HELENA — Helena Capital's football practice Tuesday afternoon featured a special guest speaker: Former University of Montana head coach Mick Delaney.
“The difference between the teams that are good teams and great teams, are the teams that are able to get better every day,” said Delaney, addressing a crowd of Capital football players gathered in the Tuss Field bleachers.
Delaney boasts fifty years of coaching experience, including three as the head man at Montana.
“Maybe they’ll pick something up that they can apply in the final weeks,” said Capital head coach Kyle Mihelish. “I know he’ll probably talk about knowing your role and your duty and responsibility to the team, and it just reinforces I think what we as coaches let our kids know — that we’re not just kind of making things up as we go here. And you’re going to hear it from a coaching legend today.”
Many Capital players said they expect to take the lessons they learned from Delaney and implement them ahead of their game against Kalispell Flathead on Thursday.
“Oh, just to obviously leave no doubt out there,” said Capital quarterback and safety Merek Mihelish. “Just to go out there every play and play the hardest to your ability. Obviously, don’t walk away from the play knowing that you could’ve played harder than the guy against you.”
Senior running back and defensive end Cole Graham shared a similar sentiment after Delaney’s talk.
“I would say to take every opportunity and run with it,” said Graham. “You can’t take anybody lightly. Week in and week out, you got to work and get better. We got an opportunity this week, and we’ll see what we do with it.”
No. 2-ranked Capital hosts Flathead on Thursday night in Carroll College’s Nelson Stadium.
“I’m pretty excited,” said Merek Mihelish. “Obviously, it’s a cool opportunity to go play at a college stadium. So, yeah, it’s pretty cool obviously under the lights and all the new theatrics that Carroll College has.”
Graham also said he was excited to play in a college stadium.
“It looks good,” said Graham of the renovated Nelson. “I’ve been to a Carroll game. Atmosphere should be good ... It’s a great opportunity. Usually that doesn’t happen, and we get to play there. So, I’m excited. The team’s excited.”
