BELT — On the heels of a 45-0 semifinal rout of Drummond-Philipsburg last Saturday, Belt currently stands at a record of 12-0 going in to the 8-Man state championship game this week.
The contest is a rematch of last year's title contest, where Belt hosted Fairview but fell 40-28. That loss has motivated the Huskies all season to not only get back, but win the championship for the second time in three seasons.
"This is all we've wanted," senior Rylan Davison told MTN Sports Wednesday. "I counted (Tuesday), 371 days since we last played (Fairview) when they came here and they beat us. Now we get to go there and take back what's ours."
Fairview is the final remaining test for this Belt team who has run over opponents all season long. The Huskies smallest margin of victory is 36, which happened on two different occasions.
Davison described the win against Drummond-Philipsburg as Belt's most complete game.
"We're playing our best ball late in the season, when you want to," Davison said. "It's just a big confidence boost knowing that we can go out there and get it done."
"We knew we could stop the run," junior Blake Waldner said. "We showed that the big guys up front can take care of business."
As mentioned, Belt won it all two years ago in head coach Matt Triplett's first season at the helm.
The third-year coach said the message to his team each week "has been our record is 0-0, and the team we're going to face is tough."
Fairview will be the biggest — and final — task yet.
"This is a great opportunity to play a tough team, and a championship football team," Triplett said. "They're well-coached, and they're tough."
"We want to play the best team, and they're it."
For Davison, Waldner and Triplett, they all said it would mean a lot to avenge the loss from last fall.
"Seeing the seniors faces last year, they're all crying after we lost, and knowing they went out on a loss, it's just heartbreaking," Davison said. "I don't want to follow in that footstep. I want to go out on top, and not leave any regrets on the field."
"It'd be better than winning the lottery," Waldner said.
"They're like second sons to me," Triplett said. "(The seniors) were sophomores when we won it the first time, and to see how far they've come in development, and getting stronger and all the work they put in, to see them just get to this game is an accomplishment. And we're really proud of them."
Belt heads to Fairview, which also boasts a 12-0 record, for the 8-man state championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
