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Opportunities Up for Grabs

By Beacon Staff

A new football season has arrived and the most common word being thrown around at both Kalispell high school fields is “opportunity.”

At Glacier, there are starting vacancies up for grabs at more than half the positions on offense and defense.

At Flathead, the situation is almost identical.

The opportunity to shine arrives in the first games on Friday. The Wolfpack host Billings Skyview at Legends Stadium at 7 p.m. The Braves travel to Billings to play Senior at 4 p.m.

Glacier is on a string of two winning seasons in a row and has now made the Class AA playoffs two out of the program’s four years. Like last year, the Wolfpack have openings in key positions, but this year’s replacements are even younger than those previously.

“By game one there’s still going to be kids rotating around. We’re going to have to see how they react to Friday night lights and who really steps up,” Glacier head coach Grady Bennett said.

Glacier (6-4 last season) could have as many as seven juniors starting on both sides of the ball, Bennett said.

Juniors Taylor Hulslander and Dawson Day will begin the season sharing quarterbacking duties.

“We’re going to have a young team out there, but that’s a junior class that’s really talented. I’m hoping we’re a lot like what Helena High was like last year,” Bennett said. “I think our junior class is that talented and the seniors that are in there are special players.”

Helena High, who knocked Glacier out of last year’s playoffs and went on to lose to Bozeman in the state title game, appears to be the early favorite this season. Helena Capital, Great Falls C.M.R. and both Billings West and Senior are expected to be vying at the top of the standings as well.

However, Glacier has shown in recent years the program can compete with the best of them.

“The kids now expect to be good,” Bennett said. “We can win games. We can compete with people. I think in year five these guys don’t expect anything but to be right in the mix and that’s good.”

Entering the opener, the spirits at Flathead High are, perhaps surprisingly, also bright.

Last season was a forgettable one for the Braves. Flathead suffered its second losing campaign in a row, going 1-9 a year after 2-8, with off-field issues hanging over the program.

Aware of this troubling trend, head coach Russell McCarvel wanted to inject something new into the program’s philosophy and make this fall’s fresh start exactly that.

Before the end of practices last week, the team had a couple of new competitions – best touchdown celebrations and coaches’ impersonations.

At the end of long two-a-days, the entire group was laughing and smiling, especially thanks to the uproarious touchdown dance by the burly defensive linemen.

“It’s one of my top personal goals to create a great practice atmosphere and we’ve done that by doing some fun things at the end of practice,” McCarvel said. “Our spirits have been excellent at practice. We still have to make sure we’re practicing with good intensity.”

The Braves have a strong class of 34 seniors, led by returning all-state receiver George Sherwood. Junior Matt Tokarz will step in as starting quarterback.

“There’s a lot of great competition going on. I told guys ‘Hey, when you’re not having a great day, that’s going to give someone else an opportunity to step in,’” McCarvel said.

Speed will be in strong supply for the Braves, McCarvel said. Finding depth on the offensive and defensive lines is an early goal.

“The immediate goal is to just get better each day,” McCarvel said. “We have some long-range goals but our short-range goal is to get better every rep.”