The season is winding down, but the intensity is ramping up.

Flathead’s seniors hope to close out their final home game with a victory Friday against Butte at Legends Stadium, while Glacier heads back to the site of last season’s state championship game to face the Helena Bengals. 

The Braves’ 1-4 record is a bit deceiving as they have gone down to the wire in three of their losses, including an overtime loss last week at Helena Capital. 

“It’s about us executing,” coach Mac Roche said. “It’s about all 11 guys, do your one-11th every play. If you do your one-11th I don’t care what they throw at us because we are going to have success because we have the guys to do that.” 

Butte, Roche adds that the team is preparing for a battle against the 1-5 Bulldogs. 

“Butte is a team that, yeah they are winless in the conference, but they do some really good stuff,” Roche said. “Really good coach and they have had a lot of success in that program.” 

The Bulldogs offense features many different looks, but one of the main targets regardless of the formation is Hudson Luedtke. The senior receiver has 49 catches this season for 610 yards — second most in the state at any level and most in AA — and five touchdowns. He had 12 catches for 180 yards a week ago against Helena. 

“He is just a weapon, and they are trying to get him the ball,” Roche said. “Theres a reason he has twice as many receptions and twice as many yards as the next guys because they’re going to feed him. So, certainly a guy that we are going to keep an eye on.” 

Raeder Gray has stepped into the quarterbacking role in the past two games for the Bulldogs and threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns last week in a 35-28 loss to the Helena Bengals. 

For the Braves, senior Eli Coopman heads the offense. He accounted for nearly 400 yards of total offense a week ago against Capital — 241 through the air and 154 on the ground. Coopman’s 572 yards rushing in good for third in AA behind Capital’s Brit Linder and Glacier’s Asher Knopik. 

The Senior Night festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday for the Braves, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. 

Glacier looks for 7-0  

With a 6-0 record it is easy to get ahead of yourself and look ahead at the playoffs, but for head coach Grady Bennett and the Glacier Wolfpack, it’s all eyes on the next opponent. 

This week it’s a trip to Vigilante Stadium against the Helena Bengals. Bennett says the Wolfpack, coming off a 48-14 win over Missoula Sentinel, have worked extra hard this week. 

“We didn’t feel like we finished the Sentinel game up to our standards,” Bennett said. “A team like this, they care how well we do things and playing up to our standards.” 

Bennett added that the focus this week was playing at your best for all 48 minutes regardless of the score and situation. 

As for looking ahead, Bennett says that’s not a worry with this group. 

“We never do that, something this group is good at with their maturity is trying to be the best team,” Bennett said. “They just keep after it every single day and focus on the process.” 

The process brings them back to the site of the 2024 AA state championship game, Vigilante Stadium, for maybe the final time as a new facility is slated to be built in Helena. 

“It is a tough place to play, since it is the only grass field, but it’s kind of fun,” Bennett said, “I know the astroturf is great, but I think football is meant to play of grass.” 

The Bengals feature CJ Danforth at quarterback, a senior who took over midway through the year due to an injury for starter Reece Silvonen. 

Next to Danforth is Peyton Lorenz, a running back who averages 83 yards per game and leads the team with five total touchdowns. 

Bennett also noted Colin Mehrens as a player to watch on both sides of the ball. A receiver on offense and safety on defense, Mehrens leads the Bengals with six tackles a game. 

For Glacier, Asher Knopik sits third in the state and tops AA with 737 rushing yards. The senior is averaging 11.17 yards per carry and has 11 touchdowns on the ground. 

Quarterback Jackson Presley has completed 68.8 percentof his passes this season and has 13 touchdowns to just one interception. 

Kickoff in Helena is set for 6 p.m.