Soccer

Rebuilt Columbia Falls Boys Soccer Team Looks to Stay the Course In Quarterfinals Match Against Lone Peak

In the Lone Peak Big Horns, Columbia Falls head coach O'Brien Byrd sees a team with an offense revolving around counter attacks

By Mike Kordenbrock
Columbia Falls boys soccer practice at Columbia Falls High School on Oct. 14, 2025. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

Heading into the start of summer workouts for the 2025 season, Columbia Falls boys soccer head coach O’Brien Byrd had come to the reasonable conclusion that his team would be in a rebuilding year.

With nine starters from the 2024 season having graduated, and two returning starters moving over to new positions, the math seemed to point clearly in that direction.

But by the end of the team’s very first summer scrimmage, Byrd’s outlook had changed dramatically. There were still plenty of questions, but as Byrd put it, his overarching take away was, “We’re gonna be good … somehow?”

It’s a reaction that Byrd laughs about now in retrospect. The team has certainly been good this season, finishing with an 11-1 record. The only blemish on the otherwise spotless season came in week two at the hands of the Wildcats’ perennial rivals, the Whitefish Bulldogs.

The two teams met again last week in the conference championship, which the Wildcats won 2-1, making them the conference champions three out of the last four years.

Now, the Wildcats are readying themselves to host Lone Peak High School out of Big Sky this Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Montana Class A state playoffs for boys soccer.

Columbia Falls boys soccer practice at Columbia Falls High School on Oct. 14, 2025. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

In the 8-2-1 Lone Peak Big Horns, Byrd sees a team with an offense revolving around counter attacks. The implication, when facing any team with that style of play, is that mistakes will be punished. It’s not lost on Byrd, who said that his team will need to hold fast to the tactics that have gotten them to this point in the season.

As for the answer to that question Byrd posted to himself over the summer as to just how his team would succeed, the coach said that he’s thought about it a lot in the ensuing months, and thinks he’s reached a point of understanding.

“Since the beginning of the season, I’ve been trying to put my finger on it. I think I’ve got it narrowed down to this: I think it’s of course a blend of young, athletic, talented kids. We didn’t just get any random people off the street. They came in with experience, they came in with talent, athleticism, work rate, all that stuff,” Byrd said. “But they’re so inexperienced, that they are incredibly coachable. Incredibly coachable.”

That coachability has meant that Byrd’s players have been learning new concepts, but they’ve also embraced the opportunity to implement those ideas on the field. That attitude among the players has allowed O’Brien and his staff to focus less on managing personalities and emotions, and more on pure coaching.

“This was supposed to be a rebuild. But we’re reloading,” Byrd said.

Columbia Falls head boy’s coach O’Brien Byrd at soccer practice at Columbia Falls High School on Oct. 14, 2025. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

Everything works off the team’s backbone, which is made up of senior captains Jackson Scholz, Jack Harris, and Sol Masters, and senior goalkeeper Brady Heitz. Scholz, Harris and Masters play center mid, center forward and center defensive back, meaning the team’s leadership is physically concentrated towards the middle portion of the field.

“We have built this team around those four young men. So those four young men, they’re counting on everyone to do their jobs,” Byrd said.

Players sticking to their roles has been a point of emphasis, according to the head coach, who said he and his staff tell players regularly to stick to their own jobs on the team. The effect is a fine-tuned system that has brought the Wildcats this far, and could take them even further.

“We have to maintain our composure and stick to our game plan, our game model, and trust that it’s gonna work,” Byrd said.

The Columbia Falls boys soccer team will play Lone Peak High school in the Class A quarterfinals this Saturday at Flip Darling Memorial Field in Columbia Falls at 1:15 p.m.

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