AA Football: Major challenges await Flathead Braves in final three weeks

There have been almost nothing but good vibes in and around the Flathead football program this fall.

But now comes the hard part.

The resurgent Braves (5-2) begin a murderous three-game stretch to end the regular season tonight against Helena Capital (5-2) at Legends Stadium at 7 p.m.

“We’re in a position Flathead hasn’t been in for a very long time, with meaningful football games in October,” Braves head coach Kyle Samson said. “It’s a big, big game.”

Flathead has no control over its schedule, but the first seven weeks were fairly kind. Of the Braves’ five wins, only one came against a team with a winning record — week one at Great Falls C.M. Russell (4-3) — and Flathead has come up short in each of its shots against state elites, on the road at Helena High and Bozeman.

Still, there’s little to fault with the Braves’ performance in their victories. Each has come by at least 21 points and their last two games, for all intents and purposes, have been over by halftime.

The good news for Flathead is it gets to go through the rest of the schedule without leaving Legends Stadium. It starts with Capital tonight, then ends with what is technically a road game against Glacier (5-2) and an Oct. 30 matchup against Missoula Sentinel (4-4).

Despite staring across the field at top-level competition, don’t look for the Braves to break from the basics.

“You’ve got to do what you do, and execute and run your stuff,” Samson said. “If you try to get tricky and you do different things, the kids are not going to be as good at that stuff. We want to just do what we’re doing and see if we can do it a little bit better than we have.”

Flathead will see one of the state’s best defenses this week. The Bruins are allowing just over 14 points per game and, excluding their lopsided 37-14 loss to Billings Senior, have not allowed more than 16 points in any contest.

“Their defensive line and linebackers do a great job,” Samson said. “They’ve got experience on defense and that’s the big thing. A lot of them (played as) juniors last year.”

Capital owns one of the season’s most impressive wins, a 17-16 takedown of Bozeman, which is still the Hawks’ only loss. Bozeman shut out Flathead, 23-0, three weeks ago.

Playing against Capital also brings added emotion for the Braves’ leader, who was a standout quarterback for the Bruins while playing for Capital’s then-head coach, his father Mark.

“I have a ton of pride in (Capital)’s program, it’s been a huge part of my life,” Kyle Samson said. “A lot of their coaches are guys who coached me, who coached for my dad when he was my coach, and I have a lot of respect for them.”

Samson, as one might expect, sees a lot of similarities in his Braves program and the one his dad led to three state championships in seven years at Capital.

“They’re coached well, they’re disciplined and they don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Samson said. “That’s what we’re trying to do at Flathead. They don’t do anything tricky, they just line up and play great defense.”

And Flathead’s defense this year shouldn’t be overlooked, either. The Braves are allowing less than 14 points per game and have been among the state’s best at taking the ball away. Flathead’s defense has 16 interceptions already this year and boasts a plus 12 turnover margin.

On the other side, the Braves continue to lean on senior Josh McCracken. The running back needs just 54 yards to reach 1,000 for the season and has been held under 115 yards only once in seven games.

The Bruins’ offense starts with dual-threat quarterback Carter Pappas. The junior took over the starting job midway through Capital’s week one win against Billings West, and has scored 13 touchdowns and averaged nearly 200 all-purpose yards per game.

Regardless of how the last three weeks go, this season has been a special one for Flathead. The Braves’ five wins are the most since 2008 and they appear to be on their way to their first playoff appearance since 2011.

But as wins add up, expectations change, too.

“Our goal is to get a home playoff game,” Samson said. “We know that we control our own destiny. We don’t have to have someone else do something for us to get that.”

The first step towards making that happen comes tonight.