SPORTS

AA Football: GFH visits Sentinel

Steve Schreck
sschreck@greatfallstribune.com

A Murderers’ Row of a schedule has sent the Great Falls High football team’s season into a tailspin.

Now the Bison are trying to find their way out of it.

“What we have to do, and what we’ve emphasized with the kids all week, is we have to focus on ourselves,” Great Falls High head coach Matt Krahe said. “We have to come together as a team, refocus and really go down to Missoula (Friday) and with one sole purpose on our mind and that’s to play well and play football like we can. That’s what we are focused on.”

After starting the season with two wins, the team has lost four straight – Kalispell Flathead, Glacier, Helena High and Billings Senior. Three of those four teams were in the latest edition of the Tribune’s Top 25 and a 40-0 loss last Friday came against the undefeated, No. 1-ranked Broncs.

The Bison (2-4) travel to Missoula to take on the Spartans (3-3) at 4 Friday afternoon.

Senior halfback Austin Dess, who only played one series against Glacier on Sept. 18 before hurting his knee and has sat out ever since, will return in the backfield, a much-need addition to an offense that has put up 12, 36, 6 and 0 points in the last four weeks.

“Yeah, I’m really excited,” Dess said. “I couldn’t practice the past couple weeks and that’s always a drag, having to stand and watch. It’s not very much fun. So I’m really excited; I’m glad I get to go back out.”

Why has the offense struggled to score in three of the last four games?

“That’s a good question,” Krahe said. “I think it’s a combination of things, having confidence in who we are I think is important. We really need to rely on our run this week to get back to where we were at.

“We’ve done a good job this week in practice of having two really hard, intense practices. And the other thing is, we have to spread the ball around and involve everybody in the offense.”

The Spartans of head coach Dane Oliver are sparked by quarterback Mitch Roberts, the younger brother of Ben Roberts, a terrific athlete who’s a tight end on this year’s Montana Grizzly football team after transferring from Washington State, where he played baseball.

Mitch, a 6-1, 175-pound junior, is the team’s leading rusher at 309 yards and has thrown for close to 1,000 in the air, with eight TDs to go along with six interceptions.

“He is good,” Krahe said. “He is a very fast quarterback and he has a very live arm. We are going to have to contain him in the pocket.”

Robert Bruskotter, a starting receiver for the Bison all year, suffered a season-ending foot injury last Friday. He had surgery to repair it on Thursday, Krahe said, and his football career with the Bison is over. Junior Kody Torgerson will start in his place, as well as his usual spot in the secondary.

“What we are going to lose with Robert, and obviously not counting his athletic stuff,” Krahe said, “we are going to miss his leadership and a senior presence out there at the receiver spot.”

Krahe said Thursday that injured tailback Walker Ferda could return for the end of the regular season, whether that’s against Billings West on Oct. 23 or against C.M. Russell High on Halloween, that’s still to be determined. The starting running back is recovering from a broken bone in his leg, which was suffered against Billings Skyview on Sept. 4 but wasn’t diagnosed until a later date.

For now, Dess will carry the load.

“We’re going to have to run the ball,” Dess said of the keys for Friday’s game. “If we can run the ball, we can pass the ball and that will open up the whole playbook. We’ll be able to go deep. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just have to keep running. I think if we can do that then I think we can put up a lot of points. We’ll be balanced, and I think that’s something we haven’t had in a while.”