COLUMBIA FALLS — The energy is high as the No. 2-ranked Columbia Falls football team prepares for its final game of the regular season.
Keeping the enthusiasm up is Wildcats coach Kelly Houle, who has built a unique relationship with all of his players in his time with the program.
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“A friend rather than a coach, but a friend that pushes you every day,” Columbia Falls running back and linebacker Trip Ross said about Houle.
“If the energy is down, he brings it back up. Us captains know that standard of energy, so we try to bring it every day at practice,” Ross said.
As a coach and educator, Houle believes in building personal relationships with everyone around him and that those bonds will help them be successful on and off the field.
“Success to me is to allow people to show people that you love and care about them,” Houle said. “That you would walk through a wall for them, you know, so they have an understanding that I truly do care about them, right? I'm really happy that they play football for me, but I want to support them for the rest of their lives as football players, as men.”
Those close relationships seem to be working, as the Wildcats sit at 6-1 overall, with their only loss coming against defending state champion Frenchtown earlier this year.
This sets Columbia Falls up for a potential deep playoff run in Class A.
“They're really good at not internalizing things,” Houle said. “They're really good at playing with their brothers, so that's, that's the biggest thing in my opinion, and they understand that they're a good team and they can go toe to toe with anybody.”
Now quarterback and linebacker Banyan Johnston hopes this senior-heavy team with strong chemistry can use the opportunity in front of them to compete for a state title.
“We've been playing with each other for a long time, so I mean it means a lot,” Johnston said. “Just because we've built a lot of team chemistry over the years and a lot of good friendships, and to go and have a chance to go make a run for state at the end of the year, it's pretty special.
Columbia Falls will face Libby in the final game of the regular season on Friday.
