Great Falls — The regular season comes to a close Friday night but it will feel like a playoff atmosphere at Memorial Stadium. The crosstown matchup between the Bison and the Rustlers is expected to fill the stands and live up to the hype as both teams sit next to each other in the conference standings. The Bison have taken the last four matchups between the two teams and the seniors plan on going out undefeated against their crosstown rival.
“Personally for me to beat them it’s going to establish a sense of pride for me and the rest of the school” said Great Falls senior Reed Harris.
While the Bison seniors look to go 4-0 against CMR, the Rustler seniors have hopes of getting the last laugh by winning the final matchup.
“There is nothing better than crosstown. For me to get a win in my last year of football against Great Falls High would be amazing” said CMR senior Gus Nunez.
Both head coaches will be looking for their first crosstown win as head of their programs. Bison head coach Coda Tchida has been apart of the Great Falls High program for years but this is the first year he has been the head coach. Rustlers coach Dennis Morris is in his fourth year as the CMR head coach but has fell short in each of his three cross town appearances. But even with all the noise around the game, the preparation does not change.
“The stands will be packed, the kids will get jacked up for it being crosstown and whatnot. Burt being a head coach this year, every game is so important for you that they all mean just as much” said Bison coach Coda Tchida. “Every team in our conference is so good that you have to take them all very seriously and you have to prepare for them all the same.”
For both teams, this is a game you think about all season long but now that it is here, coaches and players must stay focused on getting the job done.
“This game is the culmination of the entire season” said CMR coach Dennis Morris. “A lot odd things can happen in this game. It’s a game where we have to stay really controlled in. The energy is going to be really high, the crowd is going to be fantastic, but we just have to stay focused and execute. It’s going to be really fun.”
The game will kick off Friday night at 7PM.
