Glacier’s Henry Sellards is everything you’d want in a left tackle

At 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, Henry Sellards seems to have popped out of a left tackle mold and onto the gridiron for the Glacier Wolfpack.

Grady Bennett, his head coach, is certainly glad he has him and figures the senior will only get stronger and bigger.

“I still think he has so much growth ahead of him,” Bennett said. “You look at his facial hair and I think he is going to get bigger and bigger.”

A scary thought, unless you’re North Dakota State, the FCS power that Sellards committed to this summer. He’ll fit right in with the power-running Bison.

Less happy to see him are Glacier’s AA opponents; he anchors a seasoned, sturdy offensive line behind which Kobe Dorcheus, Kash Goicoechea and Co. average 6.7 yards a carry.

Missoula Sentinel is the next in line; the Spartans visit Legends Stadium Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

“We’ve lost six straight against them,” said Sellards, who was on the field for two of those losses, in 2021-22. “We’re ready to go. We’re excited. They’re a good team, but we’re excited and want to get that win.”

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Sellards was born in Phoenix and moved to Kalispell — his mom, the former Natalie Annau, is a Flathead High alum — when he was 11.

“I went to high school with her,” Bennett noted. “She actually called me when they were moving up here.”

It wasn’t long before Sellards, standing a foot taller than the other sixth-graders, was at Glacier’s summer football camp. Alongside was Rylan Heil, and Heil is right beside him still: “My left guard, actually,” Sellards said this week.

Six years have passed and the Pack senior class has big goals.

“Since I’ve moved here, this whole team is pretty much who I’ve played with,” Sellards said. “I think we’ve always kind of known since freshman year, when we went unbeaten, and sophomore year, when a lot of us started playing varsity, that this was going to be kind of a special season.”

The team got a rude awakening on Sept. 8, when a 21-0 lead evaporated in the fourth quarter of a 28-27 loss at Butte. With each passing week the loss is a bigger turning point to the season.

“I honestly believe it was really good for our team,” Sellards said. “It humbled us and showed us we had to play together as a team. And it brought us all together instead of tearing us apart.

“Like our offensive coordinator coach (Dustin) Haines said: ‘It’s not going to define us, it's going to refine us.’”

“All I could tell them after that game was, ‘That’s why we love sports. That’s why people pack the stadiums – because anything can happen,’” Bennett said. “It had nothing to do with lack of effort. It was one of those things where we should have been up by 35 and we weren’t, for whatever reason.”

Glacier has reeled off five straight wins since. Sellards and the Pack focused up.

*That’s why I think Henry is such a great leader,” Bennett said. “He not only verbalizes it but he has really lived it out. It’s easy to say that over the next couple days; let’s just make sure we’re doing it in practice. He’s been one of our main leaders in that area.”

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Sellards spoke Tuesday after attending the weekly O-lineman dinner, a tradition that took place at quarterback Gage Sliter’s house the last couple seasons, but has moved to center TJ Gannon’s grandmother’s place this fall.

“She always makes a lot of food for us,” Sellards said.

Even if he's not still growing, Sellards could cut a wide swath in Fargo. He chose the Bison over Montana State and Montana, partly because it was an excellent offer. Either way, the goal of college ball — his dad Ken had the same goal as a Kentucky high schooler but a back injury stopped him — is right there.

“It’s always been my dream,” Sellards said. “I always wanted to work for it.”

Bennett planned on Sellards, an first-team All-State pick in 2022, having an excellent senior campaign. Now he figures the Bison-to-be, who can be seen leading Dorcheus on a toss sweep, has gone beyond.

“I think he’s gotten better and better this season,” Bennett said. “We kind of set that as a goal, even though we already knew he’s a good player. And he’s done that. He’s just gotten better and better.”