Montana Prep Football Rankings: Oct. 6

In a week where Class AA continued to play musical chairs for Nos. 3-5 in the 406mtsports.com high school football rankings, and Class A remained mostly unchanged, the big news of the week came in Class B.

Glasgow (5-1), which opened the season with a two-touchdown loss to Shepherd, toppled Fairfield 32-22 on Friday night for its fifth consecutive victory. For the Eagles (4-1), it was the first Northern B conference defeat since 2010, ending a run of 48 consecutive victories.

The mild surprise resulted in the most seismic shift in this week’s rankings: Glasgow moves up to No. 6 and Fairfield drops four spots to No. 8.

Class AA appears to be on a collision course for a rematch not only of last year’s state championship game but the season opener won by No. 1 Missoula Sentinel over No. 2 Billings West 22-19 in Missoula.

Both teams have at least two challenging games ahead, with the Spartans facing No. 4 Helena Capital in two weeks and traveling to No. 5 Butte to close the regular season while the Golden Bears square off against crosstown rival Billings Senior on Friday and head north to play No. 3 Great Falls CMR on Oct. 15. Nevertheless, both continue to show they are a cut above, while surprising CMR (5-1), Capital (4-2), Butte (4-2), Kalispell Glacier (4-2) and Helena (4-2) jockey for the remaining three slots and postseason positioning.

Upcoming Class AA game of the week: Glacier travels to Butte in a matchup of Wolfpack and Bulldogs licking wounds from crushing defeats.

Class A showed scant change as No. 1 Hamilton was idle after East Helena canceled and No. 2 Laurel (5-0) impressed with a 28-14 arch-rivalry win over No. 3 Billings Central (4-1), which nevertheless retains its spot ahead of flip-flopping No. 4 Polson (6-0) and No. 5 Whitefish (6-0). Polson earns the promotion after an eye-popping 37-0 whitewashing of previously unbeaten Columbia Falls.

The rankings:

Class AA

1. Missoula Sentinel (5-0)
2. Billings West (5-1) 
3. CMR (5-1)
4. Capital (4-2)
5. Butte (4-2)

Class A

1. Hamilton (5-0)
2. Laurel (5-0)
3. Billings Central (4-1)
4. Polson (6-0)
5. Whitefish (6-0)

Class B

1. Florence-Carlton (5-0) 
2. Columbus (5-0)
3. Townsend (4-1)
4. Bigfork (5-0)
5. Malta (5-0)