HELENA — The first domino in Montana’s football state championship picture fell Friday night as Helena Capital claimed the Class AA crown over Kalispell Glacier.
“They bought into what we do,” Capital head coach Kyle Mihelish said of his players just minutes after the confetti fell. “They bought into Capital High football and our mantra and our philosophy and ‘we, not me.’ And they truly were a very unselfish group. When you get unselfish groups together, this is what you can do.”
And that unselfishness was on full display in Vigilante Stadium as the Bruins led by as many as 21 points, ultimately defeating Glacier 34-21.
“I mean, we’re all friends,” said senior quarterback Merek Mihelish. “We all just love each other. We want to play harder for each other. We all love each other so much, and we just have a chemistry no one else has in this state.”
And for Capital’s father-son, coach-QB duo, the state championship trophy carries with it some extra weight.
“Oh fantastic — got a little teary eyed there,” Kyle Mihelish said on getting to share the championship moment with his son Merek. “But, no, it’s great. It’s something we can hold onto forever, the rest of our lives.”
Merek Mihelish described getting to win a state championship with his father as head coach as “probably one of the greatest feeling of my life."
“You know, we won one sophomore year,” he added. “Obviously, you know, (I) didn’t feel like it was earned enough, obviously, (I was) not playing. So, I knew my senior year I wanted to just go out and win one with him.”
