Success under the skin: Missoula Big Sky, looking to renew winning ways of past, blasts Belgrade (2024)

MISSOULA— Avery Omlid never lost a football game as quarterback of the freshman football team at Missoula Big Sky.

That's worth noting, even if it didn't carry over to his sophom*ore season last year when he received a baptism under fire in eight starts on the varsity level. There were bumps, bruises and a 3-7 finish for the Eagles, but Omlid and his now-junior buddies never forgot what it was like to win regularly.

Truth is, Big Sky freshman football has enjoyed a lot of success in recent years. Now, with a little bit of good fortune staying healthy, the Eagles may just revive those winning ways on the varsity level.

They're certainly off to a good start. Omlid and the offense was efficient and the starting defense never surrendered a point in a 40-7 win over Belgrade Friday at Missoula County Stadium.

"Junior class and sophom*ore class both went undefeated as freshmen, and now that we're all bringing that to the varsity table, I'm really excited to see what happens," Omlid told 406 MT Sports.

"The offense looked really good tonight. I mean, (wideout) Mason Fulford, he looked really good. (Running back) Keller Hiedrick, he looked really good. All of our studs, we all looked good. I'm really happy with the win but we still have to get back to work to get ready for next week."

Big Sky veteran coach Matt Johnson has a reputation for bringing out the best in Eagle teams that have lacked depth in recent years. Whether or not Big Sky is truly a program on the rise this season remains to be seen, but there are positives worth noting.

"Program wise as a whole, we were in a tough spot and we've slowly worked our way back into this and I like where we're at," Johnson said. "About five years ago, we had 56 kids total in our program, and we have 102 now.

"There's a mentality we have to work really hard to keep our kids and build it. And they're hungry and they're locking into what we want to do. Some people have to see it before they believe it, and in some ways that (freshman success) was a lead into this."

Big Sky gave Belgrade's defense fits throughout the first two quarters in building a 33-0 halftime lead. Omlid threw a pair of TD passes and at the break he was 10 for 16 for 141 yards.

Not to be outdone, the Eagles' ground game inflicted serious damage, piling up 149 yards on 21 totes. Hiedrick, a 6-foot junior, was especially good with 77 yards on nine carries and a touchdown.

"I thought they offense did a good job in every scenario. They executed what we were working on," Johnson said. "We were getting chunk plays in our run game. That's something we talked about all week.

"They did a good job fighting for that and we were in rhythm and the summer reps are paying off. There's things we've got to clean up and get better at, but I think that's everybody after the first game."

Johnson removed a lot of his starters, including Omlid, after Big Sky's lead ballooned to 40-0 early in the third quarter. Belgrade scored its only points on a 3-yard touchdown run by Jacob Morales with 7:11 left.

Next up for the Eagles will be a tougher test at Great Falls CMR this coming Friday.

"Our kids have a little chip on their shoulder," Johnson offered. "They saw some people ranked them at No. 9 (in a field of 16 Class AA teams) and they feel like they are better than that."