Glacier Wolfpack Returning to Montana AA Football Championship for Second Year in a Row

Glacier Wolfpack head football coach Grady Bennett has made the idea of making one more play a point of emphasis for his team throughout the Montana Class AA playoffs this year. Whether that’s one more score, one more stop, or pushing for one more yard, Bennett believes that extra effort is what playoff success boils down to.

Now, it’s down to one more game for the 10-1 Kalispell team, as they prepare to head to the state championship game Friday night where they’ll face the 10-1 Helena Capital Bruins in a road game.

The one blemish on Glacier’s record this year came at the hands of Helena Capital when the two teams faced each other in Helena during the fourth week of the season. Bennett has tried to make the 35-14 loss to the Bruins a learning experience for his team, and given how the Glacier semifinal game against the Gallatin Raptors played out last week, it seems the Wolfpack players have been listening.

Recalling the week four loss to Capital, Bennett described how his team was up 14-0 with about five minutes to go in the first half. It seemed like they had a real chance to take at least a two score lead into the half, but a turnover led to a Bruins score, and then suddenly it was a 14-14 game heading into the half. From there, Capital closed out the game strongly, and Bennett said that his team to some extent unraveled. The offense was shut out in the second half, and the defense gave up three touchdowns to Capital.

There were shades of that last Friday at a snowy Van Winkle Stadium in Bozeman, with the Wolfpack taking a 21-7 lead with five minutes left in the first half. But the Raptors refused to give up on the half, and managed to even the score by halftime.

“But this time, instead of unraveling in halftime, it was just like ‘Hey, alright, here we go baby. Just keep swinging, just keep fighting,’” Bennett said of how his team responded.

By the end of the third quarter the game was tied at 27-27, and Bennett began to think the game would be decided by whoever possessed the ball last. But his team had other plans.

“That’s when our kids just showed that grit and that determination,” Bennett said.

As the Bozeman Chronicle reported, Glacier held a one-score lead at the halfway point in the fourth quarter, when the offense converted a fourth down on the Gallatin 24-yard line for a passing touchdown from junior quarterback Jackson Presley to sophomore receiver Cooper Pelc. The Wolfpack would go on to add one more score, a nine-yard rush from senior running back Kobe Dorcheus, and the defense shutout Gallatin in the game’s final frame. It was Gallatin’s first loss on the season, and further proof for the Glacier head coach that his team has grown and matured over the course of the season.

The final box score for Glacier shows 467 yards of total offense split between 249 yards rushing and 218 yards passing. Presley, a Boise State commit, went 16 of 24 for 218 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception, while also rushing 20 times for 107 yards and 3 touchdowns, bringing him to 6 total touchdowns on the night. His touchdown passes went to senior wide receiver Bridger Smith, who led the team in receiving with nine catches for 112 yards, Cooper Pelc, who caught four passes for 81 yards, and senior wide receiver Easton Kauffman, who caught one pass for a 30-yard score.

The ground game was led once again by Dorcheus, who rushed 19 times for 142 yards and a touchdown. Dorcheus has now rushed for 1,538 yards and 25 touchdowns on the season, and is averaging 7.9 yards per carry. Across Glacier’s two playoff games he’s rushed for 271 yards and four touchdowns.

Defensively, the Wolfpack was led by junior linebacker Asher Knopik who made 14 tackles and two tackles for a loss, and senior linebacker Mark Ahner, who finished with 11 tackles. Junior defensive lineman Maverick Diede contributed the Wolfpack’s one sack of the game, and junior defensive back Ethan Kastelitz snagged Glacier’s lone interception.

This week’s championship game marks the second year in a row that the Wolfpack will play for a state championship, and it will mark the fifth time the program has made it to the title game in the high school’s 17-year history. Of their four previous appearances in 2023, 2016 and 2013, the school last walked away as winners in 2014.

Last year’s 35-27 loss to Bozeman left Glacier’s players with an “awful feeling,” Bennett said, but that pain has been a motivating factor for the team this year, especially for the senior class who have been determined to break through and finish the season with a win.

With Helena Capital, a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, Bennett said the team is so well-coached by head coach Kyle Mihelish that he does not expect them to beat themselves.

“We have to execute well on offense and defense. We have to align and assign,” the coach said.

This will be Capital’s 17th time in the championship game going back to 1978. The Bruins have brought home 13 state championships over the decades, most recently in 2022.

Capital’s path to the state championship game has gone through Missoula Sentinel, who they beat 50-18 and most recently Billings West, who they defeated 35-6. They have not lost a game since week one of the season, when they lost to the Gallatin Raptors 35-28. Capital has held teams to eight points or less six times this season.

Leading them on offense is quarterback Merek Mihelish, who was the University of Montana’s first in-state commit for football over the summer. Mihelish told 406 MT Sports in June that UM defensive coach Tim Hauck had spoken to him about playing safety for the Griz. Capital will also likely rely on senior Cole Graham, a state champion wrestler and baseball player who 406 MT Sports credited last week with 19 carries for 96 yards, two rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown, 13 tackles, one sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss.

Bennett said that Capital has a big, physical offensive line, and a run-centric offense, and that Mihelish is a dual threat quarterback who can also throw the ball well. It could be another snowy night, but the coach thinks that his team will be able to handle the weather like they did last week.

As for what impact the previous loss to Capital has on this week’s game, Glacier’s head coach said that he teaches his team that every game is a unique competition, and that it’s about whoever shows up and plays the best on a given night.

“Your whole goal is to become the best team you can possibly be, and play the best football when it matters most, at the very end. And we’re doing that right now,” Bennett said. “And so just the confidence inside all of us, the kids and coaches, where we’re at, looking back at that Capital game, it’s just exciting,” Bennett said.

Kickoff at Vigilante Stadium in Helena this Friday is at 7 p.m.

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