Disclaimer: At the time of writing this publication, the team is in the middle of the playoff portion of their season
The high school football season is nearing the end, but for Sentinel’s football team these last few weeks are the most important. Sentinel was ranked fifth in the state at the end of the regular season with a record of 6-2. The team’s only two losses came from Glacier with a final score of 48-14 and Big Sky the final score of 12-10.
Regular season
Offensive
The team’s offensive has grown exponentially since last season where they had a win percentage of .455 with a final record of 5-6 and only won one of their three home games. This year they have a win percentage of .778, a record of 7-2, and have won all but one of their five home games.
The team is also packed with upperclassmen such as senior quarterback Rudy Hess and junior running back Kaden Thennis.
The game this season that really highlighted the teams offensive power was their second game of the season against the Helena Bengals. The game went into a double overtime with Sentinel coming out victorious with a final score of 31-24
Hess led the offensive well against the Bengals with 13 of his 16 pass attempts completed, threw 98 passing yards, and had zero interceptions. He also led the team in scoring with three touchdowns. Last year Hess only got to play two games because of an early season ending injury, but in his sophomore year game against the Bengals he completed five of his seven pass attempts and had one interception.
Thennis also had an impressive game. He rushed 69 yards, averaged 5.3 yards a snap, and his longest rush was 36 yards. This is Thennis third best game of the season so far with his best being against Hellgate where he rushed a 127 yards with his longest rush being 43 yards. Last year Thennis only played three games on varsity where he rushed an average of 7.2 yards. It can be safe to say that he will be vital to the team’s offensive next season if he shows growth like he did from his sophomore to junior season.
The team’s offensive growth has not gone unnoticed by coaches, particularly head coach and offensive coordinator Dane Oliver. During an interview done with Coach Oliver, he mentioned how well the team is “[developing] an identity” and how well the offense has been running their “sequence play” and how that contributed to “getting a double overtime victory”.
Defensive
On the defensive side of the game, the team has been more than reliable in stopping their opponents’ yardage. This season so far they have 282 tackles, 12 sacks, and six interceptions.
The game that really showed off the skills of the defensive was their first away game of the season against Butte where they walked away with a 10-7 win. Sentinel’s top defensive men for the Butte game were senior Kade Wallace and junior Stellan Stark-Ridley.
Wallace played five games last year where he had a total of seven tackles, five of which were solo and two being assisted. This year he has played all eight games and so far has 38 tackles with 34 of them being solo and four of them being assisted. In the Butte game Wallace had the most tackles on the team with ten in total and six of them being solo with four of them being assisted.
Stark-Ridley had the second most tackles with nine in total, three solo and the other six assisted. There are no last year stats for Stark-Ridley but with the six games he has played this year he has 19 tackles with 12 of them being solo and seven of them being assisted.
Coach Oliver has been more than impressed with the defense this season with him loving that the players are “buy[ing] into the passion” and that the team has been able to get “two or three shuts where [opponents] didn’t score at all”
Playoffs
Sentinel played their first playoff game against Billings Senior on Halloween night. Because Sentinel was the third seed in the AA Western bracket they got home field advantage. Senior went into the playoffs with a record of 2-7 and was the 6th seed in the AA Eastern bracket.
Senior almost had the same number of plays as Sentinel and had six more first downs, but they could only get seven points on the board. Sentinel on the other hand carried their momentum from their senior night win into this game and put up 40 points, with Hess once again leading the offensive with having all but one of his nine pass attempts completed.
Sentinel’s playoff game was on November 7th against Gallatin at a natural location. Gallatin had a record of 8-1 before the game and is the second seed in AA Eastern. Sentinel lost with the final score being 16-34.
Sentinel went above expectations at the start of the season and stepped up the level of play since last season. Despite the team losing 21 seniors, there is no doubt that juniors like Kaden Thennis and Stellan Stark-Ridley will step up and lead the team to another motivational season.
