Helena High (6-0) vs. Bozeman High (6-0)

[Platinumcat]

Here's a crazy stat for ya: HHS ran 77 plays, Bozeman only ran 38.

Yep! Helena continued to grind it out on the ground even when down 35-14 early mid way through the third quarter. I was very impressed with the coaching staff's dedication to their gameplan. They run a nice ground attack. The Bengals are not the biggest team in the world. But, those kids are fast, athletic, and play 20-30 lbs. heavier then they actuallly are.
Bozeman continues to find ways to make big plays. The wild thing is you can't just concentrate on one player. They had big plays from three different ones last night and that's probably on the low side of normal. One thing that Helena did very well last night was take away Bozeman's run game with their speed and real aggressive defense. I think it was the first time all year that Bozeman went 3 and out on their first series. But, later, that aggressive play calling on defense was also a reason why the big plays happened as the Bozeman coaching staff made adjustments and started hitting short and middle pass routes (and of course a couple of bomes too ).

[Billings Cat]

It really looks like Bozeman, Helena and then everyone else. Apparently CMR was just a flash in the pan last week with their win over Capital last week. Rustlers lost to Skyview 28-14. Capital had a nice win over West and it could be a Bengal-Bruin semi-final, but I don't see Capital winning that. Bozeman will probably play West, but Hawks seem like they're head-n-shoulders above the Bears.

Agree that Bozeman and Helena are above everyone else, but beyond that it's a crap shoot. This is a year that the 3 & 4 seeds in the playoffs are going to be very vulnerable to upset. As for West, they still got a decent Sentinel team on the road, followed by an always dangerous CMR, and finish the season with crosstown rival Billings Senior. No guarantees on the 4 spot. Billings Skyview at 5-2 might have the toughest schedule left--on the road at Helena High, on the road at Butte High (it's probably Purple B's night which is always interesting), and finish with Bozeman on a Thursday at home. Losing all 3 wouldn't necessarily be a surprise.