Polson out to defend league crown; C-Falls sets sights on state title

The Northwest A football conference has a new look this fall.

Libby returns after a short stint in Class B while Browning moves into the conference from Central A and Ronan moves up from Class B after six seasons.

Columbia Falls is once again a favorite in Class A, and the Wildcats have their sights set on a return to the state title game after losing to Dillon last year.

They’ll have to go through Polson, the defending conference champion that will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing first-round exit in the 2016 playoffs.

Whitefish and Libby each believe they can compete, as well, after down years last season.

Whitefish

Head coach: Chad Ross (eighth season)

2016 record: 3-6 overall, 1-2 in conference.

Key losses: OL/LB Travis Catina, OT/DE Patrick McGeady, QB Derek Kastella

Key returners: QB/LB Forrest Kobelt, C/NT Keegan Wold, WR/OLB Mark Anderson

The skinny: The senior class of football players at Whitefish has seen it all.

They’ve been to the mountain top, winning the state title in 2015 behind a strong cast of seniors.

Then came last year, when the Bulldogs saw their record slide to 3-6. A chance at a title defense fell by the wayside as Whitefish missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

This season, those four seniors are determined to end their career on another high note.

“Last year, I think a couple of guys just had an attitude that they were going to show up and be good, because we were so good the year before,” Whitefish head coach Chad Ross said. “Overall, we’ve got bigger numbers who have bought in. We’ll see what that equals on the field.”

The renewed dedication has become evident this summer in the weight room and on the practice field.

Twelve Bulldogs made Whitefish’s 1,000-pound club — a group of players whose combined bench press, squat and deadlift weights exceed 1,000 pounds — this year. Only five were in the club a year ago.

“We just kind of missed a lot of games by a little bit (in 2016),” senior quarterback Forrest Kobelt said. “I think we’re going to know what it takes this year. Obviously, no one likes going 3-6, so there’s a lot of drive going into this year.”

Kobelt will lead a revamped zone-read offense for Whitefish that will place more emphasis on pace and less on complexity.

“Right now, we have two plays as opposed to 40 from last year,” senior running back Luke Schwaiger said. “We’re coming up to the ball fast and just getting it going. Things are new, and it’s going to be fun.”

“This year, we’re sticking with our bread and butter and going to town,” Keegan Wold, a junior center and nose tackle, said.

Wold will serve as the anchor on the offensive and defensive lines, units that he said are smaller but quicker than in years past.

Kobelt, Schwaiger and senior Alex Barker will all contribute at linebacker for a young team that will ask most of its players to go both ways.

“We don’t have a lot of numbers, but we have 14 studs,” Kobelt said. “We’re going to put our best 11 on the field at any moment.”

Junior kicker Carver Gilman headlines a special teams unit that Ross expects to be “more solid” than last year’s counterpart.

“He’ll be one of the best kickers in the state,” Ross said. “From 40 and in, he’s money. He’s legit.”

Despite his team’s youth and relative lack of depth, Ross hopes the commitment in the offseason and a small, but impactful group of seniors yields better results — and a sixth playoff appearance in the eighth year of his tenure — this fall.

“You’ve got to learn to compete, and we were missing that a little bit (in 2016),” Ross said. “We’re going to be competitive. If anything, we need to teach these guys to learn to compete.”

Columbia Falls

Head coach: Jackson Schweikert (sixth season)

2016 record: 11-2 overall, 2-1 in conference. Lost 34-17 to Dillon in state championship game; beat Belgrade 38-7 in semifinals; beat Sidney 35-20 in quarterfinals; beat Corvallis 55-14 in play-in game.

Key losses: QB Dakota Bridwell, WR/ILB Trevor Hoerner, WR Braxton Reiten

Key returners: RB/ILB Colten McPhee, RB/DE Logan Kolodejchuk, WR/S Ben Windauer, C Hayden Falkner

The skinny: Columbia Falls head coach Jackson Schweikert has an offensive philosophy, not an offensive scheme.

The latter simply depends on the year.

“We tweak our offense every single year for our kids,” Schweikert said. “We do what fits our kids.”

In 2016, that meant allowing quarterback Dakota Bridwell to sit in the pocket, sling the ball around the field to a cast of talented wideouts and break multiple state records.

This year, the offensive attack could look different.

Columbia Falls will still utilize its typical up-tempo, spread offense, but the function is likely to differ.

Schweikert plans to focus more on the run game this fall, and though the offense may work differently, Columbia Falls hopes the results remain the same as when now-graduated Bridwell marched the offense up and down the field on opposing defenses last fall en route to an appearance in the state title game.

“We feel like we have the talent to make the run at (a state championship),” Schweikert said.

Austin Green will be tasked with filling the massive hole at quarterback left by Bridwell, but the pieces he has around him could ease the transition into the starting role.

Four running backs, including 240-pound bruiser Logan Kolodejchuk and 170-pound speedster Seth Gossett, will receive carries this year behind an experienced line.

Hayden Falkner, the Wildcats’ all-state center, anchors guards Tanner Gove and Gage Karlin on the line, which Schweikert predicts will be one of the strengths of the team.

On the outside, Columbia Falls will take a receiver-by-committee approach.

As he’s done in years past, Schweikert said he plans to rotate anywhere from eight to 12 receivers per game, including returning starter Ben Windauer.

Though the focus may lean more toward the ground game this year, Green will still be called upon to make his fair share of plays, with his arm and his feet.

“Whereas Dakota sat in the pocket and was just a straight gun-slinger, Austin is going to move. He’s going to pull the ball down and run,” Schweikert said.

“He’s going to play the quarterback position in a very intelligent way, but he’s not going to dazzle you like Dakota with his 60-yard bombs.”

The strength of the defense will be the defensive line, which Schweikert believes to be the best in the state.

Kyler Koski, Jacob Hagen and Gage Karlin — the smallest of whom weighs in at more than 260 pounds — man the middle inside with Kolodejchuk and Falkner at defensive end.

Schweikert expects an especially big year from Kolodejchuk.

“The best D-lineman in the state, bar none,” the sixth-year Columbia Falls coach said.

“He’s a powerhouse.”

Gove, KJ Arends, Parker Greene and Bradley Nieves make up the linebacker corps, while Shane Gee will start at Joker, a hybrid linebacker position that allows him to rush the passer, focus on the run game or drop into coverage.

Green and Windauer, both three-year starters in the secondary, are back to anchor that unit.

Schweikert said he believes the Columbia Falls defense will be especially tough against the run, a helpful trait in nasty conditions often seen in late-season games.

Columbia Falls hopes to be playing into late November again this season, but if nearly 30 years in coaching have taught Schweikert anything, it’s that nothing is a sure thing.

“Hopefully, we can get to state,” he said.

“You never know, right? Teams are just different every year. Someone out there that was probably a .500 team last year is going to make a run at it this year.

“We feel like we have the firepower to get there.”

Polson

Head coach: Pat Danley (first season)

2016 record: 7-3 overall, 3-0 in conference. Lost 35-34 to Billings Central Catholic in the first round.

Key losses: QB/S Tanner Wilson, WR/ILB Matthew Rensvold, OL/ILB Jonah Burke, OL/DL Trevor Corley

Key returners: RB/S Koby Garcia, RB Colton Cote, TE/DE Haden Smith, RB/OLB Kyle Druyvestein, OT/DE Noah Humphrey

The skinny: Polson is not lacking in holes to fill this year.

Gone is Scott Wilson, who stepped aside as head coach in the offseason after 16 seasons at the helm.

Perhaps more importantly, gone are quarterback Tanner Wilson and wide receiver Matthew Rensvold, two all-state players who accounted for the majority of Polson’s offense in 2016, and two linemen who are now playing college football.

“We had two players (Wilson and Rensvold) that could make up for a lot of other shortcomings last year,” first-year head coach Pat Danley said.

“Obviously, you can’t replace them. I’m not trying to disparage our kids this year, but honestly, we don’t have anyone as talented as those two.”

So, if the Pirates are to defend their conference crown, they’ll have to find another way.

Danley, a longtime assistant coach at Polson who was elevated to the head job to replace Scott Wilson, hopes a ground-and-pound offense and stout defense can provide just that.

“I think we’re going to be very competitive,” said senior tight end and defensive end Haden Smith.

“We definitely expect to be in the mix for the top of our conference.”

It all starts up front for Polson, whose strengths are the offensive and defensive lines.

Smith and Noah Humphrey, both third-year starters, serve as the anchors for those units alongside Treylon Mitchell, who Danley credited with being much improved.

On offense, that line aims to clear the way for Koby Garcia, Kyle Druyvestein and Colton Cote, experienced running backs who Polson will lean on heavily this fall.

The Pirates will line up in a variety of sets, but the talent in the backfield has led Danley and his team to give three-back sets consideration this fall.

They hope to alleviate some of the pressure on sophomore Bo Kelley, the first-year starter who drew the nearly impossible task of replacing Wilson behind center.

Kelley, the quarterback last season on Polson’s “froshmore” team, earned the job — and the respect of his teammates — after an extended battle in fall camp.

“He’s got our reads down,” Danley said. “He’s pretty mobile, and I think the kids have confidence in him.”

Defensive coordinator Don Toth oversees a unit that also must overcome the departures of Wilson, Rensvold and several other key pieces.

Like on offense, Humphrey, Smith and Mitchell lead a menacing front that will line up in front of a group of linebackers led by Druyvestein.

Garcia, yet another player who will go both ways for the Pirates this fall, leads the way in the secondary at safety.

Connor Lanier, a junior soccer player who will serve as the kicker this year, headlines the special teams unit.

Polson will not have the luxury of any tune-up games.

The Pirates open the season with Dillon, the defending Class A state champion, and the team is excited about the opportunity to go against the best early in the season.

“They’re kind of at the top, so you beat those guys and you’re up there with them,” Humphrey said.

The result will be an early indicator of whether Polson is prepared to bounce back from a disappointing first-round exit in last year’s playoffs to make a run at another conference title — and perhaps even more.

“They take a lot of pride in the fact that they’re defending the conference championship,” Danley said.

“They want to get another one. We’re hoping to be in that position again, to play for a conference championship.”

Libby

Head coach: Neil Fuller (15th season)

2016 record: 1-8 overall, 1-3 in conference.

Key losses: None

Key returners: QB/CB Brian Peck, RB/LB Laine Young, FB/DT Clancy Gout, OL/DL Ethan Borden

The skinny: Preseason optimism may seem misplaced for a team that’s won a total of one game over the past two seasons.

Just don’t tell Libby head coach Neil Fuller.

“For us to compete for the conference title and compete for a playoff spot, we’re going to have to play very disciplined football,” Fuller said.

“We feel, if we limit our mistakes and take care of the football, that we’ll have a chance.”

Fuller, entering his 15th season at the helm of the Loggers’ program, has several reasons he believes his team can make a run at a playoff berth in its first year back in Northwest A.

It starts up front, where Fuller thinks his team could match up well for the first time in several years.

The Loggers return a young, but experienced, cast of three sophomores and a junior on the offensive line, all who contributed a year ago.

“If you can match-up up front in football, you’ve got a chance,” Fuller said.

The improved line will block for one of the most experienced backfields in the state.

Senior Brian Peck is back for his third year as the starting quarterback. Behind him are senior fullbacks Clancy Gout and Nik Jones and senior running backs Laine Young and Tim Carvey. Seniors Tanner Wood and Nik Jones flank Peck at tight end.

“The last couple of years, we’ve just been physically manhandled up front,” Fuller said.

“A lot of those guys, they really haven’t gotten much of a chance to develop.

“They know, for the first time in their careers, they’ve got some guys up front who can move some people around.”

In an effort to take advantage of its newfound experience on the line and talent in the backfield, Libby plans to keep it simple this year.

They’ll run the Wishbone offense, a system Fuller has used sparingly in the past but fully installed this offseason.

“We’re going to be running a lot of option out of it,” Fuller said.

“They’re pretty confident with what we’re doing. Any time you’ve got matchups up front, considering some of the experience we have at some of the skill spots, we’ve got a chance to be competitive this year.”

When Libby does decide to throw the ball, 6-foot-2 Gavin Strom provides a weapon on the outside at wide receiver.

Many of the stars on the offensive side of the ball will fill the same role on defense.

The four returners on the offensive line — Ethan Borden, Cyrus Sweedman, Tanner Marshall and Chris Schedlbauer — join Jones and Gout on a deep defensive line. Junior Daniel Farias-Ambriz will also contribute up front.

Jones will also slide back and play linebacker at times alongside Wood, Carvey and Young, and Peck and Strom lead the secondary from their cornerback spot.

The group of eight seniors holds the keys for Libby and will have a large say in how successful the Loggers are in 2017.

As the end careers that have not yielded much results on the field, Fuller hopes they can do so on a high note.

“This group of seniors hasn’t had much of any success in football going back to seventh grade. They’ve stuck with it.

“Those eight seniors are all going to be big contributors for us.”