Let's get behind the Wolfpack!
If you haven’t watched the powerhouse that is the 2014 Glacier Wolfpack football team, Friday is your last chance.
Friday just happens to be the Class AA state championship game, featuring the 12-0 Wolfpack against the 10-2 C.M. Russell Rustlers at Kalispell’s Legends Stadium.
The 7 p.m. game marks not only the first championship game in Kalispell in 34 years, but also a chance for a Kalispell team to be crowned king of the Class AA gridiron for the first time since 1970.
That year, Flathead won the AA championship.
This year, it’s Glacier’s opportunity to add to Kalispell football history.
If you haven’t been following the fortunes of the Wolfpack, the squad has merely romped through the ranks of Class AA this season.
An exciting, quick-striking offense has racked up 50 points a game while an overpowering defense has held opponents to 14 points a game. That’s a six-touchdown differential per game!
Fans have been treated to a football feast: Logan Jones taking 2-yard passes and rocketing to 60-yard touchdowns, Josh Hill punishing running backs and receivers alike, Jacob Janke striding sideline-to-sideline and eluding the entire opposing defense, Sam McCamley and Devin Cochran reeling in precision passes from Brady McChesney, Thomas Trefney galloping for touchdown after touchdown, the defensive line mauling every offense it has faced.
The list could go on for highlights in this amazing season.
Only two games could even be considered relatively close: a 49-31 win over the same Rustlers who will visit on Friday and a 27-7 crosstown win over rival Flathead.
Passing, running, returning kicks, sacks and interceptions: Glacier has excelled in all aspects of the game, and every member of the team has contributed at the highest level.
In fact, so frightening is the Wolfpack’s kick-return game that over the last several games, teams literally have refused to kick to Glacier’s speedsters. Teams have deliberately punted short (as in 10 to 15 yards) or sent kickoffs out of bounds. A new tactic was tried in the semifinal game last week when Big Sky on fourth down tried an “arm punt” — throwing a high, long pass to be intercepted (it was).
Friday’s title game represents a crowning achievement for the coaching staff headed by Grady Bennett, who together have led Glacier from the bottom (an 0-10 record in 2007) to the top (four consecutive semifinal games and back-to-back title-game appearances) of Class AA in only eight years.
It’s great football and a great time and a great reason to go to Legends on Friday night for the best in Montana high school football.
One final note for diehard Braves fans who might find it difficult to root for their crosstown upstart: This is Kalispell’s team that might win state. Just because they wear green and blue and not orange and black is no reason not to support our players from our town on Friday night.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.