Thursday Night Lights: Flathead looks to end on upswing; Glacier faces Missoula Hellgate on road

Flathead broke a 17-game losing streak to start the football season; now it can end on a winning note.

The 1-7 Braves host 2-6 Missoula Big Sky tonight at Legends Stadium with a chance to create a three-way tie for sixth place in the Western AA. Six teams make the AA playoffs..

If that happens — if Flathead wins and Glacier beats Hellgate in Missoula — the Braves, Eagles and Knights will have one one conference win. The tiebreaker goes to strength of schedule, and that favors the Knights because they beat Belgrade in the preseason, and Belgrade later beat Billings Skyview.

The Panthers give Hellgate a better win than Flathead or Big Sky had over Skyview.

Big Sky at Flathead

“The guys are wanting to finish the season on the right foot and the seniors are hungry for one more,” first-year Braves coach Caleb Aland said Wednesday. “At the end of the day I hope we can get this victory for those seniors.”

The list includes quarterback Jackson Walker, who was banged up shortly after a long touchdown run last week in the crosstown game. Fellow senior Nate Skonord finished up, and could start tonight.

“He’ll play,” Aland said of Walker, the team’s leading rusher. “How much, I don’t know yet. They’ll both play, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Gabe Sims, who caught a TD pass last week against Glacier, leads the receiving crew. Flathead faces another team with formidable skill players: Quarterback Drew Martins, running back Joey Sandberg and receiver Colter Ramos lead the Eagles.

“The biggest thing about them, and I’ve heard it a lot from other coaches, is they may not be the most talented group but they play hard,” Aland said. “That’s one of the problems we’ve had this year.

“They do a lot of tricky stuff out of the backfield, so defensively we have to be real disciplined with our eyes. Coach (Dan) Simmons has done a really good job getting them prepared.”:

Beyond that, Aland had the squad practice Tuesday night as opposed to after school.

“We changed up our schedule to keep things a little bit fresh,” he said. “It was probably one of the best practices we’ve had all year, and that was exciting to see.”

Glacier at Hellgate

The Wolfpack (5-3) could end up in a three-way tie as well, with a win over Hellgate (2-6) Thursday and a Butte win over Missoula Sentinel on Friday.

If that happens, Glacier and Sentinel push out Butte because the Bulldogs went 1-1 against the Eastern AA in the preseason while the Spartans and Wolfpack went 2-0.

Sentinel beat Glacier earlier as well, so grab a Sharpie: Sentinel is the No. 3 seed, Glacier 4 and Butte, 5 (Helena and Helena Capital battle Friday for the conference title).

That leaves Glacier to take care of business against a team that can be pretty thorny with Connor Dick at quarterback and Leo Filardi at receiver.

But Filardi, who has averaged 21.6 yards a catch for his career, has not played in October. Dick missed a game in September and in last week’s 55-0 loss to Butte threw for just 65 yards (and ran for one yard).

Glacier coach Grady Bennett said his squad is preparing as if Filardi will be out there.

“They’ve been battling injuries,” he allowed. “But they’re trying to get into the playoffs, so we’re expecting their best and they’ll give everything they have, that’s for sure.”

Bennett’s running back crew could have Kobe Dorcheus (ankle) back if needed; he was pleased to report Jackson Hensley came through his 18-carry game against Flathead fully healthy. Kash Goicoechea will continue to get carries as well.

Meanwhile quarterback Gage Sliter continues to cook, with 10 touchdown passes in the last two games. It’s nine in his last six quarters, dating back to the second half of a 55-41 win over Butte on Oct. 5.

“I think he learned something about himself,” Bennett said of Sliter, who now has 29 touchdown passes. “That’s what’s so fun about coaching. It’s fun to help them through and see things click.”

Playoff possibilities

While things need to shake out in the Eastern AA, the Class A playoff field is shaping up.

Columbia Falls (6-1) plays host to defending state champion Hamilton (8-0) Friday night, while Whitefish (6-2) visits unbeaten Polson.

All four will assuredly make the playoffs, though there is some jockeying that could take place.

There is another key game in Libby: The Loggers host Corvallis and the winner — assuming Frenchtown takes care of business against East Helena — gets the Western A’s seventh and final seed into the Class A playoffs.

The Eastern A’s five playoff berths appear clinched: Lewistown and Billings Sentral are 1-2, Miles City will be fifth seed, and Laurel and Havre battle Friday to decide third and fourth.

The Western B gets four teams into the playoffs, and while Eureka can create a logjam at the top with a win at unbeaten Bigfork Friday, the Lions and Vikings are both in the playoffs — along with Florence and its Friday opponent, Missoula Loyola.