Montana Class A Soccer Semifinals to Feature Multitude of Flathead Valley Teams

As the state Class A soccer tournament continues this weekend with the semifinals, Flathead Valley teams from Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Polson remain in contention for a chance to play for a state championship next week.

Leading the way are the boys and girls teams from Columbia Falls, both of which finished atop their conference at the end of the regular season.

The Wildcat teams both hosted quarterfinal matches last weekend, with the girls beginning the day with a dramatic overtime win over reigning state champions Billings Central.

Columbia Falls opened up the scoring in the seventh minute with a goal from senior forward Bella Mann and an assist from junior midfielder Riley Byrd. Central responded in the 13th minute with a goal from Amaya Lorash, to even the game at 1-1.

In the 36th minute, Mann scored again, with an assist from senior midfielder Taylor Rodgers. Lorash then scored again in the 41st minute, with an assist from Emerson Dull. Lorash scored once more in the 53rd minute to earn a hat trick and put her team up 3-2.

The Wildcats managed to tie the game at 3-3 in the 69th minute of regulation with a goal from junior midfielder Riley Byrd. In overtime, Central struck first with a 98th minute goal by Emerson Dull. Columbia Falls responded decisively in short order, with goals from sophomore forward Onnikka Lawrence and junior midfielder Tatiana Raymond, both in the 99th minute, for a 5-4 win.

Head Coach Thomas Clark, who played in high school for Whitefish and in college for Evergreen State, called it “one of the craziest games I’ve ever been a part of at any level.”

The overarching feeling for Clark is one of pride for how his players fought to stay in the game against a team that had ended their season twice in the last three years. He and his staff had continued to tinker with tactical parts of their game plan going into the match, and Clark said that his players were receptive, and adjusted in a way that showed when they hit the field.

“They have a great willingness to learn. I would say that their ability to take stuff from the training field to the match is really, really impressive, and just a testament to how committed they are to the game.”

The undefeated Wildcat girls team will play Lone Peak (5-1-3) this weekend at Columbia Falls. The Big Horns are coming off a 1-0 quarterfinals win against Hamilton. In Lone Peak, Clark said he sees a well-organized team that defends well and has players that are dangerous when they’re on the attack.

As for the events of last weekend, Clark shared that his team sticks to the tried-and-true 24-hour approach, where they get a full day to celebrate the win, and then it’s back to work.

The Columbia Falls girls soccer match was where Columbia Falls boys soccer head coach O’Brien Byrd started, as he recapped his team’s 2-0 quarterfinals home win over Lone Peak last weekend.

Byrd said that the emotional ending to that game, which was followed immediately by the start of the boys game, allowed his players to start with “probably a lot more adrenaline in our tanks than we normally do” for the beginning of a game.

On the whole, Byrd said that it wasn’t his team’s best game, but they still managed to control the match, a takeaway that the coach said he finds some reassurance in. Coming into the season the Wildcats had lost nine starters to graduation, and the remaining two changed positions. So it wasn’t lost on Byrd that for many of his players, last weekend was their first meaningful playoff experience that didn’t involve watching from the sidelines.

In the semifinals this weekend, 12-1 Wildcats will host Polson. Byrd’s assessment is that the game will hinge on defense. He sees it as a strength of Polson, who is the only other team in the state in addition to Columbia Falls that has a points-against total remaining in single digits. Polson brings an 8-2-2 record into the game, and has allowed just three goals on the year. They secured a 1-0 win last weekend against Livingston, a team they had lost to 1-0 to open the season.

Also playing on the boys’ side of the bracket are the 9-2 Whitefish Bulldogs, who defeated Hamilton last weekend 3-0. Whitefish is hosting 7-3-2 Stevensville this Saturday. The Yellowjackets defeated Billings Central in the quarterfinals last weekend on penalty kicks.

Head coach Eric Sawtelle said he was happy with the composure his team showed last weekend, adding that they maintained possession well and put together a solid showing on defense. Sawtelle also saw evidence that his players are continuing to work on executing the talking points he and his staff have emphasized this season in an effort to improve the team’s play and performance. Over the course of the season he’s watched his team grow more patient, and more mature with how it approaches its offensive chances.

Stevensville is a familiar postseason opponent for the Bulldogs. The two teams played last year in the semifinals, which ended in a 4-3 win for Whitefish.

“It was an extremely challenging match, and I would expect another challenging match against on Saturday,” Sawtelle said. “They’ll definitely be giving everything they have. They’re a tough, physical team, very strong and organized defensively, and they have a good goalkeeper.”

As for his players going into the game, Sawtelle said that they remember “very well” what happened last year in the playoffs and the finals, and what a difficult road it is.

“I think they’re all acutely focused on our objective of reaching the final, but we definitely aren’t there yet. We’ve got to show up on Saturday and compete and give it everything we have.”

Rounding out the group of Flathead Valley teams are the 11-2-1 Bigfork Valkyries, who defeated the Stevensville Yellowjacket girls team 3-0 last weekend. Bigfork earned its spot in the quarterfinals with a 2-1 play-in game win over a Whitefish team that ended its season with a 9-3-1 record. Bigfork will be on the road this weekend to play the 8-1-2 Park High Rangers in Livingston. The Valkyries have not lost a game since Sept. 25, when they fell 1-0 to Columbia Falls. Since then, they’ve outscored their opponents 26-3. The Rangers enter this weekend coming off a 9-1 win against Loyola-Sacred Heart. Last weekend was the first time they had allowed a goal since a Sept. 23 match against Laurel.

Asked about the number of Flathead Valley teams who have made it this far into the Class A playoffs, Byrd, the Columbia Falls boys coach, said that “it’s no accident,” given the work that volunteers, parents, coaches, soccer clubs and players put in between camps, clinics, college games, and more. It amounts to providing lots of soccer opportunities even after the high school season has ended.

“It’s exciting,” Sawtelle, the Whitefish boys coach said. “We’ve got some strong clubs that come out of the Flathead, and a lot of kids grew up playing a lot of soccer here, and it shows when they get to high school. The western end of the state, in general, right now is doing really well.”

The Bigfork girls soccer team will play at Livingston this Saturday at noon.

The Columbia Falls girls soccer team will play Lone Peak at Columbia Falls this Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Whitefish boys soccer team will host Stevensville this Saturday at 11 a.m.

The Columbia Falls boys soccer team will host Polson this Saturday at 5:15 p.m.

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