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Helena Capital's Tyler Kovick blocks Helena High's Timothy Tamol during last season's crosstown game at Vigilante Stadium. 

Helena Capital's Tyler Kovick blocks Helena High's Timothy Tamol during last season's crosstown game at Vigilante Stadium. 

Are you ready for some football, Helena? 

Believe it or not, the high school football season is just one week away and on Friday night, both the Bruins and Bengals will be back at Vigilante Stadium for the first time since November.

Both teams began practicing last week, with a variation of two-a-days, but now, fall camp is basically in the books as the season starts for Helena High and Capital on Aug 26.

"We've had a good summer," Capital head coach Kyle Mihelish said. "We went to the Montana State camp and had our own camp in July and we've had great attendance. 90 percent of our kids have been at our 6 a.m. workouts. This is a great group of kids that has always been really tight. We went bowling this morning. We'll come back and practice (Friday morning) then get ready for the scrimmage and then it's game week."

The Bruins will open the season on the road in Bozeman, but Capital fans can catch a glimpse of their team Friday night at Vigilante Stadium. The CHS scrimmage will begin at 6:15 p.m. and will follow Helena High, which will get things started at 4 p.m. as Bengals fans will get to see new head coach Dane Broadhead leading the team for the first time.

"It will be good," Broadhead said. "The scrimmage always makes me nervous. You don't want to see guys go down or anything but you have to do it. It's a dress rehearsal thing and I'm excited. I'm excited to see what these guys can do on the field next Friday (Aug. 26)."

The Bengals will open the season against Great Falls High and for the first time since the 2018, they will go into a season without Kaden Huot as the starting quarterback.

Huot started for three seasons and set numerous Helena High passing records in the process. But he's now graduated and playing for the Montana Grizzlies. Stepping into his former spot will be junior Carter Kraft.

"Carter is solidified, he's our guy," Broadhead said. "He's our Week 1 starter if you will. We got a couple of kids behind him battling it out to be his backup. But we are very confident in him. He's had a great camp so far and he's really grown up physically. He's put on 15-20 pounds this offseason."

The Bengals also lost talents such as Marcus Evans, Forrest Suero and Chase McGurran among a slew of others now playing college football, but their roster still includes Cade Holland, Colter Petre, Carson Anderson, Joey Seliskar and an offensive line led by Dylan Christman, Charles Fox, Shannen OBrien and  a number of others who will be on display Friday night. 

"We have a few positions we are still looking at," Broadhead said. "But there's some veterans we feel really good about that won't play a lot. It's mostly a chance for some younger guys and guys still trying to earn a spot."

Mihelish and the Bruins have a similar plan for Friday night and like last year, Capital will play two quarterbacks, at least to start the season -- Hudson Grovom and Joey Michelotti.

"We're going to have things for both of them to do," Mihelish said. "Both present good things and we want to do what's good for both of those kids. We don't have controversy. They have both had a good offseason and have worked hard."

Whichever quarterbacks leads the Capital offense will have some talent to work with. Tight end/wide receiver Hayden Opitz just verbally committed to the Griz, as did offensive tackle (6-foot-6, 240) Austin Buehler. Talon Marsh, who set the single-season CHS record for sacks and TFL last season, is committed to Montana State and plays offensive line at times too. 

Additionally, Tom Carter, the Class AA 200-meter dash state champion, joins Nick Michelotti to form a talented wide receiver duo. The running game will also be spearheaded by a few different runners, one of which will be senior Dylan Graham who has missed most of the last two seasons with injuries. 

"He's been cleared and he'll be in the mix," Mihelish said of Graham. "We've been a little cautious with him, we just want to make sure he has a good season but he brings a different burst."

After some live scrimmaging this week, which included having refs at practice, Capital feels good about its depth chart. But then again, you never know what'll happen when the lights come on.

"We feel good about who we're going to roll with," Mihelish said. "But next Friday (against Bozeman) will really tell us a lot."

First comes the final dress rehearsal. 

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