bitterroot game day, september 23, 2011

Hamilton hosts rival Corvallis in Homecoming battleHamilton hosts rival Corvallis in Homecoming battleSHOWDOWNSHOWDOWN

Friday, September 23, 2011

H1

2 - Ravalli Republic, Friday, September 23, 2011

DAVID ERICKSONRavalli Republic

One of the biggest games of the year takes place Friday night, as Hamilton hosts valley rival Corvallis in a Class A football show-down for the Broncs’ homecoming.

Both teams are coming into this key matchup with momen-tum, and they both grabbed their first victories of the sea-son last Friday. Hamilton (1-3) is coming off a 35-0 drubbing of Frenchtown, while Corvallis (1-2) claimed a 34-26 win over Livingston at home last Friday night. It was the Blue Devils’ first

DAVID ERICKSON / Ravalli Republic

The Hamilton Broncs are coming off their first win of the season last Friday after a brutal road stretch. However, the Blue Devils are also coming off a victory.

Broncs set for Class A football clash with Blue Devils on Friday night

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win since 2009, and they are undoubt-edly looking to add another one against Hamilton.

Blue Devils junior quarterback Branden Butt said he and his teammates know they are going into a hos-tile situation, but they expect a good turnout from the Corvallis fans since it’s so close.

“We expect quite a few of our fans to show up,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be a big game, being Hamilton’s homecoming. But we’ve been working hard. We have good leadership this year. We’re just looking for-ward to getting on the field.”

Hamilton head coach Travis Blome is glad to finally have a few games on his home field. The Broncs opened with a brutal three-game road schedule against Billings Central,

DAVID ERICKSON - Ravalli Republic

The Corvallis Blue Devils won their first game since 2009 with a hard-fought victory over Livingston last Friday night.


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Whitefish and Polson. Finally getting a chance to play in Hamilton, Blome was proud of the way his guys played against Frenchtown.

“It was a nice way to start our home season,” he said. “It was rough to go on the road the first three weeks. We’re just looking to build off Friday night.”

In fact, Blome made some key switches to his offense before last Friday’s game, mov-ing Tyler Murray to receiver and moving Josh Bauder to quar-terback. The switch paid divi-dends immediately, as Murray scored a 90-yard touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff, caught another touchdown pass, and had two intercep-tions and a forced fumble on defense.

Bauder had a great game as well, throwing three touchdown

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The Corvallis boys gained some much-needed momentum after their win last Friday, and they will need it in Hamilton this Friday night.

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passes and running for another one. “Both of those guys had pretty good games,” Blome said.

“The kids came out and played hard. They executed a little bit better, and played with a lot more emotion.”

James McCormick had two sacks for Hamilton last Friday, so he will be a force for the Blue Devil offensive line to reckon with.

Blome said he and his guys have watched some film on the Blue Devils, and they know they are in for a fight.

“They’re a very physical team, and they want to get after the quarterback,” Blome said. “On offense they want to run with two talented running backs ( Austin Landis and Tyler Berner). We’re just hoping that our kids stay disciplined and play hard on defense.”

Butt said he and his teammates have also watched Hamilton, and they know they have to stop Hamilton’s passing game.

“Murray is a big threat,” Butt said. “We have to try to control him, and get our run game going. We’re just going to stick to the game plan.”

Butt said that because Corvallis had a big turnout this year, they can deal with injuries a little bit better.

“We have 22 freshmen, so that’s great for us,” he said. “And we also have 15 seniors, which is a big class for our school.

“No matter what happens on Friday night, the atmosphere is going to be super-charged as always.”

“The atmosphere was great last weekend, and we expect the same this Friday,” Blome said. “The community and school really gets behind Homecoming. It should be a fun atmosphere for both teams.”

Friday’s game starts at 7 p.m. at Haines Field in Hamilton, near Riverside Park.

Reporter David Erickson can be reached at 363-3300 or [email protected].

Congratulations to Tyler Bernerfrom Corvallis High School on receiving the

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Tyler had two touchdowns Friday to help give the Blue Devils their first win since 2009.

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The defending state A boys’ golf champions may not have had the season they were hoping for this year. But as luck would have it, some costly injuries are getting healed just in time to start defending their title.

Hamilton High School’s reigning state champion boys’ golf team, along with the girls’ team, are hosting the divisional tournament on Saturday at the Hamilton Golf Course. Action tees off at 10 a.m.

Joining Hamilton will be Stevensville, Anaconda, Butte Central and Dillon.

Hamilton’s top players - Brad Palin, Eli Rogers and Tyler Jessop -

have each been nagged with injuries. “We probably haven’t done as well as we have wanted to,” said

Hamilton coach Owen Burch. “But you gotta go with what you have. We’ve dealt with that and hopefully we can be all healed up and ready to go this weekend.”

Palin has sat out more than the rest. He was hit with a golf ball at a meet in Butte on Aug. 17.

“We’ve let him go to a couple here last week to try and get his confidence back up and make sure there was no pain,” Burch said.

While injuries kept veteran seniors sidelined, Burch brought up two freshmen, Palin’s younger brother Bridger along with Taylor Dowdy.

Bronc golf team looking to repeatas champs


The four returning starters from last year’s state championship squad: Brad Palin, Kyle Lubke, Eli Rogers and Tyler Jessop.


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Burch said having the two youngsters teeing off for the varsity squad has given them some valuable experience.

“It’s kind of tough to throw them into the water, but at least they’ve got some experience in,” Burch said. “On a normal year, you’re not going to have too many freshmen who will make varsity. But it seems like we’ve had a few over the years.”

It’s not just the injuries that have added pressure to the Bronc boys this season. They also had a bull’s-eye on their back since snagging the state title last spring over Laurel by just two strokes. And Burch thinks seeing Hamilton struggle a bit with injuries has given other teams glimmers of hope.

“What it has probably done is allowed other teams to have a little more confidence,” Burch said. “Since we’ve lost a few tournaments, they’ve gained confidence. The teams in our division have gotten closer because of it. We have to go prove to people that we’re ready to go.”

Hamilton is hoping to not only take advantage of its newly healthy leaders but also the home course in its pursuit of a sixth straight divi-sion title.

“It’s a place we practice every day during the week,” Burch said. “It seems like we tend to shoot pretty good on our home course. And it is a very nice course; we get spoiled that way.

“I’m hoping it’s an advantage,” he continued. “Bottom line is we have to be healthy and go do what we know we can do this week-end, and hopefully next weekend as well.”

On the girls’ side, Burch said the Broncs have had a successful season until now.

“They have a chance to finish pretty darn good,” Burch said. “They’ve gotten better and better. If they golf the way we know they can golf, they can win divisionals here. They’ve all golfed their career best this year.”

Leading the way for the girls’ team have been Emily Winter, Meg Maclean and Alyssa Heath. Another team leader, Mishaila Conway, had foot surgery earlier this summer and has been slowly getting back in the swing of things.

“She’s a little sore still, but better than she was a month ago,” Burch said.

The girls have posed a little bit of a challenge this year, but not because of injuries – because of after-school jobs.

“We had a couple of them get really good jobs,” Burch said. “I made a deal with them that they could work and still do golf and not go to all the tournaments. For a kid to be gung-ho to get a job, and a good job at that, shows a little bit of something about them.”

Following divisionals this weekend will be the state tournament, also taking place in Hamilton. That tournament gets under way on Friday, Sept. 30 and continues on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Reach reporter Whitney Bermes at 363-3300 or [email protected].


NICK LOCKRIDGEfoR bitteRRoot Game Day

STEVENSVILLE - Caleb Vance still remembers the last time he faced Dillon on a football field.

It didn’t go well for Vance or his Stevensville squad. “It was probably the toughest, most challenging game I’ve ever

played in,” said Vance of his team’s 47-0 loss at Dillon in the final regular-season game of the 2010 season. “I tried to stay calm, be patient, to see what they give you, but I was too anxious. I wanted to

throw the long ball. I pretty much played like a freshman.”The Yellowjackets’ senior quarterback wants to make amends for

that memory this Friday, when the top-ranked Beavers pay a visit to Stevensville in the Southwestern A opener for both teams. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

“We want to get a little revenge,” Vance said. “And knowing they’re the best team in the state right now, it’d be great to get a win against them. It’s probably one of the biggest games of the season, if not the biggest.”

Yellowjackets seek revenge vs. DillonPERRY BACKUS - Ravalli Republic

Stevensville quarterback Caleb Vance scampers through a pack of Libby defenders last Friday night. Vance has a tough test this week when the ‘Jackets host Dillon.


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At 3-0, the Stevensville football team is off to its best start since 2005, when it also opened the year with three straight wins. A por-tion of the Yellowjackets’ success has to do with the nimble, mild-mannered Vance, while still more of it has to do with the talent sec-ond-year coach Hank Praast has assembled around Vance.

Stevensville returns 16 starters from a team that went 7-4 last sea-son and made it to the quarterfinals of the Class A playoffs. Vance, who also starts at free safety, is one of those returners.

In the past year, Vance became one of the program’s most familiar faces. Then again, maybe he isn’t.

When Vance reported to fall camp he came in nearly 20 pounds heavier than last season – the product of a dedicated offseason workout schedule.

“He worked his butt off,” said Praast of his 6-foot, 188-pound QB. “I think it’s translating to the field, but to be honest with you, it’s not just him.”

Neither Praast nor Vance are joshing when they talk up Stevensville’s other skill players: Josh Haynes and Josh Lords.

The senior wide receivers are some of Vance’s favorite targets in the Yellowjackets’ spread offense. While the duo share a first name, they differ in attributes.

Lords, who measures 5-9 and 150 pounds, was dubbed “Mox” by one the Stevensville coaches, so as not to confuse the two Joshes. Lords lines up in the slot in most of the Jackets’ four-wide out sets. He’s perhaps best known as a sprinter during the track season.

“He’s one of the fastest kids in the state,” Vance said. “I’ll throw it out there as far as I can and he’ll just run under it.”

Haynes – “he goes by regular ol’ Josh,” Vance says – is 6-2 and 177 pounds. He lines up on the edge and was a high jumper in the spring.

“That helps at the goal line,” Vance says. “I can just throw it up in the air and he can go get it.”

Haynes, who’s bailed out Vance a few times on “awful” throws, joined his quarterback on the all-state list last season, but Vance praises both receivers’ athleticism.

“I trust both of them,” he said. “I’m very thankful to have them.”The town is also very thankful for the return of senior running back

and linebacker Tyler Gavlak, who, at 6-1 and 210 pounds, is a handful for opposing defenses. He missed all of last season after breaking his leg in a boating accident nine days before the start of two-a-days.

“We were lucky he even kept his leg,” Praast said. Getting Gavlak back this fall has made a big difference.“He’s a fantastic runner and super strong now,” said Vance, who

trails Gavlak by just 3 yards for the league lead in rushing. “He helps us open up the run game and when (opponents) key on the run we can pass the ball. It helps me in particular, but the rest of the team as well.”

Gavlak would have definitely helped the Yellowjackets in Dillon last year.

“We didn’t have a true running back last year,” said Praast, who watched film of that 47-0 blowout recently. “We had some nice fill-ins, but we didn’t have a guy that understood that position. Now we’re more balanced.”

Without much of a run game, Praast ended up relying on Vance more and more last fall. And vice versa.

An assistant coach for seven years prior to taking over the reigns at Stevensville, Praast didn’t quite know what to do at quarterback when the previous year’s starter transferred schools ahead of his senior season. So Praast held a QB competition and it was clear that Vance was his guy.

“With that athletic ability it’s easy to call a play,” Praast said. “Even when it doesn’t work you’re going to get yards.”

In turn, Vance liked his new coach’s laid-back demeanor, but knew he was also very demanding.

“He wants things crisp and perfect, but being that it was his first year as a head coach I could tell he was a little bit nervous. So was I,” Vance said. “He didn’t know how I was going to be as a quarter-back and I didn’t know how he was going to be as a coach. We both adapted pretty well with the circumstances we had to face.”

In most instances it worked out good – Vance had 382 yards pass-

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ing and 181 yards rushing in a 48-47 shootout win over Hamilton – while occassionally it was bad – Dillon sat back and held Vance to 95 yards on 13-of-26 passing.

One of the things that’s improved the most in Year 2 is the com-munication between the two.

“I couldn’t pry a word out of him last year,” said Praast, who remembered what it was like to be a team captain in high school and college. “My coaches all wanted me to be vocal. ... It was like pulling teeth with (Vance). And maybe he didn’t understand it because he was new to the position, but now he says, ‘They’re playing Cover 2’ or ‘They’re pressing the slots.’ He tells us all this jargon stuff that he couldn’t do last year.”

“He still doesn’t talk your ear off, but at least he communicates with you about the game and what (the defenses) are doing. That’s a big thing.”

Last year’s lop-sided loss to the Beavers didn’t come without its teaching moments.

“It’s a long bus ride home when you get spanked like that,” recalls Praast. “We made so many mistakes.”

The Jackets figure they’ve corrected most of those with all their returning experience, the re-imurgence of their running game and their renewed sense of confidence in 2011.

“We had to kick the kids out of the film room (this week), yell at them to go home,” Praast said. “They wanted to keep looking at (Dillon) on film, so that’s encouraging.”

The loss to Dillon coupled with two losses to Billings Central, including one in the playoffs, and Frenchtown last season were enough to plant the seed for another postseason run.

“Because of those games the kids knew where we stood and where we wanted to be,” Praast said. “They kind of circled some of those games on the calendar.”

The Yellowjackets began their revenge tour with a 29-0 win at Frenchtown in the first week of the season. The Broncs, who earned a 28-6 decision in Stevensville last year, have since switched to the Northwestern A and are currently struggling at 0-3.

“They’re not the Frenchtown team that everyone’s known the last couple of years,” Praast says, “but it’s still Frenchtown and that helped our kids build some confidence.”

Next came wins over Columbia Falls and Libby. The Yellowjackets trailed Columbia Falls 14-0 before rallying for a 34-14 victory on the road. Now comes their stiffest test of the season.

Dillon (3-0) is coming off a big win over previously top-ranked Billings Central last week. The Beavers boast their own star quar-terback in senior J.T. Linder, who was named the Southwestern A’s offensive MVP last season.

“They’re very fundamentally poised,” Vance said. “They’re as per-fect as you can be in football. It’s difficult to play against them. It’ll be a good game.”

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