AA Football: Regular season winding down

Someone has to come out on top Friday when winless Flathead hosts 0-8 Missoula Hellgate at Legends Stadium for a senior night battle.

Fans will want to be in their seats early to honor this year’s Braves senior class ahead of the 7 p.m. matchup with the Knights. 

The Braves come off a 57-17 loss to Helena Capital that saw Flathead hang with the 7-1 Bruins for much of the first half. 

“It's encouraging for these guys to see what we preach to them on a daily basis, that they can play with anyone,” Braves coach Caleb Aland said. “Unfortunately, they only played with them for a half. After the game I told them it was a tale of two teams.” 

Meanwhile, Glacier heads into their third short week in a row with a Thursday evening meeting on the road with Missoula Sentinel at MCPS Stadium. 

Hellgate at Flathead

A week after preaching the basics at practice, Aland says this week's focus is consistency after the performance against the Bruins. 

“Them seeing what they are capable of is the positive, now we just got to get that on a more consistent basis,” Aland said. “Not just half a game, all four quarters and not just sporadically throughout the season but every game.” 

To help with that consistency Aland is working on bringing game intensity to practice. 

“Often times we have the approach of ‘we have to go to practice today,’ not ‘we get to practice today,’ “ Aland said. “They are seeing that correlation in the way we play, if we have a good week of practice we play well on Friday nights. If we have a bad week of practice with no detail or energy, that's how it is on Friday night.” 

The Braves will look to establish their run game Friday after a difficult evening rushing against Capital. Eli Coopman led the squad with 40 yards on the ground in 15 carries, the rest of the team combined for 20 yards on seven runs. 

Coopman also went 14-for-34 throwing against the Bruins for 100 yards. 

Defensively, Flathead will hope to build on a pair of interceptions against the Bruins — the first two picks thrown by Capital quarterback Marek Mihelish all season. 

Hellgate comes into Legends Stadium off the heels of a 35-7 loss to crosstown rival Sentinel. 

The Knights are led by big tight end Evan Pyron who, despite having just 13 catches in six games this season, makes his presence felt all over the field. 

“Their offense does a lot of tricky stuff with their motions,” Aland said. “(Pyron) is their big tight end, he also plays defense and he is their best player, they use him for everything.” 

Aland also singled out Knights quarterback Vince Paffhausen, who was pulled late in Hellgate's loss to Sentinel. “I don’t know if he got hurt or not, but he is a really good player if he is in the backfield.”  

Glacier at Sentinel 

The Wolfpack wrap up the regular season Thursday against Missoula Sentinel with the No. 2 seed in Western AA and a first-round bye in the playoffs secured. 

“Regardless of the playoff seeding is, it was nice, but the key for us is to play our best football game of the year,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. 

After dropping their only game of the season to Helena Capital, the Wolfpack have beaten Flathead (56-0) and Missoula Big Sky (35-7). The team still feels a bit of a chip on their shoulder from the loss and Bennett says he’s proud of the character the team has shown since then. 

“The lessons that they learned from that loss were so valuable and they are still applying, they have to be their best against any opponent,” Bennett said. 

Quarterback Jackson Presley continues to show out in his junior season. The Boise State commit was 19-for-28 with 337 yards and three touchdowns against the Eagles. He added 28 yards and a score on the ground. 

Kobe Dorcheus ran for 196 yards and a touchdown against Big Sky. The senior has 16 rushing touchdowns this season and is averaging 143.3 yards per game. His 1,146 yards lead AA. 

The Spartans enter Thursday’s matchup coming off a 35-7 win over Missoula Hellgate. 

Bennett noted that fans should keep an eye on Jaxon Allery for Sentinel, saying that he is a talented athlete and able to help the Spartans in all three facets of the game. 

Allery has 20 catches for three touchdowns so far this season. 

Until last season the Spartans had Glacier’s number, with the Wolfpack’s last win coming in 2017. 

In 2023 Glacier defeated Sentinel twice, 27-17 to end the regular season and 46-12 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. 

“Dane Oliver is a great football coach,” Bennett said. “He has a gameplan that is tough to stop, and wrinkles that keep you on your toes. He’s a good football coach.” 

While Glacier is locked into the No. 2 seed in the West, the Spartans could finish anywhere from the No. 4 seed to the No. 6 seed. They currently sit in a three-way tie for the No. 4 seed with Butte and Missoula Big Sky at 3-3 in conference games. 

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