Friends with the enemy: Flathead, Glacier soccer rivals build friendship off the pitch

Flathead’s Carter Warnell spent 80 straight minutes chasing star Glacier striker Colton Becker around the pitch during the schools’ first crosstown match, a grueling, rain-soaked, foul-filled 2-2 draw on September 3.

Afterwards, they went “hot tubbing” together.

A bitter rivalry it is not, but for the lifelong friends it is soccer that both first brought them together and keeps their bond strong.

“I remember playing like five-year-old league soccer with him,” Warnell said of Becker. “And basically we’ve been best buds ever since.”

“We talk every day,” Becker said. “We have a good snap streak going on our Snapchats.”

When the two aren’t staying in touch via the social networking app, they are spending time with each other’s families, at each other’s houses, enjoying themselves on the trampoline, hunting in the fall and, predictably, playing soccer.

But try to get the two to engage in the kind of playful ribbing close friends often turn into their own language? It’s more likely to elicit a smile and a giggle than a forked tongue.

“We talk some out there, but not trash really,” Becker said.

“We listen to what the fans say and laugh off that,” said Warnell.

What about when Becker scored an early goal on Warnell and the Braves in the first crosstown match?

“He snuck one in and that’s when I was like ‘oh, that sneaky little guy,” Warnell said sheepishly.

“Sneaky little guy” is the closest either came to an insult and neither, according to Warnell, has mentioned the goal since.

But the courteous way the two do battle belies the competitive spirit that lies within each. Becker, a first team All-State selection as a junior, and Warnell, whom his coach, Nate Evans, said has “a lot of All-State qualities”, are leading their teams to new, if different, heights this fall.

When Flathead and Glacier meet for the final time this regular season Saturday at 7 p.m. at Legends Stadium, both teams bring in higher expectations than at any point since Glacier opened in 2007.

“(Since the split) Flathead has never been in the conversation for conference or going into state and it’s just neat to see them be a part of that,” Evans, in his first year as head coach, said. “They’re in the conversation and in the middle of the conference right now.”

The Braves (2-4-1) won back-to-back matches this season, something they had not done in seven years. And Flathead has already equaled its highest conference win total since 2008.

Across town, the Wolfpack (4-2-1) established themselves as state title contenders with a 1-0 win over Missoula Hellgate on September 17 — the only loss for the Knights in nine conference matches this year — and are looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2-1 loss at Missoula Sentinel on September 25.

“It’s kind of at that midpoint of the season and sometimes there can be a little bit of a lull and some challenges,” Glaicer head coach Ryan Billiet said. “(The loss to Sentinel) was deserving because we didn’t earn the result and it has us retooling how we prepare these guys for a game.”

Saturday’s game was originally scheduled to be at Glacier but was moved in mid-September to Legends and provides a unique opportunity for both programs on a big stage.

“We want to showcase the great level of soccer and the great talents we have here at Glacier as well as Flathead,” Billiet said. “We want (the spectators) to see greatness on Saturday night … and if we can do that hopefully we can inspire kids to stay in the game so that we can be the beneficiaries five years down the road and have them here.”

“The whole point is it should be a good, fun time for everybody,” Evans said. “We don’t have a lot of opportunities to play under the lights in Montana.”

Home to football on most nights, Legends does present some unique challenges. It is shorter and more narrow than a regulation pitch, and the field is crowned in the middle, meaning it slants sharply downward towards the sidelines.

“I know some people may think it’s not the best field but that’s soccer in Montana for you,” Becker said. “There’s never going to be a perfect field here, but I am excited that in my last crosstown as a senior I have this opportunity.”

Becker has 10 goals already this season but has been forced to alter his game a bit recently as teams focus more and more attention on the 5-foot-7 dynamo.

“It can be frustrating,” Becker said of the defense he’s seen. “I was definitely frustrated in that Sentinel game and who wouldn’t be when the whole team, including you, is having an off game.”

“But I know the team can back me up,” he continued. “This year, I know that if teams key on me we have some forces that other teams have to worry about. They can mark me all day if it helps other players get open.”

Saturday, it figures to again be his pal Warnell who gets the assignment to tail Becker from start to finish.

Faced with one last chance to earn on-field bragging rights, perhaps for the rest of their lives, surely that would produce at least a drop of venom.

“It’s probably just a little something to hold over him, that’s about all,” Becker said with a little prodding. “But as soon as it’s over we’ll be playing indoor and in the spring together and we’re really excited about that.”

It’s hardly bulletin board material.