Football Roundup: Columbia Falls to Host Playoff Game, Bigfork on the Road
Glacier defeats Flathead in 10th annual crosstown showdown; Hamilton defeats Whitefish
By Dillon Tabish
Columbia Falls 61, Frenchtown 0
The Wildcats finished the regular season with familiar fireworks and regained their momentum rolling into the Class A playoffs.
Columbia Falls piled up 475 yards of offense, including 192 rushing. Seth Gossett rushed 12 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Dakota Bridwell was 14 of 16 for 283 yards and three touchdowns. He connected with Trevor Hoerner, Steven DeCamp and Sean Miller on scoring drives. Miller finished with 118 yards, and Hoerner had 40. Austin Green returned an interception 37 yards for a score, and Colton McPhee and KJ Arends each added rushing TDs.
Columbia Falls (7-1) has the No. 2 seed from Northwestern A in the Class A state playoffs and will host Corvallis (4-5) on Friday, Oct. 28 in the opening round. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The winner will travel to Sidney (8-1) the following week.
Polson (7-1) clinched the Northwestern A title and a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The Pirates will host the winner of Billings Central (6-2) and Miles City (4-5) the following week.
In other action, Hamilton (6-3) is hosting Butte Central (4-5) this week, and Lewistown (6-2) is hosting Laurel (5-3).
»»» Click here to view a bracket of the Class A playoffs.
Bigfork Travels to Fairfield in Class B Playoffs
The Vikings are on a championship quest in the Class B playoffs, which begins this week with 16 teams remaining.
Bigfork (7-1) travels 200 miles to Fairfield to play the defending state champs in a first-round game on Saturday. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Eureka, the Western 7B champs at 7-1, hosts Malta (5-3) at 1 p.m., Saturday. Ronan (5-4) travels to Columbus (5-3). Missoula Loyola (8-0) hosts Baker (6-2). Glasgow (6-2) hosts Colstrip (8-1). Manhattan (6-1) hosts Roundup (4-4). Huntley Project (8-0) hosts Shelby (6-2). Cut Bank (6-2) hosts Whitehall (8-1).
»»» Click here to view a bracket of the Class B playoffs.
Glacier 43, Flathead 7
Tadan Gilman scored three touchdowns in the third quarter and the Wolfpack defense limited the Braves to 155 yards of offense in the 10th annual crosstown football game last Friday.
Gilman finished with 144 yards passing and 83 yards rushing. Drew Turner had 70 yards rushing and two TDs and Patrick O’Connell had 82 yards receiving and a touchdown. The Glacier defense recovered three fumbles.
Flathead’s Trae Vasquez caught a 14-yard pass from Bridger Johnson and scored for the Braves in the third quarter. Johnson passed for 133 yards. Ryan Skramovsky had 43 yards rushing and 41 yards receiving. James Flannigan had 52 yards receiving.
Flathead (3-6), which has been eliminated from playoff contention, wraps up the regular season on the road against Missoula Sentinel (5-4) on Friday night. Glacier (8-1), which is tied for second place in the Class AA standings, hosts Missoula Big Sky (5-4). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Hamilton 33, Whitefish 20
The Broncs jumped ahead 20-0 in the first quarter and fended off the Bulldogs in the regular-season finale.
Tyler Cote and Derek Kastella each scored touchdowns for Whitefish. A defensive player that was not named in the final statistics also returned an interception for a TD.
Whitefish’s season ended at 3-6 overall.