Crosstown and a Cat-Dog on tap
FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 1 month AGO
It’s a crosstown football game in Kalispell tonight, and neither the Glacier Wolfpack nor the Flathead Braves have won for a couple weeks.
For Glacier coach Grady Bennett, it’s a chance for his team to get well after seeing their 3-0 start offset by three losses in four games. For Flathead’s Alex Cummings it’s a chance to make a statement after an 0-7 start to the season.
It has less playoff implications than the annual Cat-Dog game — Columbia Falls is at No. 5 Whitefish tonight in a key Class A game — but its still a big deal to those involved.
Both games kick off at 7 p.m.
Flathead vs. Glacier
Bennett could see this is a trap game for the Pack, if his team hadn’t lost two straight road games to Helena and Butte.
“It we were unbeaten and rolling, it’d be easier to see some of those things creeping up on us,” he said. “But I’m hoping my guys are as hungry as they’ve ever been, to reverse the current trend and play much better.”
A 20-17 loss to Butte last week put a damper on the promising start; the Bulldogs got a late score to seize the lead, then scored a safety.
“The hardest thing about last week was we were always behind the chains,” Bennett said. “I don’t know if there was a drive where we weren’t first-and-15, or first-and-20. It was just an awfully frustrating game to call.”
Flathead also had had problems on offense, though Jackson Walker has had his moments at quarterback and Kaden Henshaw, Joe Jones and Trevor Burke had played capably at running back.
“Any time there’s a crosstown game, anything can happen,” Cummings, Flathead’s first-year coach, said. “You turn it into a backyard fight. I just hope our kids come out and play good football and play as hard as they can, and let the cards fall where they may.”
Glacier owns a 10-4 lead in the series, having won the last two after the Braves won in 2017-18.
“I know they’re well coached,” Cummings said. “They’re a well-established program. Offensively I think the quarterback (Gage Sliter) does a really nice job managing the game. And obviously you’re getting a horse in Jake Rendina. We have to contain him; we have to get hats on ball-carriers this weekend.”
Rendina, Glacier’s power back, continues to lead the league in rushing yards and touchdowns though he has been slowed both by a sore ankle and the offense’s propensity for penalties.
“Jake isn’t fully healthy,” Bennett allowed. “He’s still tough, so it’s hard to tell.
“I think we’re finally actually starting to come back to good health. We had a couple weeks with kids banged up and out with illness.”
Bennett is happy to get starting left tackle Hayden Sellars back; Levi Frost, a leader in the secondary, played against Butte after missing the Helena game.
Sliter remains one of the most accurate passers in Class AA; Jake Turner has become more and more a big-play threat as the season’s gone on.
“We need to make this game about us,” said Bennett. “We need to play a lot better for us to achieve our goals. And I really believe this team is good enough to play with anybody in the state.”
Columbia Falls at Whitefish
A year ago Whitefish handed the Wildcats their first loss, 21-7, taking advantage of six Columbia Falls turnovers.
This year is the Bulldogs that are unbeaten, at 7-0. The hosts still own a stingy defense, led by middle linebacker Ty Schwiager and Cody Berry, a three-starter at safety.
Whitefish coach Chad Ross is possibly happiest about the play up front, were new players like Talon Holmquist have filled in and excelled. The Bulldogs trailed at halftime last week against Libby but eventually pushed ahead of the wishbone-running Loggers, 27-14.
“To only have run nine offensive plays and be down 6-0 at halftime? I thought we were ahead,” cracked Ross. “Libby did a great job of controlling things early.
“I said it was the best thing for us. We hadn’t played from behind all year, so that was good.”
Junior Fynn Ridgeway, a 3-year starter, continues to trigger things at quarterback. Jaxsen Schlauch is the top receiving target; Berry is among the top rushers in the league.
Columbia Falls counters with Cody Schweikert at QB; an accurate passer who hasn’t thrown a ton of passes. Isaiah Roth has risen toward to top of the rushing ranks thanks to a 293-yard outburst in an 81-0 win over Browning last week.
In that game, it should be noted, the Wildcats ran 10 offensive plays in the second half and 30 total.
“For the most part we’ve been very efficient,” Columbia Falls coach Jaxon Schweikert said. “We haven’t turned it over, much. Our quarterback is accurate, and we have a great tailback in Roth that can make things happen in a hurry.
“If we want to be competitive and have a chance, we just can’t turn it over. Especially this year, since they’re really rolling. We’re going to have to play really well.”