The Whitefish boys and Columbia Falls girls closed out undefeated conference seasons with runaway wins and hold the top seeds in the Class A state tournament, which gets underway this weekend.
The defending state champion Bulldogs completed a second straight regular season without a loss, steamrolling Libby 12-2 on Saturday, Oct. 12. Whitefish (12-0-0, 8-0-0 Northern A) has won 15 games in a row and has not lost in its last 27 matches, a stretch that dates back to the 2017 state championship game. Whitefish will host Stevensville at 1 p.m. on Oct. 19 at Smith Fields to open the state tournament. Columbia Falls (7-4-1, 6-2-0) is seeded second and will play at Frenchtown Saturday at 1 p.m. Polson (4-8-0, 3-5-0) earned the third state qualifying spot out of the Northern A.
On the girls side, Columbia Falls (11-1-0, 8-0-0) pounded Libby 8-0 on Thursday, Oct. 10 to close out the regular season. Senior Josie Windauer scored five times in that match to reach 31 for the season and break the school’s single-season record. She will get a chance to extend that mark and keep the Wildkats’ state title hopes alive when Columbia Falls hosts Stevensville on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. Whitefish (8-4-0, 6-2-0) finished second in the conference and will travel to Missoula to tangle with Loyola-Sacred Heart, also at 1 p.m. Polson (4-8-0, 3-5-0) opens its state tourney at defending champion Billings Central.