KALISPELL — It takes an entire team to win a state championship, and Kalispell Glacier for the third year in a row is knocking on the door of that accomplishment.
The Wolfpack find themselves in familiar territory as they prepare for another shot at bringing the Class AA football title as they host Billings West on Friday.
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After losing the past two championship games on the road, the Glacier's leaders knew they had to work hard all offseason to achieve homefield advantage in the playoffs.
To accomplish that, Glacier knew it would have to be the best in the state in three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams, which senior leaders like Ethan Kastelitz knew would require some younger players to step up.
“We have a lot of sophomores and juniors playing on JV and then they come help us out on special teams,” Kastelitz said. “So I really just try to tell them to focus on winning that one play for them, winning that one rep that they get on the varsity field.”
The young guys stepping up has helped the Wolfpack defense become one of the best in the state.
With the help of a strong special teams, Glacier’s defense has held opponents to a total of only 70 points all season.
“We really strive ourselves on being great and hold ourselves to a really high standard as a defense,” Kastelitz said. “That comes along with our special teams giving us great field position to pin people deep and really gives us opportunities to make plays.”
It is also no secret that most of Glacier’s success can be credited to the offense, which averages over 40 points per game and is led by arguably the state's top quarterback, Jackson Presley.
Because of this offensive prowess, senior safety Jack Robinson says the defense’s main goal for every game is to force turnovers so the offense gets as many chances as possible.
“When we have such a good offense, such a good quarterback, such a good line, such a good running back, the more often you get the ball into their hands, it's a good day,” Robinson said.
It is clear the Wolfpack have been preparing toward a game of this magnitude, and when Friday comes around the team hopes to be up to the challenge.
“So excited, I'm stoked,” Robinson said. “Everyone's going to have a bunch of family out, everyone's going to be out here, but I'm super excited to compete against West, and I think that's something about this team. We love to compete; we look forward to it every day.”
Glacier kicks off against Billings West on Friday at 7 p.m.
