I remember as a sophomore in Spokane, Wash., watching my older brother play high school football. Nearly every game, besides homecoming, was held at Joe Albi Stadium on the northwest part of the city. The stadium holds more than 25,000 people and always seemed too big for the games it hosted – a nice facility that was rarely filled to capacity. But everything appeared bigger back then, including my brother and the sports he played.
He was a gifted athlete, standing just 5-foot, 10-inches tall, but built like a brick house. He was fast, too, with a quick first step essential to a running back in the Greater Spokane League. His natural athleticism was almost matched by my smallish stature and lack of coordination. Once, the high school football coach called my parents’ house to ask why I hadn’t tried out for the football team, assuming I shared similar genetics with my brother. “Have you seen me?” I asked flatly. When he started to explain that cornerbacks and wide receivers were often skinny, I interrupted, “I’m slow, too.”
I gravitated to more individual sports and was relegated a fan for high school and college teams. But I was a loyal fan, and still am, often asking my parents how University High School, where I graduated, is faring each football and basketball season. I root for Gonzaga University simply because it’s in the city I grew up in, a city that has worked hard to shake its spotty reputation.
As an alumnus, I cheer for the University of Montana, but I’ve tended to change my high school alliances as I’ve moved across the state, unabashedly joining the bandwagon in every region I’ve lived in. And I’ve been lucky to root for some winners here, especially Columbia Falls.
It’s difficult to match the connection the town of Columbia Falls has with its high school sports teams. And once again, the boys’ basketball team brought home the state title after defeating Dillon 56-47 on March 8. It’s the Wildcats’ fifth championship since 2003, an astonishing run of dominance. The girls’ team heads to state in Great Falls this weekend, coached by Cary Finberg, who just led the boys to a title.
Similar to my time in high school, cheering for my brother, I’m the perennial fan, as are most of the staffers here. We watch these Flathead Valley teenagers grow into young adults and meet many of them, especially those we feature in the Best of Preps sections we publish three times a year.
Two years ago, my colleagues gathered around the radio at my home to listen to Glacier play Flathead in the Class AA state semifinal basketball game. For us, it was less about rooting for a team than for the kids we’ve spent so much time covering. Flathead upset Glacier 63-58, but fell in the championship.
This year, both Glacier boys and girls teams hop on a bus and travel to the state tournaments in Billings at Rimrock Auto Arena and MetraPark. And the Bigfork boys are traveling to Bozeman to vie for the Class B title at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University – the team hasn’t lost all year and also hasn’t won a title in the school’s history.
The venues are big and, for many of these student athletes, the stages are even bigger. There’s a lot to cheer for this weekend as dozens of young men and women on four local teams head to state tournaments. Many of you will be following their caravans across the state. Many of the rest of us will get game updates online and on the radio. And, whether we played high school sports or not, we’ll be cheering for all of them.