Class AA Football outlook 2011

[stevo]

Well with High school football about 5 weeks out, who are going to be contenders and who are going to be pretenders?

Being a West High guy, i think should again have a strong team. They return thier quarter back and running back from 2011. The have good skill position personel returning, but may struggle in the trenches this year.

I got West and Helena as contenders.
Senior high as a pretender.

How will Bozeman do this year after that awsome run last year?
Capital? They are always strong.

[LTown Cat]

Well with High school football about 5 weeks out, who are going to be contenders and who are going to be pretenders?

Being a West High guy, i think should again have a strong team. They return thier quarter back and running back from 2011. The have good skill position personel returning, but may struggle in the trenches this year.

I got West and Helena as contenders.
Senior high as a pretender.

How will Bozeman do this year after that awsome run last year?
Capital? They are always strong.

I could be wrong but I was told that nobody came within 20 points of Capitals JV last year...

[CPACAT]

Well with High school football about 5 weeks out, who are going to be contenders and who are going to be pretenders?

Being a West High guy, i think should again have a strong team. They return thier quarter back and running back from 2011. The have good skill position personel returning, but may struggle in the trenches this year.

I got West and Helena as contenders.
Senior high as a pretender.

How will Bozeman do this year after that awsome run last year?
Capital? They are always strong.

I could be wrong but I was told that nobody came within 20 points of Capitals JV last year...

You are wrong sir. I watched CMR JV beat Capital JV last year.

I watched every AA team play last year except for Sentinel. I also caught 11 Sophomore games and 10 JV games.

I would say the favorites would be Billings West and Helena HIgh. Then a group consisting of CMR, Helena Capital and Glacier. Bozeman loses too much to repeat. Butte has some good athletes but not enough depth. Flathead, Hellgate, & Big Sky will not be real competitive. GFH, Skyview & Senior will compete to be middle of the pack. I don't know enough about Sentinel to say where they will be.

[LTown Cat]

Well with High school football about 5 weeks out, who are going to be contenders and who are going to be pretenders?

Being a West High guy, i think should again have a strong team. They return thier quarter back and running back from 2011. The have good skill position personel returning, but may struggle in the trenches this year.

I got West and Helena as contenders.
Senior high as a pretender.

How will Bozeman do this year after that awsome run last year?
Capital? They are always strong.

I could be wrong but I was told that nobody came within 20 points of Capitals JV last year...

You are wrong sir. I watched CMR JV beat Capital JV last year.

I watched every AA team play last year except for Sentinel. I also caught 11 Sophomore games and 10 JV games.

I would say the favorites would be Billings West and Helena HIgh. Then a group consisting of CMR, Helena Capital and Glacier. Bozeman loses too much to repeat. Butte has some good athletes but not enough depth. Flathead, Hellgate, & Big Sky will not be real competitive. GFH, Skyview & Senior will compete to be middle of the pack. I don't know enough about Sentinel to say where they will be.

I stand corrected--thanks. I can't remember who told me that. Regardless, the usual suspects (CHS, CMR, West) will be right in the thick of thngs again this year, just like you said above.

[HelenaCat95]

Well with High school football about 5 weeks out, who are going to be contenders and who are going to be pretenders?

Being a West High guy, i think should again have a strong team. They return thier quarter back and running back from 2011. The have good skill position personel returning, but may struggle in the trenches this year.

I got West and Helena as contenders.
Senior high as a pretender.

How will Bozeman do this year after that awsome run last year?
Capital? They are always strong.

I could be wrong but I was told that nobody came within 20 points of Capitals JV last year...

You are wrong sir. I watched CMR JV beat Capital JV last year.

I watched every AA team play last year except for Sentinel. I also caught 11 Sophomore games and 10 JV games.

I would say the favorites would be Billings West and Helena HIgh. Then a group consisting of CMR, Helena Capital and Glacier. Bozeman loses too much to repeat. Butte has some good athletes but not enough depth. Flathead, Hellgate, & Big Sky will not be real competitive. GFH, Skyview & Senior will compete to be middle of the pack. I don't know enough about Sentinel to say where they will be.

I would strongly agree with CPA's assessment.

[MSUalum]

I would put both Helena schools in front, with West and CMR close behind. The rest is a crap shoot. Bozeman has some good athletes but young. Look for them to real good again in 2012.

[CPACAT]

Practice starts tomorrow. Does anyone have any new thoughts on the season?

[91catAlum]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

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[CPACAT]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

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How is Erickson's knee/

CMR will probably have quite a few Jr's starting on the O-line this year. They could possibly start more Jr's than Sr's by the end of the year.

[Billings Cat]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

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It just seems that every year Helena High starts the season as one of the favorites, but seems to always disappoint by season's end? Either unreasonable expectations, bad luck, or Arnston. Or maybe it's all three?

[91catAlum]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

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How is Erickson's knee
.

Not sure on that, practice just started this week I think? And I haven't seen any pre-season writeup in the paper yet.

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[91catAlum]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

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It just seems that every year Helena High starts the season as one of the favorites, but seems to always disappoint by season's end? Either unreasonable expectations, bad luck, or Arnston. Or maybe it's all three?

You're right on that. Most people I talk to think its Arnston's lack of aggressiveness on offense. He wants to win games just running the ball, and only throw when its necessary. This is called "Tony ball" in my circles. It will get you to the playoffs with a talented-enough team, but obviously won't win a title. HHS has had some very talented teams during Arnston's tenure, even made it to the title game 4 times, but lost them all.

I do have to give him credit for bringing respectability to the HHS program - he's in the playoffs about every year. But most of the knowledgeable people I know don't think he'll ever win a title.

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[Air Force Cat]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

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How is Erickson's knee/

CMR will probably have quite a few Jr's starting on the O-line this year. They could possibly start more Jr's than Sr's by the end of the year.

Don't quote me on this, but the word that I got was that he is done with athletics. The injury last year at state wrestling was to the knee that wasn't previously injured. I saw him this spring and he said that he was hoping to be back and going through PT, but the latest that I heard was that he is done. Hope this is wrong because he is a good kid with a lot of talent

[cats2506]

Helena High's starting O-line last year was all Jr's so assuming they all come back this year, I expect them to be a force.

Sent from my DROID PRO using Tapatalk

How is Erickson's knee/

CMR will probably have quite a few Jr's starting on the O-line this year. They could possibly start more Jr's than Sr's by the end of the year.

Don't quote me on this, but the word that I got was that he is done with athletics. The injury last year at state wrestling was to the knee that wasn't previously injured. I saw him this spring and he said that he was hoping to be back and going through PT, but the latest that I heard was that he is done. Hope this is wrong because he is a good kid with a lot of talent

thats a bummer to hear

[CPACAT]

Anyone from Billings, Butte, Bozeman, or Missoula have any input on the AA talent there?

[stevo]

Anyone from Billings, Butte, Bozeman, or Missoula have any input on the AA talent there?

Billings West:
West returns some good talent at the skills position and should be pretty good.

RB: Clay Compton, West, 5-10, 170. Clay ran for about 1,100 yards last year sharing time with another running back. He was a first team all State performer as a Jr. He is a very elusive, hard nosed running back that should perform well this year.

QB: Brady Gustafson, West, 6-6, 210, Brady is a big quarterback at 6'-6" tall. He has a great arm and is very accurate. He has been leading the West Varsity Offense sense midway thru his sophmore season. He threw 2824 yards and 20 touchdowns last year while averaging 235.3 yards per game. This ranked him third in the state last year.He was an honorable mention all state player as well. Brady has had alot of interest from college coaches. Coach Ash being one that has visited with him alot.

WR: Jayc Van Zee: 5"8", 190 Lb wide out and saftey. Jayce has been playing on the Varsity team since he was a sophmore. That may not seam like a big deal to some people but, at Billings West it is very rare to see an underclass man see the field.
Jayce was an all state honorable mention saftey last year.

Kicker: I know nobady wants to hear about the kicker. But West has a good one in Bailey Lehenbauer. Nothing is more important at times than a good kicker. Bailey can kick the ball deep, into the end zone, with regularity. He is a very consistant pat kicker. Bailey has the ability to kick 50 yard field goals when needed.
I had to put Bailey in here because he is my boy.

The coaches at West expect us to be near the top of the heap again this year.

[CPACAT]

That is about what I expected from West. They will be good this year. Anythoughts on Skyview and Senior? From watching the sophomore, JV and Varsity games last year I don't expect either one to be better than last year. I would guess a step back talent wise overall.

[stevo]

Senior I epect to be about the same as last year. They do have speed at the wide out in John daubert ( sp) and they do return chad newel at the running back spot. Chad was one of the top running backs in the state last year and would expect him to be pretty good this year, if he can stay healthy.

I am not to sure about skyview. I expect them to be upper mid pack team, but not as good as last year. Coach Lebsock always finds a way to keep his wing tee teams in the hunt. They lost a good one to graduation in Conner Lebsock ( UM )

When does the first AA power poll come out?

Can anyone find the complete AA schedule week by week. That way we can see what games are going to be critical week by week.

[Platinumcat]

Bozeman- Really hard to know right now. So many seniors were lost to graduation. There are a lot of talented kids out on the field right now. But, as to who's starting? How they'll be? I don't have a clue right now. The Red/Black scrimmage is this Saturday at 6:15 on the practice fields behind the high school if anyone is around. I'll come back on Sunday and give you a rundown.

My expectations are that the team, due to a lack of experience at the varsity level, will struggle with the speed and intensity the first couple of games. But, the talent will show by years end and they may make a run.

[CPACAT]

CMR scrimmages on Friday and GF High on Saturaday. I think CMR has 6 Juniors sitting at number one on the depth chart on offense. Will probably have 3 or 4 on defense. Young and talented.

GF high has some talent but not a lot of depth.