Flathead, Glacier hope to bring the smoke
Time for a little Friday Night Smoke, since the games in the Valley and elsewhere – which are still on as of this writing – will be played under less than ideal conditions thanks to massive wildfires.
That includes Flathead High School’s home opener against Missoula Hellgate, and Glacier’s game at Butte.
Other games of note for the area include: Libby at Columbia Falls in the Northwestern A and Florence at Bigfork in a key Western B game.
Bigfork canceled some outdoor events earlier in the week, including a middle school football game; Columbia Falls announced it would make a decision about its game ahead of when Libby was scheduled to get on the road.
Here’s a look at the AA matchups:
Hellgate At Flathead
Both the Braves and the Knights come into the game 0-1 after tough losses in Missoula, Flathead 59-19 to Missoula Sentinel and Hellgate 48-20 to crosstown rival Big Sky.
It’s a chance for each team to get well, and second-year Flathead coach Matt Upham wants his team to do everything better Friday starting at 7 p.m.
“Anybody can win on any given Friday,” Upham said. “We’ve just got to get better and blocking tackling, all the fundamentals.”
The bright spots for Flathead last week included Alec Thomas, who ran for 26 yards and a touchdown and made a team-high 12 tackles at linebacker. Safety Ryan Nelson had nine stops, linebacker Nolan White had eight and quarterback Charlie Hinchey threw for 111 yards and two scores, with no interceptions.
The Braves face a Hellgate squad that replaced the graduated quarterback Rollie Worster with Washington state transfer Dante Maiuri. He threw 44 times last week, completing 21 passes for 326 yards and three TDs. Ian Finch caught 11 passes for 176 yards and two scores.
Catching Upham’s attention was the fact Hellgate ran the ball just five times against Big Sky, for 33 yards (21 came on one run by Jacob Sweatland).
“They’ve got size,” Upham said. “They gave the quarterback a lot of time last week. Big Sky didn’t get too much pressure. We’ve got to get (Maiuri) moving, get him out of the pocket.”
Big Sky controlled the ball and ran with impunity against the Knights, with quarterback Colter Janacaro piling up 270 rushing yards; perhaps the Braves can make hay in the running game as well.
Glacier at Butte
Butte lost 14-9 to Helena High last week while Glacier pulled away for a 43-20 win over Helena Capital.
The Bulldogs had their chances, including a 17-yard touchdown run by Christian Vetter that was called back. Butte has some familiar names in the lineup: Jake Olson is a big tight end; Tucker LeProwse is a leading tackler.
Arie Grey is in his 13th season coaching Butte.
“I think he and I are the two longest-tenured coaches in AA, which is crazy because when I started as a head coach in Kalispell, he was on my staff (at Flathead),” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said.
Butte also has a couple candidates for the all-name team in quarterback Blake Drakos and receiver Banner Cetraro. They hooked up for a TD last week, though Butte’s offense sputtered to the tune of just 200 yards, 145 in the air.
Glacier had slightly better offensive numbers, but the figures Bennett really liked was the plus-3 in turnovers and three penalties.
“Just incredible for Game 1,” he said. “I was really proud of the kids. If we do those things we’ll have a chance. But we just have to execute better. Our execution was way down which maybe you expect the first game.”
Jake Rendina faced a packed box against Capital and rumbled for 57 yards three TDS on 19 carries. Quarterback JT Allen threw for 150 yards and a late touchdown to tight end Ethan Diede.
“We have to be able to run,” Bennett asserted. “We can’t abandon it. But we also have to be able to take advantage of what people give us.
“Butte’s going to dial up some blitzes with six, seven guys and get after you but still load the box. If they’re doing that, we’ll have opportunities on the outside.”
Cole Johnson and Connor Sullivan combined for seven catches and 83 yards last week.
Butte health officials announced Thursday an increase in fans allowed to view the game at Naranche Stadium: The limit is now four tickets per home participant, and two tickets for each participant for Glacier.