Class AA football: Glacier looking to leap Helena High hurdle in playoff matchup

Glacier football has run through a stretch of accomplishments the last few years that stacks up with the best runs in Class AA history.

State championships, record-setting statistics and a string of four-straight trips to the state semifinals mark the kind of success few have seen on the top level of high school football in the Treasure state.

However, even with all its success, there’s still one thing the Wolfpack has never done.

Beat Helena.

The Bengals are what awaits Glacier as the Class AA playoffs open this weekend, the two teams facing off in a Saturday matinee at 1 p.m. at Vigilante Stadium.

Helena has been an obstacle Glacier hasn’t been able to clear in its eight-year history, the Wolfpack going 0-7 against the Bengals, including a 23-17 loss in this year’s season opener.

The last time the two teams met in the playoffs was in 2010, which also happens to be the last time Glacier started its postseason on the road. The Bengals blew away that game, winning 48-16.

Even with history standing in front of it, the Wolfpack enters Saturday’s contest with an extra day of rest and a world of confidence, riding a state-best eight-game winning streak into the playoffs.

“It’s exciting. I feel like we’re playing our best football, by far, of the year, I really like where we’re at,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.

Chief among those to improve has been first-year quarterback Leif Ericksen. Waiting his turn for a few years, Ericksen has rounded into form by the end of the year, leading the state with 219 passing yards a game, while throwing for 17 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.

It culminated last week in the regular season finale against Missoula Big Sky, when Ericksen went 17 for 22 for 324 yards and three touchdowns in a near flawless performance by the Wolfpack offense.

“The numbers were amazing, but his decisions were spot on,” Bennett said.

“The way he was seeing the field and reading the coverages. When the ball was coming out, the timing, the decision making, it was unbelieveable.

“To see that progress, I’m really proud of him.”

Ericksen’s improvement has come along with the soldifying of his offensive line, which was working in four new starters when the Wolfpack played Helena in the season opener. The line’s progression has helped the entire offense, with senior running back Thomas Trefney among the state’s best on the ground with 20 rushing touchdowns this season. The offensive skill positions, mostly new in their roles at the start of the season, have also improved to help Glacier form into the state’s second best offense.

“We’ve improved as much or more than anybody,” Bennett said.

Helena has also improved, winning its last three games and six of the last seven. The Bengals hold the state’s fourth best scoring defense and gave Glacier trouble in the red zone in their first matchup.

With the game pushed back to Saturday because of Helena Capital’s contest with Flathead on Friday night, Glacier took an extra day to rest before preparing for the contest.

Glacier has had a near impecable record on the road over the last few seasons, going 10-0 over the last two years and 18-2 in the past three. The Wolfpack has also won its last two trips to Helena.

“It stinks to be 8-2 and drop all the way to the fifth seed,” Bennett said. “That doesn’t happen very often. But, we’ve been so good on the road.

“They feel very confident. They’ve been there, they’ve been in those big situations. They’ve been around it.”

With a win, Glacier would head back to the state semifinals for a fifth-straight year. Helena Capital is the only other team to have such a long streak of success in the last 15 years, going seven straight season from 2005-2011.

The game will be broadcast in the Flathead Valley on 103.9 The Monster beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday.