Glacier hoping to 'start well' against Bozeman

This game isn’t about revenge.

Glacier (2-0) has lost its last three football games to Bozeman (1-1), including the state championship game last November. And while revenge isn’t on the minds of Wolfpack players, the team doesn’t lack motivation.

“You never want to talk about revenge, the past is the past,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.

“But when you have a team that is motivated and focused to try to beat a team that we’ve lost three straight to, that’s a good thing. I want to allow them to have that fun and compete.”

Glacier lost both games to the Hawks on the road last season and was beat resoundingly at home in the 2012 state semifinals.

“I think our guys are motivated, just because this team has put us out of the playoffs the last two years,” Bennett said.

“They have ended our season. They’ve been the ones that have caused us to turn our equipment in.”

Bozeman isn’t bringing in quite the same juggernaut the Wolfpack has faced the last two seasons, with the departure of a handful of high-profile players to college football.

Quarterback Will Weyer and fullback Riley Kack are at the University of Montana. Linebacker Grant Collins is at Montana State and tight end/defensive end Will Dissly is at the University of Washington.

They’ve also lost their top running back and wide receiver, along with a handful more on the defense.

What is left of the Hawks has had a challenging start to their season, splitting a pair of close games to teams that made the playoffs a year ago.

Bozeman struggled through growing pains in a 21-17 loss to Billings Skyview in their opener before rallying last week to top Missoula Sentinel 33-32 in the closing seconds.

Junior quarterback DJ Perdaems was responsible for the comeback against Sentinel, throwing for 169 yards and two touchdowns in the final 15 minutes against the Spartans. He took over for junior Balue Chapman, who threw and ran for a score in the first half against Sentinel, and leads the team in rushing yards this season.

Cordell Appel has taken over the top spot in the backfield and Bennett Hostetler is the team’s top receiver.

“They’re still Bozeman,” Bennett said.

“They’re very good, they’re well coached, so it doesn’t really matter who they put in. They’re the biggest school in the state, so they have tons of athletes. They just reload every year.

“So, they still do some great things. What we’ve told our guys all week is they’re still the defending champs. Until, or unless, somebody ends their season, they are still the state champs. Somebody has to knock them off. That’s what our task is.”

Glacier will be looking to get off to a better start than it has in its first two games this season.

The Wolfpack had just three offensive snaps in the first quarter against Great Falls C.M. Russell last week and struggled mightily on defense for most of the first half.

Against Billings West, he team opened its first series with an interception.

“That’s one of our focus points,” Bennett said.

“We have to start fast, whichever unit goes out there. In both games, the unit that’s taken the field first has not started the game like we need to.

“If you want to call it fast that’s fine,” he continued.

“I think the most important part is we need to start well. So whatever unit takes the field, that’s the big challenge for us. We need to start the game well, aligning, assigning, executing.”

The game gets going at 7 tonight at Legends Stadium.