SUPERIOR — The Superior football team wrapped up an undefeated regular season Friday with a 56-18 win over rival St. Regis to earn the West's No. 1 seed in the 8-Man playoffs, which start this week.
The numbers are eye-popping. The Bobcats have scored at least 52 points in every game this season and twice topped 80. They're averaging 64.5 points per game.
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Even in 8-Man football, that high-powered offense starts with the guys up front.
"This is our first year in my whole football career that we had a big (offensive) line," senior running back Turner Milender said. "We've always had (players weighing 150 pounds) or less, and now our smallest is 160. So, it's amazing. We actually have a pocket, we have holes to run through, and it's just great."
But as the saying goes, offense wins games and defense wins championships.
Superior is allowing just 14.5 points per game, and junior Tyler Mellen has been a menace on the Bobcats' defensive line.
"Our defense is because it's all of us. I feel like whenever we're working together, we do great things," Mellen said. "I think it wasn't just me. I think it was my entire team, as well."
"He's No. 1 on our team for sacks," Milender said of Mellen. "He gets angry, but he fuels that. And he's absolutely able to get the sacks."
It's all part of a two-pronged mindset for this year's Bobcats. First, the team carries that "it's all of us" mantra Mellen mentioned.
Second is a commitment to physicality.
"We are by far the most physical team in the West and the entire state," Milender said. "And that has helped us come this far, 9-0 in the regular season."
That has led Superior to the playoffs. As the West's No. 1 seed, the Bobcats will host Choteau in the first round. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.
"We just go into this week locked in, and we focus on things we need to work on," Mellen said of the playoff preparation.
Added Milender: "We've been doubted the last four years. The West has been doubted the last four years, and we are ready to go to the chipper and win it."
