Columbia Falls High School’s boys soccer team has forfeited its season after a school investigation found that a majority of the Wildcats’ players violated the district’s drug and alcohol policy on a road trip.
Mark Beckman, executive director of the Montana High School Association, said it’s the first time he’s aware of in his 14 years that a team in Montana has forfeited an entire season because of a drug and alcohol violation.
“Not in the time I’ve been here that I can remember,” Beckman said, adding: “There have been situations where kids have had to forfeit because of lack of numbers, injuries or ineligibilities or something where they couldn’t finish the season.”
The incident occurred on a team road trip in early September and led to a majority of Columbia Falls’ players getting 30-school-day suspensions from athletics. This left the Wildcats without enough players for a team.
John Thompson, activities director for the high school, declined to go into details about the incident, but said the punishment followed school policy, which is the same for all sports. Peter Browne, head coach for the team, directed questions to the administration.
“It’s a very, very unfortunate situation,” Thompson said. “That’s really what it comes down to.”
But Thompson struck a hopeful note for the remaining seven players who are not serving suspensions. He said the school is trying to find sub-varsity opportunities for the kids, though their varsity season is over. Thompson said the state allows for seven-on-seven soccer.
Beckman said each school district decides its own drug and alcohol policy. School boards across the state have enacted widely varying policies. Beckman knows of suspensions that range from 30 days to the rest of the sports season. Some policies have different suspension lengths if athletes report themselves, some are regulated to the season in which the offense occurs and others are cumulative.
“There’s a wide variety,” Beckman said.
Columbia Falls has a strong soccer tradition. Along with neighboring Whitefish, it was one of the first two Class A schools to add soccer as a sanctioned sport in 1992. After competing in a single division against Class AA schools, Class A gathered enough teams to have its own league in 2001. Columbia Falls won the first boys championship that year and Whitefish won the girls title.
Columbia Falls went on to win two out of the next four Class A boys titles, giving the Wildcats three altogether, tied with Whitefish for most in the league. Their last title came in 2005, when they defeated Billings Central 2-1 in overtime. The girls won their sole title in 2004, blowing past Laurel 6-1.
The girls’ season will continue as scheduled. Head girls coach Greg Trennery recently won his 100th career victory when his team defeated Libby 7-0 on Sept. 11. The girls are **3-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.** The boys were winless before forfeiting their season.