Things don’t get easier for Kalispell’s two AA football teams this week, with the Flathead Braves taking on top-ranked Missoula Sentinel Friday at Legends Stadium, and Glacier going to Helena.

For the 0-5 Braves it is especially tough, with their opponent having reloaded coming off a state championship season. Glacier (4-1) is facing the 3-2 Helena High Bengals on the road for a second straight year, having lost 34-14 in Helena in 2020.

Both games kick off at 7 p.m., along with a Northwest A showdown between visiting Columbia Falls and Polson, and a Western B marquee game between Eureka and host Florence.

Sentinel at Flathead

The Braves are coming off a solid offensive performance against Missoula Hellgate, in which they piled up 218 rushing yards and 339 overall.

The rub is that Hellgate threw for 430 yards on the way to a 625 total in a 62-38 win.

“Defensively it was tough,” Flathead coach Alex Cummings said. “We just couldn’t get it together. They threw it over the top of us a ton. I thought we did a decent job of stopping the run, and they went six, seven, eight times over us on a deep route.

“We just have to be solid. You obviously get frustrated by the deep balls, but I was more frustrated with our tackling. Which I hope we get cleaned up this week, because we have a really good opponent.”

Zac Crews has taken over as quarterback for Sentinel and if his passing stats aren’t earth-shattering, he’s also the Spartans’ leading rusher. Receiver Drew Klumph has just 11 catches in four games, but they’ve gone for 230 yards and four touchdowns.

Flathead junior Jackson Walker, meanwhile, has thrown for 440 yards and run for 202 (Crews’ numbers: 606 and 400).

“I think Jackson’s developing out,” Cummings said. “He’s found a lot of success on his feet the last two weeks, which is great. He has the ability to make some plays with his feet, and he’s developing his own style of quarterback. We knew all along he was a good athlete and he’s starting to make a lot of plays.”

The task will be tougher against Sentinel’s vaunted front line. Helping is junior Trevor Burke, who stepped in as injuries mounted at tailback and ran for 60 yards against Hellgate.

“He’s a kid that sees the field really well,” Cummings said of Burke. “He’s athletic and had a really nice game.”

Defensively linebacker Chase Youso made 20 stops against Hellgate. It probably bodes well if those tackles get spread out a bit. Cummings would like to see more Braves wrap up opposing ball carriers.

“That’s the big emphasis,” Cummings said. “That no matter who we’re playing, we’re good tacklers on defense.”

Glacier at Helena

The 4-1 Wolfpack takes on a 3-2 Helena team that already has two Western AA losses despite the presence of a couple Montana Grizzlies’ commits: quarterback Kaden Huot and linebacker/running back Marcus Evans.

“Well, he’s special,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said of Huot, who has 13 touchdown passes this season. “He just kind of has it all. Obviously he signed with Montana, and I thought he might even go bigger, but he has the perfect size, perfect arm. He’s a great pocket quarterback but when he gets outside he’s tough because he makes some plays on the run. You kind of have to pick your poison.”

Helping Huot is senior receiver Chase McGurran, a two-way starter since his sophomore season who has 29 catches for 426 yards and six TDs.

Huot is the Bengals’ leading rusher, followed by Evans and Cade Holland. Evans has 60 tackles, but Bennett also thinks very highly of defensive lineman Forrest Suero (four sacks).

The Pack is coming off a 21-7 win over Helena Capital in which Connor Sullivan had a key interception, a 59-yard scoring reception and a punt return to set up another score.

“That’s a sign of a good team is different guys can get it done each week,” Bennett said. “Our units picked us up at the right time, offense and defense and special teams. That’s just a lot of good stuff.”

Jake Rendina continues to lead AA in rushing, though a sore ankle limited his carries early against Capital. He piled up 85 yards after halftime to finish with 100.

“He was banged up,” Bennett said. “In the second half it was like, ‘OK, Jake, how you feeling?’ We tried to give him a little crease, because that’s all he needs.

“He’s feeling good this week, giving that ankle a little more rest.”

Gage Sliter is the fourth-most prolific QB in the Western AA, at 860 passing yards — 303 of those yards going to Sullivan, on 18 catches.

Columbia Falls at Polson

This should be a great one, with Jarrett Wilson and the No. 5 Polson Pirates taking on Cody Schweikert and the unranked Wildcats. Two of the three unbeaten Northwest A teams — No. 4 Whitefish is 5-0 going into its game with Ronan — played to a 48-28 Columbia Falls win to open the 2020 season.

Wilson’s passing statistics are astronomical: The Pirates average 392 yards through the air. Class A football historian Brian Reed notes that no team in the class has averaged as much as 500 yards of total offense per game, and the Pirates are at 501.5.

Of course with the Wildcats and Bulldogs ahead on the schedule, those numbers could come down a bit.

Eureka at Florence

A 6 p.m. kickoff will pit the No. 6 Lions against the top-ranked Falcons, which won last year’s battle 35-20 en route to the State B semifinals.

Florence quarterback Patrick Duchien has thrown for 821 yards and 11 touchdowns, against just one interception. Tristan Pyette is the leading rusher, with 298 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 6.8 yards per carry.

Eureka counters with Caleb Utter (450 yards, seven TDs passing; 387 yards rushing) at QB and Remington Little (338 rushing yards. 5.2 a carry) at running back. The tandem has combined for 10 touchdowns on the ground, six by Utter.

Danny Dunn has 10 catches for 195 yards and three touchdowns for the Lions.