A new beginning for Flathead

The Flathead football team entered last season with lofty goals and dreams of playing into late November in head coach Kyle Samson’s third year on the job.

Nothing went as the Braves expected.

Several key injuries early in the season forced inexperienced youth onto the field, and the results fell well short of where Samson and his team had anticipated in the preseason.

“We had such high hopes going into last season with the talent that we had,” senior defensive back Trae Vasquez said. “We thought we were going to be a state title contender going into the season. The way it ended, we kind of all felt empty.”

The beauty of a new season, especially for a team such as Flathead that is coming off an admittedly disappointing one, is the fresh start it provides.

The 3-7 record is scrubbed clean, replaced by a welcome 0-0 mark. The injuries that helped derail Flathead’s title hopes are healed. 2016 is in the rearview mirror.

“The past is the past,” Samson said. “We can’t change it. We’re going to move forward and be better because of it.”

That’s exactly the goal for the 2017 Braves, who open their season tonight at 7 p.m. against Butte at Bigfork High School.

They’re confident a huge crop of senior leaders paired with an already-experienced group of underclassmen, all with the motivation to prove 2016 an anomaly, could be the recipe for success this fall.

The Braves’ offense will be led by Taylor Morton, a first-year starter who is one of 24 seniors, the largest group Samson has had in his four years at Flathead.

The junior varsity starter for the past two years, Morton will be tasked with replacing Bridger Johnson, the two-year starter and second-team all-conference quarterback now at Montana Tech.

Despite his inexperience on the varsity stage, Samson is confident Morton’s familiarity with the offensive system and extensive experience on junior varsity will produce a seamless transition behind center.

“He’s just one of those kids who the team rallies around,” Samson said. “I’m looking for big things out of him, and I know with his leadership and his will to win, we’re going to be in great hands.”

The playmakers surrounding Morton also inspire confidence in Samson and his offensive staff.

Junior Blake Counts and senior Jon Baker return to anchor the running back corps after receiving carries last year, and third-year starter John Hinchey leads a group of small but speedy wide receivers that also includes Bobby Lowry and Kaden Willis.

Six-foot-2 Anthony Jones and 6-foot-3 Austin Demars provide Morton two sizable safety nets on the outside at wide receiver and tight end, respectively.

They will line up outside the unit that Samson describes as the strength of the offense — the offensive line.

Seniors Daniel Long, Hunter Waters and Hunter Wellcome, two of whom earned all-state honors as juniors, are returning starters on a line that makes up for its lack of size with experience and tenacity.

“We don’t have the biggest O-line, but we do have the toughest O-line,” Wellcome said.

With the experience and talent that surrounds him, Morton said he has no qualms about the offense’s ability to regain form after last year’s late-season struggles.

“They’re putting a lot of weight on my shoulders, too, and they trust that I’m going to come out and have a good season,” Morton said. “They trust me just as much as I trust them.”

If there is one positive to take from the injuries that plagued the 2016 Braves, it is the experience gained by a plethora of sophomores and juniors who will be expected to contribute again this season.

“It was tough at the time,” Samson recalled. “I think one game we were starting six sophomores. Those guys kind of got thrown in the fire, but they got some great, valuable game experience.”

That’s especially true on defense, where Flathead returns nine starters and many more contributors from a unit that held opponents to an average of less than 20 points per game over the second half of 2016.

Like with the offense, Samson believes the strength of his defense will be up front.

Defensive tackles Michael Lee and Sebastian Koch and defensive end Andrew Siderius are all returning starters, and Patrick Hammond has shown promise at the other defensive end spot.

Tucker Nadeau, a senior captain widely regarded as a leader of the defense and team, is back to call the defensive signals from his middle linebacker spot after being named second-team all-conference a year ago.

He’ll be flanked by returning starter Kenyon Fretwell at strongside linebacker and first-time starter Blake Rausch on the weak side to make up an all-senior linebacker corps.

Nowhere, however, is there a bigger wealth of experience than in the defensive secondary.

All four starters are back from last year, led by Vasquez, Flathead’s only returning all-state player, at safety and converted running back Eric Reyna at cornerback.

“Defensively, we have a ton of experience, and that’s one thing I think is so important for us,” Samson said. “We’re not the biggest defense, but we have a lot of speed. And to me, that’s more important than size, especially on the high school level.”

The goal for the defense? It’s simple.

“Relentless effort,” Reyna said. “Get to the ball and give us a chance to play another down.”

Senior kicker Alex Coulter, who nailed a 42-yard field goal in Flathead’s Orange and Black scrimmage last Friday, long snapper John Hinchey and a bevy of returners that includes Reyna, Vasquez, Jones and Jaden MacNeil highlight the Braves’ special teams unit.

When the Braves take the field tonight, they will do so as a team not mentioned by many in conversations of state title contenders.

That’s just fine with them.

The goal for Flathead is to rejoin that conversation, one they were a part of at this time last fall, and this time, make the dream of a run at the state title a reality.

“It’s definitely a chip on our shoulder,” Reyna said. “We know what we’re capable of. They may not know, but we’re definitely going to show them this season.”