Beeters, Knights look for playoff success

At the start of the football season, every team in the state of Montana dreampt of making the playoffs. And between the two divisions of class C, Six-man and 8-man, only 32 were fortunate enough to see that dream become a reality.

Along the Hi-Line, there are two teams, Chinook and North Star that managed to quality for the playoffs, and after achieving that difficult task, they are each preparing for their opening-round game on Saturday.

Chinook, which will be in the 8-man playoffs after winning the Northern C conference championship, will host Victor (4-4), the fourth-place team from the Western C in a first-round playoff game on Saturday at 1 p.m at Hoon Field.

“Our team is healthy and excited to be in the playoffs,” Chinook head coach Scott Friede said. “We will need to take Victor seriously. We have put in a few wrinkles and will look to get off to a fast start.”

The No. 7 Sugarbeeters (7-2, 6-2) have been on a hot streak recently, and after falling in their opening game to Great Falls Central 52-50 they have won seven of their last eight, which included a 60-22 shellacking of Chester/J-I last Saturday in Chester to clinch the conference championship.

One of the biggest reasons Chinook is in this position has been the outstanding play of running back Gavin Gunderson. The senior has been a dominant force this season and had five total touchdowns in the win over C/J-I, including a 69-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.

Gunderson will be a critical part of any Chinook victory but the Beeters also have a solid passing attack that features Ian McIntosh at quarterback and Lane Seymour at wide receiver.

Despite being 4-4, Victor has won three of its last five games and is coming off a 64-0 victory over Noxon last Saturday. Their only losses in the that five-game stretch belong to No. 6 Arlee and No. 3 Drummond, and they have averaged 43.8 points per game.

“Victor has some big kids and good speed,” Friede said. “They are a physical team that we will need to pay close attention to.  They use a lot of unbalanced looks with their line and receivers.  Their QB does a nice job running the offense and finding open receivers. I think it will be important for us to shut down their running game, while showing their QB some different looks in the secondary to create some confusion.”

The Beeters and the Pirates will square off at 1 p.m. If Chinook wins, it will host the winner of Twin Bridges and Broadus on Nov.8 with a win.

In the Six-man playoffs, the North Star Knights will also begin their journey Saturday with the difference being, they will have to do it on the road against No. 8 Lone Peak.

The Knights had another successful season under the direction of head coach Steve Simonson, who led North Star to a 6-2 overall record and a 6-2 record in conference play. The Knights only losses came to Geradline/Highwood and Denton-Geyser-Stanford, the two participants in last season’s six-man state title game.

“I think that we played pretty well,” North Star head coach Steve Simonson said. “We had a couple of games that were a little closer than they should have been but that’s football. But we played well this season and as long as the kids come to play, I think it will be a very close game.”

North Star is led by their talented quarterback Matthew Helmbrecht, as well as a dominant running game that features Gavin Spinler and Payton Peterson in the backfield and Jaxon Simonson, an All-State lineman, up front.

If the Knights are going to win against Lone Peak and its explosive offense that averaged 46 points a game this season, establishing the run will be key.

“We have to run the ball,” North Star head coach Steve Simonson said. “They are going to spread it out, so we need to run the ball and keep it away from them a little bit.”

North Star and Long Peak will get underway at 1 p.m. Saturday. If the Knights win, they will play the winner of Savage or Bridger on the road next Saturday.