Ronan vs. Baker playoff football preview

ROAD WARRIORS
BY BRANDON HANSEN/Leader sports editor

Ronan has been here before.

Last year when the Chiefs (7-2) were still in Class A, they went into their final game of the season against a very talented and very fast Columbia Falls team. Running back Nate Thompson had come into the matchup with much fanfare for the Wildcats, having rushed for more than 1,600 yards in the season.

That didn't discourage Ronan any. They came up with the upset win over the eventual Northwestern A champs 28-20 after quarterback Robbie Gauthier hit Cole McArthur for a touchdown pass with 14 seconds left. For the most part, they were able to contain Thompson's big-play ability.

This Saturday the stakes are much higher as it's the Class B quarterfinals but the look from the other team is the same. Ronan's second round opponent Baker has a running back in Kodee Varner that is rumored to be able to break the sound barrier. Last spring he won the state championship in the 100-meter dash and last week he scored three touchdowns as Baker defeated Columbus 28-0.

"We've been really preparing for the run," Ronan running and defensive back Jack Humphreys said.

Senior Dalton Molzhon added that the team has been doing plenty of pursuit drills, meaning the Chiefs should be able to swarm to the ball.

"We hope [Varner] wont get free from us running," Ronan linebacker Robert Faoa said.

Ronan will be traveling to Varner's home turf, over 600 miles away near the North Dakota border. The game-time atmosphere should be electric as Baker has a legacy of football - four state championships in the 2000s. It's something that Chiefs' head coach Jim Benn knows all too well since he coached Huntley Project, which was at one time in the same district as Baker.

But again, Ronan has been here before. It has seemed for the entire season, the Chiefs have been matched up against highly touted Class B opponents and for the most part they've downed those opponents.

And the road trip? Well the players certainly aren't worried about it.

"I was happy and excited to get off the school time and play football," Faoa said during Wednesday's practice.

In fact, the only thing they're complaining about is that they don't get to play on the Ronan rug - one of only four artificial fields in the state.

"We don't get to play on this turf," Humphreys said. "When we played Florence this season (a 31-14 loss) the conditions were very muddy. It was hard to prepare for things like that."

While Baker is the No. 1 3B seed, both teams are very similar to one another. Ronan has rushed for over 3,000 yards this season behind an offense line that could probably scale the Alps.

"They never get the glory but they work very hard," Humphreys said.

With bad weather reports in the near future, running the ball might be the only method of picking up yards. When it gets to be November in the Big Sky state, images of the Green Bay Packers' icy tundra immediately comes to mind.

"Weather is the great equalizer," Benn said. "In Montana, you pretty much have to run the football because you need an all-weather offense."

Obviously, the Chiefs will be focused on stopping the Baker running attack. Anyone who has watched Ronan this season knows they can be stingy with giving up yards on the ground. So that, more than the weather, might be the ultimate equalizer.

"The big thing is having people do their jobs," Benn said. "Not to worry about what a single player is doing. It's 11-on-11. It's a team game, and we have a lot of good kids that can run the ball. They have to stop us too."

Benn added that at this point of the season, the tough part of preparing his team for the next game is keeping things fresh for a group of kids that have been playing football since August.

"The hard thing is battling the monotony of practice in November," he said.

However, if there's a group of kids that can stay focused, it's the Chiefs. On the bus ride back from their first-round playoff win over Big Timber, Benn said not a single player rode back with parents or friends. They all chose to ride on the bus together.

This Saturday they'll be facing a tough Baker team with a speedster at running back hundreds of miles from home. But they probably have the best advantage of all.

They'll be together.