2018 MT High School Football - Week 10

[VimSince03]

Class AA

1.) Bozeman (9-0)
2.) Billings West (8-1)
3.) Helena High (7-2)
4.) Kalispell Flathead (7-2)
5.) Billings Senior (6-3)
6.) Kalispell Glacier (4-5)
7.) Butte (4-5)
8.) Great Falls High (4-5)
9.) Helena Capital (4-5)
10.) Missoula Sentinel (4-5)

Game(s) of the Week: As you all can see, there are five 4-5 teams all vying for the final three playoff spots so here is what needs to happen for those teams. If Kalispell Glacier beats Missoula Hellgate on Thursday, they are in (have wins over Capital & GFH) and that's the simplest scenario. Butte and Great Falls High play Big Sky and CMR, respectively. Missoula Sentinel and Helena Capital play each other so that is basically a loser-out scenario. I predict Glacier will win on Thursday so there will be 2 spots available between four teams (Butte, GFH, Capital, Sentinel). Butte has wins over Sentinel & GFH and lost to Capital so if Butte wins they are in since they have beaten 2/5 teams. GFH has wins over Capital, Sentinel, and a loss to Butte so if they win they are in a pretty good spot because of there wins over Capital/Sentinel. Capital has a loss to GFH and a win over Butte. Sentinel is in the toughest shape as they lost to Butte and GFH so if Sentinel wins but Butte and GFH win, Sentinel and Capital would be the odd teams out. If Capital wins along with Butte and GFH, there would be a tiebreaker scenario (that I haven't figured out). The cleanest scenario involves Glacier, Butte, GFH, and Sentinel winning which gives Glacier, Butte, and GFH the final three seeds...I think.

Player(s) of the Week (#9): RB Preston Blain (Kalispell Glacier) - 232 rushing yards on 31 carries for 4 touchdowns (vs. Missoula Big Sky); QB Tommy Mellot (Butte) - 26/32 for 282 passing yards and 5 passing touchdowns (vs. Billings Skyview)

Special Note: Blain has only gotten better as the season goes on. His performance last Friday was his highest rushing total of the season. Blain currently is #2 in rushing yards (1397) in AA behind Blake Counts and leads AA in rushing touchdowns at 19. Tommy put together another strong performance, putting the Butte Bulldogs in a likely win-and-in scenario this Friday in their push for the AA playoffs. There have been many great performances this year from AA QB's this season and Tommy is in that group. Down the stretch, he has really started to lock in for his team, throwing for 589 yards and 9 touchdowns in his last three games. The junior will be one of the best QB prospects in the state next year.

Class A

1.) Hamilton (9-0)
2.) Billings Central (9-0)
3.) Columbia Falls (8-1)
4.) Dillon (6-2)
5.) Frenchtown (7-2)
6.) Laurel (7-2)
7.) Lewistown (7-2)
8.) Belgrade (6-3)
9.) Miles City (6-3)
tie10.) Corvallis (5-4)
tie10.) Libby (5-4) - they beat Whitefish to finish 4-1 in the Northwestern A and Whitefish finished 3-2 (5-4) overall. Regardless of all of this, Whitefish somehow made the playoffs over Libby because the Western Conferences only recognized the #1 seeds this year. The other four slots from the West were determined by Wildcards so Frenchtown and Dillon wrapped up two of them. Corvallis, Whitefish, and Libby all finished 5-4 but Corvallis beat both Whitefish and Libby so Corvallis got one of the slots. It should have been very simple: whoever won between Whitefish and Libby gets the final spot. Libby won, had a better conference record, and the same overall record over West teams (5-4) than Whitefish. But because the West didn't recognize second place teams in both conferences, the overall record determined the slots and somehow Whitefish won the "tiebreaker" over Libby. What a load of BS and I feel awful for Libby.

Player(s) of the Week (#9): QB Mitch Norslein (Lewistown) - 243 passing yards/80 rushing yards for 7 total touchdowns (4 rushing/3 passing) (vs. Glendive)

Special Note: Mitch is one of the top QB prospects in the state and he has been really good down the stretch for his team. Despite a tough loss to Billings Central two weeks ago, Mitch played very well against a really good Ram defense. He followed that performance up with a huge game against Glendive where he exploded for seven touchdowns. Mitch is currently #2 in Class A in total offensive yards behind only Hamilton QB Carson Rostad (who is arguably the best overall player in the state as a junior). Mitch is a hot commodity among NAIA programs in Montana as all want his services at QB.

Class B

1.) Fairfield (8-0)
2.) Roundup (8-0)
3.) Missoula Loyola (8-1)
4.) Bigfork (7-1)
5.) Colstrip (8-1)
6.) Big Timber (7-1)
7.) Eureka (6-2)
8.) Florence (6-3)
9.) Huntley Project (5-3)
10.) Manhattan (5-3)

Player(s) of the Week (#9): QB Tyson Racht (Townsend) - 6 total touchdowns (4 passing/2 rushing) (vs. Jefferson)

Special Note: Tyson put up a huge performance against rival Jefferson. When you play well in a rivalry game, you deserve recognition. Tyson led his Bulldogs to a #3 seed out of the Southern B conference in this week's playoffs.

Class C (8-man)

1.) Drummond/Philipsburg (9-0)
2.) Fairview (9-0)
3.) Joliet (8-0)
4.) Shelby (7-0)
5.) Hobson/Moore/Judith Gap (7-1)
6.) Great Falls Central (7-1)
7.) Culbertson (8-1)
8.) Centerville (7-1)
9.) Circle (7-2)
10.) Arlee (7-2)

Player(s) of the Week (#9): WR Jaxon Lee (Drummond/Philipsburg) - 3 receiving touchdowns and 1 punt return touchdown (vs. Victor)

Special Note: The junior wideout for the Flint-Creek Co-op has dominated all year as a WR and return specialist. Drummond/Philipsburg has not really been tested all year and they are the favorite to repeat as 8-Man champions. Jaxon impressed against top talent at football camps this past summer and he is already one of the top prospects in the 2020 Montana class.

Class C (6-man)

1.) Wibaux (8-0)
2.) Grass Range/Winnett (10-0)
3.) Geraldine/Highwood (8-1)
4.) Richey/Lambert (7-2)
5.) Hot Springs (9-1)
6.) Roy/Winifred (8-1)
7.) West Yellowstone (7-1)
8.) Jordan (7-2)
9.) Westby/Grenora (6-3)
10.) Bridger (8-2)

Player(s) of the Week (#9): QB Tel Lunde (Wibaux) - four touchdown passes (vs. Westby/Grenora); RB Zane Stahl (Grass Range/Winnett) - 200 plus yards rushing and 4 total touchdowns (3 rushing/1 passing) (vs. Roy/Winifred)

Special Note: Tel and Zane are two of the best players in 6-Man and led both of their squads to undefeated regular season records. Unfortunately, the are on the same side of the 6-Man bracket so a semifinal game could be in their future. Grass Range/Winnett also got the toughest draw of any of the #1 seeds as Westby/Grenora lost three close games to conference foes Richey/Lambert, Jordan, and Wibaux to get the #4 seed in the East. Will be interesting to see if the Thunder can pull the upset. Anyway, Tel and Zane are good football players who likely have NAIA football in their future.

[mongoo99]

With Bozeman's win on Thursday night vs. Skyview, could the Hawks have the best offense ever in Class AA? I used to think Dave Dickenson's CMR teams were the best ever (CMR also had great defenses back in those days), but this Bozeman offense has so many weapons and scores so many points. They don't really seem to care about playing defense, they know they will out score you. There were some great Billings West offenses back in the day, but to me, this Bozeman team is the best Class AA offense ever, even better than Billings Senior with Gabe Sulser or Kalispell Glacier in 2014 when they averaged 50 points per game.

What Class AA offenses have been great over the years?

[kmax]

Player(s) of the Week (#9): RB Preston Blain (Kalispell Glacier) - 232 rushing yards on 31 carries for 4 touchdowns (vs. Missoula Big Sky); QB Tommy Mellot (Butte) - 26/32 for 282 passing yards and 5 passing touchdowns (vs. Billings Skyview)

Special Note: Blain has only gotten better as the season goes on. His performance last Friday was his highest rushing total of the season. Blain currently is #2 in rushing yards (1397) in AA behind Blake Counts and leads AA in rushing touchdowns at 19. Tommy put together another strong performance, putting the Butte Bulldogs in a likely win-and-in scenario this Friday in their push for the AA playoffs. There have been many great performances this year from AA QB's this season and Tommy is in that group. Down the stretch, he has really started to lock in for his team, throwing for 589 yards and 9 touchdowns in his last three games. The junior will be one of the best QB prospects in the state next year.

Went up and watched the Butte/Skyview game last weekend. Mellot indeed looks impressive. Granted the Skyview defense isn't the greatest but Mellot throws an extremely pretty ball. Good accuracy deep and some really nice zip on tight intermediate routes. Of the 6 that he apparently didn't complete a couple were on his receivers that could have made that stat line even more impressive.

[tdub]

Should be official now in AA:
1. Bozeman 10-0
2. Billings West 9-1
3. Helena High 8-2
4. Flathead 7-3
5. Billings Senior 6-4
6. Glacier 5-5
7. Butte 5-5
8. Great Falls High 5-5

Sentinel is odd man out of 4 teams that ended 5-5.