Flathead out to secure playoff berth against CMR

The end of the Class AA football regular season is on the horizon, and chatter about the postseason becomes louder and increasingly unavoidable with each passing week.

Such talk of the playoffs can easily become a distraction for teams fighting for spots and seeding, but staying focused on the task at hand while hypothetical postseason scenarios are the talk of the state is a welcome challenge for Flathead.

“We feel like we’ve put ourselves in the situation, and our kids have earned the right to be playing meaningful games right now,” Flathead head coach Kyle Samson said.

“We’re pretty open and honest about everything. We know that this is a huge game moving forward to the playoffs. It’s a big game, and our kids are excited about that. We don’t look at it as a negative. We look at it as a positive. Hey, we’re playing a big-time game in the middle of October that has a lot of playoff implications.”

The Braves (3-3) enter tonight’s game at Legends Stadium against Great Falls C.M. Russell (3-4) on the playoff bubble with three weeks remaining, but a win would almost guarantee them a spot in the postseason.

Flathead found itself in a similar position at this point in the season in 2016, but closed with three consecutive losses and fell short of the playoffs.

This year, however, shapes up more favorably for the Braves as they try to earn a postseason berth for just the third time in the past nine seasons.

Last fall, Samson’s team stared down a murderers’ row of a schedule in the final three games, one that lacked any team with a losing record. But in 2017, Flathead faces two teams with losing records — including winless Missoula Hellgate — before traveling to 6-1 Helena High in the final week of the season.

While the path to the playoffs seems clear now, the Braves plan to navigate it the same way they’ve traversed the season to this point — one week at a time.

“No one’s looking forward, by any means,” Samson said.

“We know how big this game is. At the same time, we know it’s one game. We want to go out and enjoy the moment.

“In a month, no matter what happens, (the seniors) will be done playing high school football. We want to just enjoy the moment and really appreciate the opportunities we have.”

A week after allowing Big Sky quarterback Levi Janacaro to run wild to the tune of 266 yards, Flathead must again contend with a dual-threat quarterback against the Rustlers.

Senior signal-caller Garrison Rothwell has done damage through the air and on the ground this season for CMR, as he leads the team both in passing and rushing.

Rothwell has thrown for more than 100 yards in just one of the past four games, however, as the Rustlers have turned to the ground game — led by Rothwell and running backs Jayson Ingalls and Jaydon Dobrow — to provide most of the offensive production of late.

“You make some mistakes sometimes, and you learn from them,” Samson said of last week’s performance against Janacaro.

“That’s part of high school football.

“(Rothwell), he’s definitely a dual-threat, as well. I think he’s a different type of dual-threat. He’s not as big as Janacaro, obviously. He’s a good runner as far as he’s got good quickness, but he throws the ball really well, too. He’s a big key. We’ve got to contain him.”

But in their wins this year, the Rustlers have leaned more heavily on a tough defense than a high-flying offense.

CMR has allowed an average of just 16 points per game in its three victories and has been stingy at times even in defeat, such as when it limited Billings Senior to its thrid-lowest scoring output of the season in a loss to the undefeated Broncs.

“Their D-front is very good,” Samson said. “They’ve got some really good defensive linemen, and they’re a physical team. They come after you.”

For Flathead, there is much to look forward to tonight.

The Braves have a chance to virtually clinch a playoff berth for the first time since most of the current team was on junior varsity, get back on track after a tough loss and continue their undefeated ways at home, where they are 3-0 so far this season.

And, if the forecast holds true, they might even get to do all of it amidst a dusting of snow.

“Talking to our kids (Thursday night), they were pretty excited to know maybe they get a chance to play in a little bit of snow,” Samson said with a laugh.

“We’re super excited and looking forward to the opportunity.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 96.5 FM and 600 AM KGEZ and will be streamed at mtsport.tv.