The Spartans, who are 1-2, host the Class AA game, which starts at 7 p.m. inside Missoula County Stadium. The game is on KGRZ 1450 AM radio.
“It looks like we'll be East-siders this week,” joked Big Sky coach Gary Ekegren, who has his club at 2-1.
The winner of this meeting, the 29th in the schools' history, could gain the inside track on this year's postseason.
Missoula's third Class AA program, Hellgate, travels over the divide to play Billings West in the first tilt of a double dip Friday at Daylis Stadium.
Big Sky at Sentinel, 7 p.m.
The Eagles have dominated this series recently, including wins in the last six outings.
That's something the Spartans wish to change.
“Yeah, we've talked about that,” said Sentinel coach Pete Joseph. “It's crossstown. It is a rivalry, but in order for it to be a legitimate rivalry, we've got to win some games and be competitive, because we want to make this a competitive thing.”
Joseph, who played for Ekegren in his first year at Big Sky, believes he knows what to expect.
“Every team that Gary puts on the field plays hard,” Joseph said, “and from what I watched on film they play together, they enjoy being out there together and that's something that is hard to beat. We'll have to match that intensity and energy.”
“Everybody gets prepared for the intracity games,” Ekegren said. “The kids on both sides are excited about this deal. The motivation is easier. The challenge for us is how to slow down their offensive juggernaut.”
The Spartans, who are fourth in the league in scoring and sixth in total offense, are coming off a 17-6 defeat at CMR, which was scoreless after halftime.
“That was one of our best defensive games in four years here,” Joseph said. “They had one long drive - the opening drive - but that's it.
“We went off on Butte,” added Joseph, referring to his team's 55-21 win the previous week, “and then we go up to Great Falls and lay an egg.
“Everyone can do a better job.”
Sentinel hopes to regain its big-play potential against Big Sky, which ranks sixth in the league in points allowed.
“Big Sky's a good football team,” Joseph said. “They won't be out of position for any 60-yard runs. We have to earn what we get.”
The Eagles are fresh off a 20-17 victory over Flathead last Saturday, when the normally pass-happy Braves surprised Big Sky with a tough ground game.
“We need to cinch up our belt and play better against the run than we did last week,” Ekegren said.
Flathead QB Brock Osweiler rushed for two TDs and nearly pulled off a come-from-behind win, before an interception did the Braves in.
“We kind of made a decision that we'd let him run rather than pass, because he's such a good passer,” Ekegren said. “But as the game went on I started to question my own judgement.”
Seniors Jordan Tripp and Trevor Kamura had nice games running the ball for the Eagles, who were hit by the injury bug again when senior end Evan Klaudt went down for the season.
“We're still a long ways from being where we want to be, which is a good football team,” Ekegren said. “Now we have a game with Sentinel, which is nice, but the big picture ... we need to improve is what I'm trying to say. That's our No. 1 focus, we have to play better than we have.”
Hellgate at West, 4 p.m.
The Knights face a West team that ranks third in total offense at 364 yards per game and presents a “step up - a big one,” in competition, Hellgate coach Jeff Dohn said.
“They've got a lot of speed and a lot of athletic kids there,” he said. “It's pretty impressive when you watch them on film. This will be the best team we have played so far. It will be a big challenge, and we hope to survive.”
The Bears (3-0) use two quarterbacks, Jase Muri and Brian Schwarzkoph, who both line up at receiver when they're not under center. So far it's worked well.
On the other hand, the Knights (0-3) are still trying to find out what works well. They scored their first points of the season in last week's 27-20 loss to Glacier.
“We have been playing conservatively and trying not to beat ourselves,” Dohn said. “If those things can happen, we can play with anybody. We have to be solid with our preparation and not take risks.”
Hellgate's passing attack had a breakthrough game last week, including a couple nice hook-ups between junior QB Sam Hall and junior receiver Brenden Gragg.
Hopefully the heat, which has been prevalent at practice all week, won't ground the Knights in the early game Friday.
“We are just trying to prepare to play,” Dohn said. “Last week was an emotional loss. Those things are tough to come back from, for both the coaches and players.”
The Knights begin a tough stretch of their schedule that includes CMR and Helena High after this week.
“We have to do battle for a couple weeks before we have a crosstown game. It's important that we play well and hopefully put our best foot forward,” said Dohn, whose team meets Big Sky on Oct. 10. “We're not a bad football team. We just don't have any wins.”
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