KALISPELL — The third time was indeed the charm for Kalispell Glacier.
Playing in their third straight Class AA state championship game, the Wolfpack exorcised the demons of the past two seasons with a 16-3 victory over Billings West on Friday at Legends Stadium to capture a long-awaited title.
Glacier suffered championship-game defeats to Bozeman High in 2023 and Helena Capital last year, but the Wolfpack couldn’t be stopped this season and finished with a perfect 12-0 record.
It was a rematch of the Wolfpack’s 14-10 victory over West (10-2) in Billings on Aug. 29. And it marks the second football title won by the Glacier program and its first since 2014.
The game hung in the balance into the second half as the teams were locked in a defensive struggle.
West got the ball first and immediately hit a big play — a 48-yard run by Payton Cicero that positioned the ball in Wolfpack territory. The possession stalled, though, and Jaxon King made a 22-yard field goal to give the Golden Bears the lead.
Glacier ended up tying the game later in the first quarter on a 20-yard field goal by Kyle Smith. The Wolfpack were set up deep in West territory but had to settle for three points.
Later in the second quarter, Glacier appeared to be in position to take the lead after Ethan Kastelitz intercepted West quarterback Colt Johnson on a deflected pass intended for tight end Matt Ludwig. It was Kastelitz’s seventh interception of the season.
But the Bears halted the Wolfpack’s ensuing possession when Cicero picked off Glacier’s Jackson Presley, also on a deflected pass. Presley had only been intercepted one other time all season prior to that pass.
The teams eventually went into halftime tied 3-3 as yards — and sustained drives — were hard to come by.
There was a delay in the game midway through the third quarter when the scoreboard at Legends Stadium malfunctioned.
When play resumed, the Wolfpack finally scored the game’s first touchdown on a 7-yard run by Presley for a 10-7 lead. Presley converted a big fourth-down pass earlier in the drive, and also connected with Dylan Banzet on a deep ball to the West 32 prior to that.
A third-and-13 throw from Presley to Banzet moved the chains for the Wolfpack on their next possession, and then Banzet made a fantastic catch on another third-down play to keep the drive alive.
That helped produce a short touchdown run by Asher Knopik at the end of the third as Glacier took a 16-3 advantage (Smith’s point-after try ricocheted off the left upright).
West then moved to the Glacier 6-yard line on a drive that ate up more than nine minutes. But the Wolfpack got out of it unscathed when a Johnson pass on fourth down fell incomplete with 3:17 left.
That was the Bears' last best chance.
The Wolfpack defense kept West out of the end zone all night and held firm more than long enough for their offense to find its rhythm in the second half.
Though he was sacked three times, the Sacramento State-bound Presley completed 11 of 20 passes for 158 yards while Knopik rushed for 123 yards on 26 carries. It was the 10th time this season Knopik hit the century mark. Banzet's 81 yards on five receptions led Glacier's pass-catchers.
Johnson finished 14-of-23 passing for 126 yards for West. Payton Cicero had 71 rushing yards while Elias Bonner caught five balls for 60 yards.
Ludwig, a Michigan commit playing in his final high school game, had 13 rushing yards and 31 receiving yards and also had one of the Bears' five tackles for loss.
But Glacier's defense limited West to just three conversions on 11 third-down plays, and its goal-line stand in the fourth quarter proved to be the dagger.
