Flathead Valley Montana Sidelines: Kalispell, Montana News

Both the Whitefish boys and girls soccer teams advanced to the semifinal round of the Class A state soccer tournament with victories over the weekend. Led by Meredith Reed's three goals, the Whitefish girls cruised to a 4-0 victory over Frenchtown on Saturday. They advance to play defending champion Billings Central in Billings on Oct. 24. Central beat Stevensville 5-0 in the first round. Whitefish, a No. 2 seed, is seeking its third state championship.

The Whitefish boys came back from a 1-0 deficit on Saturday to defeat Livingston 2-1. The Bulldogs, who are the top seed from the northern division, will play Corvallis on Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. at the Smith Fields in Whitefish. Corvallis beat Belgrade 2-1 in overtime in the first round. Whitefish is seeking its fourth Class A championship.

Here are the semifinal matchups, with all games played on Oct. 24:

Girls:
Whitefish @ Billings Central
Hamilton @ Libby

Boys:
Corvallis @ Whitefish
Libby @ Billings Central

The first round of the Class A state soccer tournament starts on Saturday Oct. 17. For boys, Whitefish is the top seed from the northern division and will host Livingston at noon on Saturday. Libby, the second seed from the north, hosts Hamilton at 2 p.m.

For girls, northern No. 1 Libby hosts Livingston at noon on Saturday. No. 2 Whitefish hosts Frenchtown. I will update results as they're made available.

It is a single-elimination format in both the girls and boys brackets. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday Oct. 24 and the championship will be held the following weekend after that. Click here for girls bracket and here for the boys bracket.

For the second straight year, Glacier's boys golf team came in second to Billings West at the Class AA state golf tournament. But this time, West won in convincing fashion. A year after narrowly defeating Glacier by three strokes, the Bears cruised to a 45-stroke victory. The top four golfers at the tournament were all from West. Glacier's Justin Newton finished fifth. Flathead came in 12th.

It was Billings West's fourth straight state championship – in 2007 the Bears tied for first with Glacier. And it was one of the more dominating performances we're likely to see for a long time in Montana high school golf. On the girls side, Bozeman took the title. Glacier came in fourth, the best finish in school history. Flathead came in 12th.

Click "read more" for full results.

For the second straight year and the fifth time in the last six years, Whitefish is the boys Class A state golf champion. Playing in freezing temperatures on their home course in Whitefish, the Bulldogs shot a 473 in the shortened 27-hole tournament. The next closest team was Hamilton, 40 strokes back at 513.

The Bulldogs were led by sophomore phenom, Reed Platke, who won the individual title by shooting a 76 through the first 18 and a 37 on the final nine for a 113 total. Teammate Joe Blakemore, a senior, finished second at 117. The girls finished fifth, shooting a 619, which was 83 strokes behind first-place Billings Central at 536. The AA tournament is ongoing and is expected to wrap up today. Billings West currently leads for the boys by a wide margin and Bozeman leads for the girls. I will update those results.

Click "read more" for the full Class A results.

Here are your weekly football standings. Following a 34-7 victory over Great Falls, Glacier High School is sitting in the top half of the Class AA playoff race. Glacier, 5-2, is in a four-way tie for third place. The top eight teams out of 14 make the Class AA state playoff tournament. Next up, the Wolfpack face undefeated and top-ranked Helena Capital on the road on Oct. 16. Then their last two games are against Missoula Big Sky on the road and Missoula Hellgate at home. Flathead, at 1-6, is out of the playoff picture.

Polson, ranked No. 5 in the statewide Class A standings, moved to 5-1 after beating conference rival Columbia Falls 43-20 over the weekend. The Pirates are the top team in Northwestern A. Undefeated Billings Central (7-0) is the No. 1 team overall in Class A.The top three teams from each conference in Class A make it to the state tournament. In Class B, Bigfork, with a 2-1 league record, is ranked third in District 7B. The top two teams from 7B make it.

Click "read more" for a league breakdown of Class A, Class AA and District 7B.

The Class A state golf tournament starts today after being delayed last week due to weather. The Class AA tournament is scheduled to begin tomorrow. It will be frigid golf, for sure, which could make picking winners that much more difficult in an already unpredictable sport. But the odds are decent that at least one team, and maybe three or four teams, from Kalispell or Whitefish will take home first-place trophies at the two tourneys.

In the Class A tournament, both the Whitefish boys and girls are considered favorites to win following dominating first-place finishes at the Northwestern A divisional. The boys won the tournament last year by 30 strokes over Billings Central for their fourth title in the last five years. The girls finished second. Since 1985, under the coaching of Terry Nelson, Whitefish's boys and girls have combined for 23 state championships. The tourney is held on Whitefish Lake Golf Club's South Course, the home course of the Bulldogs.

In Class AA, the Glacier boys are seeking their second state title in three years and the girls are seeking their first. Several teams appear to have legitimate state championship aspirations on the girls side, but for boys the frontrunner is clearly Billings West. West is the three-time defending champion (tied with Glacier in 2007) and has had an utterly dominating, record-breaking season. And the tournament is held in Billings. But Glacier, led by Grahm Schmaltz, is nipping at West's heels. Schmaltz is trying to become Glacier's third straight individual champion. Larry Iverson III, who now golfs at the University of Washington, won the past two seasons.

Both tournaments are two rounds. The Class A tourney is Monday and Tuesday, while Class AA is Tuesday and Wednesday, weather permitting. I will update the results.

As part of a $1.8 million improvements project, Ronan now has one of three – four counting the University of Montana's Washington-Grizzly Stadium – football fields with artificial turf in the state, according to a story in the Missoulian. The other two are in Billings and Laurel.

While the price tag jumps out, it's actually a reflection of a roadway and parking lot paving project by the school district. The field itself used dirt from the paving project and only cost an additional $600,000 of funds already accumulated by the district. It's quite a groundbreaking, if not surprising, endeavor for the smallest public high school in Class A with a tradition not really known for football.

Here's a quote from Jim Benn, the athletic director and football coach, who says he's "ecstatic":

"You always have the best surface to practice on and it's great to practice on. It should minimize injuries. You have lines that you don't have to paint anymore. That's two hours a week that I have back in my life. It's phenomenal. And if you have a fast team, they're faster."

Helena Capital is the No. 1 team in Class AA football yet again and C.M. Russell is close behind in second. This much we know. As for the rest of the Class AA playoff picture, it couldn't be any less clear. Seven teams are tied for third place with 4-2 records. The drop-off after that is considerable – the remaining five teams have 1-5 or 0-6 records.

Right in the middle of the crowded playoff race is Glacier High School. Coming off a 24-17 win over Missoula Sentinel on Oct. 2, the Wolfpack face off against 0-6 Great Falls High this weekend at home. To earn a playoff spot, Glacier must finish in the top eight out of 14 teams in Class AA. Undefeated Helena Capital, the three-time defending state champion, and 5-1 C.M. Russell control their own destinies, but that still leaves seven teams to duke it out for six spots.

After Great Falls, Glacier finishes its season off against Helena Capital (6-0) on the road, Missoula Big Sky (4-2) on the road and Missoula Hellgate (1-5) at home. While the Wolfpack proved they can clamp down on defense with their 24-17 victory over Sentinel, one statistic can't be ignored: they are 3-0 when they've scored 41 points and are 1-2 in all other games. They beat Billings Senior 41-21, Bozeman 41-35 in overtime, and Flathead 41-7. Their losses were 35-24 to CMR and 21-13 to Helena High.

Class AA Football Standings Through Six Games:

Helena Capital – 6-0
C.M. Russell – 5-1
Bozeman – 4-2
Missoula Sentinel – 4-2
Glacier – 4-2
Billings Skyview – 4-2
Billings West – 4-2
Helena High – 4-2
Missoula Big Sky – 4-2
Billings Senior – 1-5
Missoula Hellgate – 1-5
Flathead – 1-5
Butte – 0-6
Great Falls – 0-6