Football showed growth, power

Though they didn't receive quite the hype as last year's team, the 2009 Glasgow football team finished with a better result, making it to the state semifinals for the first time in 10 years before losing to Huntley Project.

The Scotties had an uphill battle to start the season. Despite returning a boatload of talent, every player was tasked with adjusting to a new system and a new head coach in Dan Dale.

The team adjusted quickly and the results showed early on.
Playing at home against Glendive in the opener, the Scotties showed what they could be capable of throughout the season by pummeling the Red Devils 40-24. On offense it was clear that the Scotty running attack would be potent as the combination of backs Zach Remus, Kirk Capdeville and Aaron Hartsock looked strong in limited carries against the Class A school.

As the season progressed the Scotties only hit one real stumble, their 23-6 loss at Baker, and continued to strengthen as the season progressed.

The Scotties only dropped one more game for the rest of the season and bounded into the playoffs with home field advantage throughout . The loss, a 36-35 overtime heartbreaker to Plentywood on the final game of the regular season, didn't hurt the Scotties options in the postseason, but served as a wake-upcall for the games that followed.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Scotties steamrolled Choteau for the second time this season, beating them 41-8 despite earning most of their points in the first half.

The second round was a little tougher, and showed how much the Scotties improved this season. Close throughout, the team never relinquished the lead and kept the pressure on visiting Florence-Carlton to make a winning play. The defense held the Falcons scoreless in the second half and sent the Scotties deeper into the playoffs than they had been for a decade.

Unfortunately the Scotties ran up against an extremely talented team that was defending its state title, beating Glasgow on their home turf.
The Scotties ended the season 8-3, going 5-1 against teams ranked in the top 10 and 6-1 overall at home.

Departing the team is a herd of talent, including All-State selections Remus, Hartsock, receiver Drew Croy and lineman Parker Miller. The senior quartet were all integral parts on offense and defense.

Three other seniors were named first team all-conference: Capdeville, quarterback/kicker Dylan Hughes and defensive lineman Tyrel Shumway. Seniors Tristan Schmitt and Patrick Billingsley were named to the second team.

The only other Scotty that was named all-conference was sophomore Chaz Gordon, who was named first-team defense.

Gordon will lead a group of talented returners for the Scotties. Along with Gordon the Scotties will get key returning minutes from back/linebacker Tucker Holstein, and linemen Kori Meiers and Brandon Hansard. There will be holes at many key positions, but there is depth and plenty of talent to fill those roles.

“We're losing a lot but we've got some core kids coming back,” Dale said. “We're going to be ready to go, and my expectations are going to be just as high.”

While there is still a lot of questions about next season, there is a lot of time to find answers.

“Hopefully they'll realize what they're capable of and they'll have a strong desire to want to do that,” Dale said. “I'm already anticipating a good year next year and what we do is going to depend on how hard the kids want to work.”