Wolfpack have things back on track and look like a program that could possibly end Kalispell’s 45-year championship drought.
“It’s been fun to implement those things and watch it grow and turn into what it has now in our eighth season,” Bennett said.
Though that’s not his only goal for his team.
“Winning is nice, we want to be there every year and win multiple (championships),” Bennett said.
“Truly, when it comes down to it, it’s about producing good men that have learned some good things about character and doing the right things. That’s what’s the most satisfying for me.”