EAST HELENA — Last year, East Helena made the Class A state football playoffs for the first time. This year, the Vigilantes will host a game in the postseason for the first time.
“So what? Now what?” has been East Helena’s motto throughout this season, indicative of the team’s mindset of not being satisfied with just making the playoffs. And with that mindset, the Vigilantes have had yet another milestone season.
“We want to be great, strive for the next thing,” East Helena head coach Tyler Murray said. “Once you feel like you’ve made it, things start going downhill. We want to continually get great and do things the right way.”
This year is East Helena’s fifth competing in varsity football, and the Vigilantes have upped their regular-season win total every season. They went 7-2 overall in the regular season with a 4-1 mark in the Central Division.
“It’s been really great to see everyone just develop,” East Helena senior wide receiver Hagen Paddock said. “I mean, you go from losing — winning one game a year — and now we’re 7-2, home game. It’s great just to see everybody come together as a team.”
But even with that home playoff game already secured, these Vigilantes still have their eyes set on continuing to build up their program.
“It’s been amazing — every year,” said senior cornerback Austin Riley. “We’ve just gotten better and better. Every senior class is putting a new expectation of how good we should be, and it’s just been great to be a part of.”
East Helena, the second seed from the Central, kicks off against visiting Glendive, the East's third seed, at 7 p.m. Friday at East Helena High School.
