HELENA -- Helena Capital football battled to a 5-2 conference record across the 2019 regular season, and earned the right to host its first round game Friday evening against the Belgrade Panthers. Now that it's playoff time, that conference record, while not all for naught, no longer matters in the do-or-die nature of the playoffs. Prior to Thursday's practice, the Bruins held a meeting and one of the things discussed was the importance of giving it all.
"That's what we just talked about upstairs after we handed out awards, you know, this is do or die. It's win you're in, lose you're done," said Bruins head coach Kyle Mihelish. "Sports can be taken away from you so quickly. If you lose that playoff game, it's done, it's over. I said 90 to 95 percent of you seniors will never play football again, if that's the case."
While the Belgrade Panthers struggled in their first season of Class AA, they found a bit of life at the end of the season in a 12-7 win over the Billings Skyview Falcons. Mihelish said he believes the new kids on the block have some talent, and will not count out the Panthers as postseason play commences.
"They have a good running back, they have a big huge h-back, he's like 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, and they're big up front and they run the ball well and they throw it well," said Mihelish. "They took it to Skyview and they got after them pretty good."
The Bruins and the Panthers will kick off at 7:30 p.m. at Vigilante Stadium in Helena, shortly after the conclusion of the Helena High and Great Falls CMR matchup.
