Polson Boys, Columbia Falls Girls Win Class A Soccer Championships
Both the Polson Pirates and Columbia Falls Wildcats had 4-0 shutouts to clinch their titles Saturday. They played against regional rivals, the Whitefish Bulldogs and Bigfork Valkyries, respectively, for a full Flathead showing in the state final games.
By Mariah Thomas & Zoë Buhrmaster
After clenching a 4-0 shutout against the Whitefish Bulldogs on Saturday evening, the Polson Pirates are celebrating the first state championship in the program’s history. Head coach Josie Lies has watched the high school boys soccer team come a long way, having coached many of the boys since 5th grade.
“This has been the goal the whole way,” Lies said, choking up. “It’s been really exciting to go from taking them from never winning a game to have the confidence to do what they did to Whitefish, of all teams.”
Lies attributed winning an earlier game against Livingston as giving the Pirates the boost they needed entering the playoffs. With eight seniors and seven juniors on the team, “if there was a year to do it, this was the year,” Lies said.
The boys’ first goal came from junior midfielder Afton Hatch 13 minutes into the game with an assist from sophomore Roman Sawyer. Shortly after, senior Truman Sawyer scored with help from fellow senior Dion Lichtenberg. Hatch earned a brace in the 45th minute assisted by Dion. Roman Sawyer made the team’s closing goal, set up by Lichtenberg and junior forward Jackson Bontadelli.
The Bulldogs earned two yellow cards, one by slamming the ball into the turf and another for talking out as the game neared its final minutes.
“We know that we’re a better team than what we showed tonight,” Bulldogs head coach Eric Sawtelle said. “They were great at breaking up our rhythm of play and we didn’t take advantage of the moments we had and that’s the game. I’m proud of our boys and proud of them for getting here.”
Known in the state for their aggressive scoring, the Bulldogs took aim more than once for the back of the Pirate’s net. But senior goalie Maddox Bird held his ground.
“Sometimes when they’re just on you, you just got to get big and hope for the best,” Bird said. “It’s just amazing that we did it.”
When all was said and done on the soccer pitch Saturday night, it was the Columbia Falls Wildcats who emerged victorious over the Bigfork Valkyries in a girls’ soccer matchup that saw the rivals and one- and two-seeds in the region going head-to-head once more this season.
“I mean just speaking from a coaching perspective, it’s hard when you play a team three times in one season because you know what they do well; they know what you do well,” said Columbia Falls head coach Thomas Clark. “And there’s going to be a lot of energy and a lot of emotion any time you play a state final, but especially against a rival. So, we knew they were going to bring it, and they brought it and kept it tight in the first half, but ultimately, we were able to overcome that as a group, and it just feels great.”
Saturday night ended in a 4-0 victory for the Wildcats, closing out an undefeated season. Earlier this year, the Valkyries handed Columbia Falls one of only two tie games of their season. Saturday marked the first time Bigfork has ever appeared in a state championship game.
The first half of the game saw no scores, and several offsides calls stopped the Wildcats’ offense in its tracks. But the second half was all Wildcats. Columbia Falls scored all four of its goals in the game’s last 40 minutes.
“I mean, I got called offsides a lot, being a forward and just like, we talked about it at halftime, like making different runs and just seeing our runs through,” said junior Onnika Lawrence. “And I think we just all as a team clicked, like playing the balls quicker, making our runs less vertical and more horizontal, and it just ended up working.”
Clark said the game of soccer is often defined by momentum. In the Columbia Falls soccer program, he refers to it as “spurtability.” And once a team starts gaining momentum, it’s tough to stop them.
For the Wildcats, the momentum in the second half started with Tatiana Raymond finding the back of the net by heading the ball in off a corner kick just over a minute in. Less than six minutes later, the Wildcats scored again with Mila Johns banking in a shot off an assist from Raymond.
The last 10 minutes of the game saw back-to-back goals — less than a minute and a half apart — from Lawrence. The first one came off an assist from senior Taylor Rodgers, and the second was all Lawrence.
Bigfork had no answer.
Clark said what set his team apart this year was a long history of playing together, which fueled its victorious streak.
“These girls grind all year, every single practice, day in, day out, week in, week out,” Clark said. “It’s hard to go undefeated, especially when you have Whitefish and Bigfork in the conference. It’s just consistency. They work hard every single day training, and then it shows up on the pitch. So just a commitment to excellence, and that’s what you need to go through a long season like this one.”