TERRY COLUMN: Despite slow start, not time to panic for Glacier football

Glacier football isn’t used to this position.

The last time the Wolfpack started the season 0-2 it had just finished its second game as a program. Even in its next season in 2008, which finished 2-8 and marked the last time Glacier has had a losing season or missed the playoffs, the Wolfpack began the year with a win and started 2-1 before a skid to finish the year.

That in mind, Glacier coach Grady Bennett had a message for his team after Friday night’s loss to Bozeman.

“We’re fine.”

“That was my message to them after last week,” Bennett said. “I think the key was, once they realized the long win streak and that whole thing is over. Now they can just focus on getting better, realizing it’s a long season.”

While not common over an impressive run to start its program, Glacier has been in a similar position before.

The Wolfpack began 2-3 in 2012, losing two of its first three games to top-four playoff seeds Great Falls C.M. Russell and Helena High and falling to state runner-up Bozeman two games later before a six-game winning streak landed Glacier with the top overall seed in the playoffs and an eventual trip to the state semifinals.

Glacier lost three of its first four games in 2010, falling to eventual state title finalists Bozeman and Helena High in the stretch, before rallying in its final two games to make the playoffs as a 7-seed and finish the season 6-5.

“So much of it is about scheduling,” Bennett said. “I just reminded them of that. They’ve been great about it.”

Scheduling quirks set up a few teams each season for big comebacks.

Last year alone, two teams began the season 0-2 and made the playoffs. Missoula Big Sky began 0-2 and finished the season 8-4, falling to Glacier in the semifinals. Billings West made the playoffs as an 8-seed.

Similarly, two seasons ago in 2013, traditional state powerhouse CMR fell to 0-4 to start the year. The Rustlers would eventually rally, winning seven consecutive games before a loss to Glacier in the state semifinals.

This season was set up for a tough start for the re-tooling Wolfpack. It started with two of the presumed favorites to win a title this season, Helena High and Bozeman, two of five teams to begin the season undefeated.

It continues with maybe the best team in the state, Helena Capital, which has beaten its first two opponents by a combined score of 85-8, the best point differential in the state.

Even its next game, at Great Falls High, will be against a team with a winning record after the Bison began the season with back-to-back wins.

However, the schedule eases considerably in the back half of the season, when the Wolfpack could use a long winning streak to fight its way back into the playoffs for a sixth straight season.

“I think other people get more excited about some of that stuff and panic a little more than the guys. I think they’ve been pretty good,” Bennett said.

“We played two really good teams. Possibly the two best teams in the state. We have another one coming up. It could be another week where we just have to hang in there.”

The football season is a marathon, not a sprint, regardless of how it may not seem that way in the moment.

Glacier’s slow start to the season could be indicative of the first down season in awhile, or it could be a precursor to a great finish. What’s certain is that we don’t know anything right now.

This team may not have been in this position for awhile, but it still has time to get back on track.