Glacier lacrosse club ends up 2nd in state

A trip to Lockwood had Glacier’s lacrosse team playing on Sunday, and though the state championship game didn’t go its way, the Flathead Valley squad was pretty satisfied.

“They did a phenomenal job this year,” said fifth-year coach Ted Smith, whose club went 14-3 this spring, including two tournament wins inside the new stadium at Lockwood High School. “I really thought we’d be in it to win it.”

Bozeman prevailed in the Montana Division I title game 9-6, avenging a 7-4 loss to Glacier earlier this spring.

Smith came to lacrosse sort of by accident, in that his background dates back to his first day coaching in the Valley.

“I was approached by Whitefish Lacrosse years ago and they wanted to know if I wanted to coach, and I said sure, and they said, ‘OK, here you go, there’s your team,’ ” he said. “I learned about lacrosse as we played.”

This year’s club drew 19 players from inside and outside Kalispell. Seven seniors led the way: Josh Nelson, Caleb Smith, Isaac Bjorge, Riley Gulick, Conner Dammel, Rocco Beccari and Colby Clemmons.

Beccari, a Glacier High football standout, was named All-State at goaltender at the state tourney; Luke Bilau, a senior to be at Glacier High, was All-State at attacker and Bigfork’s Isaac Bjorge was as well, at defender.

Clemmons, the club’s leading scorer, was honorable mention at attack and Gulick was honorable mention at defender.

Bilau, Caleb Smith and Nelson were also prolific scorers, Smith despite a fractured arm suffered a month ago. The team beat the Billings Bearcats and edged second-seeded Helena at state, before running into Bozeman.

“Bozeman prepared quite well after we beat them three weeks ago,” Smith said. “They went back and studied and put up a good fight.”