GREAT FALLS — The Great Falls Bison officially started prepping for the upcoming fall season Friday as practice kicked off.
Following a 5-5 season that included a playoff berth, the team looks to build upon what was accomplished last year.
"We have a group that sleeps, eats, breaths football," said head coach Coda Tchida at Friday's afternoon practice. "They've been waiting for this day since school ended."
There's excitement in the air as the season only draws closer.
"I've been with them all summer but, you know, that first day of real football it really hits you that school is on its way, our first game is only ten days away. So I'm excited," Tchida said.
The team had a positive off season too. It was highlighted by attending a summer football camp at Boise State.
"We competed against six schools from Idaho, Nevada, Washington," Tchida said. "It was a great to see teams that we usually don't see, compete against other schools. Just get a different look because everyone goes to Montana State camp and I wanted to get out and see some other schools."
Senior quarterback Riley Collette saw a lot of team growth at the camp.
"Definitely showed a lot of speed, there's a lot of tracksters on the other teams," Collette said. "Just exposing that type of athleticism to us I feel like kind of us a bit of an upper hand going into the regular season."
Collette also said the team is "locked in" right now.
"We feel everybody's going into a drill confident, nobody's truly lost in a drill, and that just kind of shows together as a team that we are just truly locked in as one," Collette said.
With the season opener against Kalispell Glacier approaching — the Wolfpack shut out Great Falls 44-0 last year — it's a great time feel that way as a team.
"We're excited for the challenge, we're excited for the odds and all that, and we feel like we can truly compete," Collette said.
Glacier at Great Falls has a kickoff time of 7 p.m. on Aug. 29.
