Warriors hope to keep pace in conference race with win over Seeley

The Arlee High School Warriors’ football team hopes to bounce back after a critical 36-16 conference loss to Charlo last Friday night.

The Warriors played the perennial Class C 8-man powerhouses closely, only trailing Charlo 22-16 at the end of the first half and struggled to generate any points against the Vikings in the second half.

“We just didn’t execute in the second half and (our team) had a pretty good plan and the effort (from our kids) I thought was really good,” Warriors’ coach Chuck Forgey said. “We were able to keep (Charlo’s) varsity team on the field for the whole game and we just didn’t execute when it came down to finishing the game.”

Arlee isn’t worried about what happened last week, they are focused on this week when they get ready to host Seeley Lake Friday night at 7 p.m. at Arlee High School.

The Warriors hope to have a stronger second half, according to Forgey.

“(In last week’s game against Charlo) they made a slight adjustment and took away a couple of things that we were smoking them on in the first half,” Forgey said. “We just didn’t take advantage (of Charlo’s mistakes) and they did a good job finishing the game and we didn’t.”

Either Flint Creek or Charlo will own sole possession of first place depending on who wins Friday night’s game, which gives Arlee an opportunity to be right in the mix of the conference race if they defeat Seeley Lake.

This week Forgey and his coaching staff focused on the little things that will make their team better headed into their game with Seeley.

“We were in film yesterday and there were a lot of errors and just simple things that we had to go over,” Forgey said. “They weren’t necessarily big things, but in the cumulative total (of the course of a game) it adds up and simply (our team) just didn’t finish (well) against Charlo.”

Forgey realizes getting a conference victory over Seeley is “crucial.”

“Anything can happen (in our conference),” Forgey said. “Plains is playing very hard and we didn’t finish well against Charlo and coming up we have Flint Creek and Clark Fork. There are some good teams and you have to work to (compete) in the conference. “Like I said (before week one) every week is going to be a dogfight and you have to go out and execute and if you don’t you are going to lose and it doesn’t matter who it is (that you are playing.”

Forgey anticipates Seeley will utilize their speed to have a strong perimeter attack.

“Their quarterback is a really good athlete and there he is also their linebacker on defense and he is a good kid that stood out against Plains and that was one of the brighter spots in the game,” Forgey said. “Because of their speed on the edges, you have to be fundamentally sound and contain our backs on the backside and prevent them from having a quick strike.”

Forgey hopes to stand in the mix with Flint Creek and Charlo, who have quickly established themselves as the upper brass in the conference, by getting a victory against Seeley.

“I would like to think that we are one of the better teams in the conference,” Forgey said. “However, we have to prove it a game in and game out.”