Football eyes on Kalispell

The biggest, most important game in the state Friday night is being played right here in Kalispell.

A precursor to the Cat-Griz melee on Saturday, the focus of the state will be right here in town for the Class AA state championship game, the first played in Kalispell in more than a generation.

While the state turns its eyes towards Legends Stadium, the question is if Kalispell will?

This is a town still smarting from a split eight years ago. A split deemed necessary by nearly everybody, yet few in the community at large have come to embrace.

In that eight years, Glacier has grown into a budding superpower in Class AA football. This is its second straight trip to the state title game after four consecutive trips to at least the state semifinals. The latter is a feat not accomplished in town since 2003. The former not since 1959.

This is a run of success rarely seen in Kalispell, and to be judged by the home grandstands, still isn’t.

As I looked up from the sidelines during Friday’s semifinal 42-8 win against Missoula Big Sky, the sheer lack of attendance was astounding.

Was it the cold? It was bitterly cold during the game, but it tends to get that way around now. Blame the scientists.

Until that point, the weather had been perfect all season, with 11 weeks of generally dry, warm, clear weather to enjoy football.

Last year’s state championship game was played in colder weather in Bozeman, on what seemed by the end of the game to be a block of ice.

Two years ago, in the first semifinal game played in town in more than a decade, the weather was worse, with both frigid temperatures and blowing snow. It was so cold, the battery on my phone died and I needed to write in pencil because any ink pen in the area was frozen solid.

Have fans been spoiled? Does this run of success have fans assuming victories and looking ahead? Is that really worth skipping a contest when Glacier has put on a show in every home contest this year?

Or has the city still not warmed up to its newest resident?

There’s no excuse for the avid sports fan in the area to miss the game.

There’s no more volleyball. There’s no more soccer. Cross country ran out of season nearly a month ago. Every other football team in the immediate vicinity has cleaned out its lockers. At most, winter sports will have been on their second day of practice. Missoula or Helena are relatively short drives for college games on Saturday.

Even the cold won’t be as cold this week. And with nearly two weeks of acclimation under your belt, you should be nearly used to the weather by now.

All week, I’ve heard stories of the atmosphere for the state championship game in 1980. It was bitterly cold. As luck would have it, it was also against Great Falls C.M. Russell.

The only difference from so far this season: It was also standing room only.

As reporters and television cameras from around the state roll into the Flathead, Friday’s game is sure to have an audience.

I only hope it’s one that represents the home-field advantage it should.