Brave’s players, coaches anxious for C.M.R. rematch

FLATHEAD OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Grady Bennett encourages Flathead quarterback Matt Regier Sept. 19 against Helena Capital.

by Paul Wilson

...Henderson rolls right, avoids the rush, he has an open man in the end zone, it’s McGuire. Henderson stumbles, recovers, throws the ball to McGuire. The pass is caught! But the officials signal that McGuire landed out of bounds. The Braves still trail the Rustlers by a point...

This describes the missed two-point conversion by the Flathead Braves in the closing minutes of their AA playoff game against the C.M.R. Rustlers. Nearly 11 months later, the Flathead Braves are out for revenge.

The 27-26 heart-breaking loss to C.M.R. ended the 1996 football season for the Flathead Braves, a season in which Flathead advanced to the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. Now for the first time since that cold November night, the Flathead Braves will have another chance to beat the team that ended their season. The Braves play the Rustlers tonight — this year’s Homecoming game. 

“It’s definitely a big revenge game,” said senior wide receiver Toby Winters. “I know everybody on the team’s thinking about it. It’ll be big.”

Heavy on the minds of Flathead players and coaches is the missed two-point conversion in the final minutes of last year’s playoff game.

“It’s one of those things you can beat yourself over the head over,” said Braves offensive coordinator Grady Bennett. “We’d run the play three times that night. Toby Winters had been open all three times, so this time I knew that McGuire would be open — and he was.”

Despite Bennett calling a winning play, in his own words, “it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“I look at it on the tapes and just cry,” said Bennett. “Billy (Henderson) for some reason on the play stumbles, but so did the (C.M.R.) free safety. When Ryan caught the pass he was three inches out. If Billy doesn’t stumble, we’re in the state championship game.”

The free-safety that Bennett referred to was C.M.R. senior Brad Olszewski. He remembers the play as well.

“I was on McGuire and I tripped,” said Olszewski. “I was pretty scared. My left cornerback was on Winters. It was a high throw and (McGuire) landed out of bounds. I was really scared. But it worked out for us — somehow.”

The playoff loss wasn’t the only heartbreaker the Braves had at the hands of the Rustlers. A month prior to the playoff contest, Flathead had lost 27-21 to C.M.R. in overtime.

“Over the last four or five years, we’ve caught up to C.M.R.,” said Braves head coach Bob Applegate. “They’ve squeaked by a couple of wins. The kids who are on the team now know about the rivalry and understand the big nature of the) game.”

Returning from last year’s team are seniors Derek Price, Charlie Elkins, Winters, Joel Robinson, Justin Kasberg and Grant Kerley. Despite the youth and inexperience of the 1997 team, even the newcomers realize the importance of the game on Homecoming night.

“For me, I’d really like to get (C.M.R.) back,” said junior quarterback Matt Regier. “Last year’s team was (three) inches away from the state championship game. I’d like to beat (the Rustlers) for all last year’s guys.”

Currently, Flathead is 2-2 on the season and 1-2 in conference after their road loss to the Great Falls High Bison last weekend. After the loss in Great Falls, the Braves realize the importance of beating the Rustlers.

“I know everybody has it in the back of their minds,” said Winters. “It’ll be huge. It’ll be good for last year’s team and this year’s.”

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