Over the weekend, Columbia Falls defeated Corvallis 27-26, giving the Wildcats a long-sought state tournament victory. In a wild game that saw Columbia Falls blow a 20-0 victory, Corvallis, trailing 27-26 with 1:21 left in the game, opted to go for the win instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game. On the two-point conversion, the Blue Devils came up inches short.
Next up for the Wildcats on Saturday is undefeated and No. 1-ranked Billings Central. Central is the defending state champion.
In other Class A action, Whitefish lost to a tough Dillon team, 48-28. Dillon has won two out of the past three state championships. The only other Northwest A team remaining is Polson, the conference’s No. 1 seed. Polson faces Miles City on Saturday.
The remaining Class A state tournament bracket looks like this. All games begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8:
Northwestern No. 2 Columbia Falls @ Eastern No. 1 Billings Central
Southwestern No. 2 Dillon @ Central No. 1 Havre
Eastern No. 2 Miles City @ Northwestern No. 1 Polson
Eastern No. 3 Hardin @ Southwestern No. 1 Frenchtown
The Class AA tournament begins this weekend. Flathead, coming off a loss to Helena Capital, enters the tourney as the No. 7 seed out of eight teams. The Braves, 6-4, will travel to No. 2 Billings West on Friday. Glacier High School, in its second year, finished 2-8 and fell short of the playoffs.
The AA bracket looks like this, with all first-round games on Friday, Nov. 7, and Saturday, Nov. 8:
No. 8 Billings Skyview @ No. 1 Helena Capital (Friday at 7 p.m.)
No. 7 Flathead @ No. 2 Billings West (Friday at 7:30 p.m.)
No. 6 Missoula Big Sky @ C.M. Russell (Friday at 7:30 p.m.)
No. 5 Great Falls at No. 4 Helena (Saturday at 7 p.m.)