The Fairview football team will be road warriors once again.
Derek Gackle's squad is prepping for a road trip to Belt for the 8-Man title, Fairview's second road game of the postseason.
"It's kind of a quirky group. They like to hang out and have fun. They can surprisingly flip the switch and focus up, which is good," Gackle said. "They know it's a business trip. Last year this same group went out to Joliet, went to St. Ignatius. For them it's business as usual, get on the bus and let's go. It's time to go to work."
There aren't many stones left unturned between Belt and Fairview. This will mark the third meeting in the past two years, including a thrilling 21-20 Fairview win on opening weekend at a neutral site in Winifred.
"Watching film they are a heck of a lot better now than they were in Week 1. We watched Week 1 with our guys and we weren't very good either. We had linemen running into each other and it was like, 'What are we doing?'" Gackle said. "Knowing where we are and seeing film on them lately and going back to Week 1, both teams have made huge strides throughout the year; 21-20 going down to the last play is a good football game, but it wasn't good football."
The Warriors set out early Friday for the near 400-mile trip to Belt, and Gackle expects a large Fairview contingent on hand, even with folks having to choose between Cat-Griz and the high school championships.
"It's frustrating when it comes to (the Montana High School Asscoation) that they can't figure out how to get state championship games away from the Cat-Griz game," Gackle said. "It's a little frustrating because it's a pretty big Cat-Griz game this week, too. It makes it tough for fanbases. It is what it is and we'll go play. The fans have to decide."
Belt and Fairview are slated for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.
