Central Montana Sports Round-Up With Karl Koontz

Montana High School Football Championship Preview

And then there were 10…Three rounds of playoffs are in the books and all that’s left for the Montana High School football is to crown champions. The teams still standing boast a gaudy record of 109-5 on the season and five of them have not yet tasted defeat. Four of the five games will be contested in the eastern half of the state and teams will travel about 1,237 miles in the quests to reach the pinnacle of their sport.

It’s been a fun filled, action packed season and 560 K'MON has been along for the ride with Chris, Robin, Bob, Randy, and Karl sharing some of the exciting moments that all led to this climatic finish.

Montana Class AA

In the Class AA ranks, the Glacier Wolfpack will head to the Queens City to grapple with the Helena Capital Bruins at Vigilante Stadium, a classic Treasure State gridiron venue. Both team sport 10-1 records. They met in Week #6, also in Helena, where the home team prevailed 35-14. Capital is gunning for its 12th state title while Glacier is looking for their second. Glacier outraced Gallatin 46-27 in the semifinal and Capital blitzed Billings West 35-6 to qualify for the title shot.

It’s a short trip from Laurel to Billings, so there ought to be a fantastic crowd on hand for the Class A chipper in Billings. The Locomotives of Laurel lost to Billings Central the first time around by a margin of 31-7. Havre gave them a run, but Laurel prevailed in the semi 35-7, while Central cruised past Lewistown 34-14. This will be the Rams haven’t really had a close game this season, winning every contest by at least two touchdowns. Laurel comes into the game at 9-2.

Montana Class B

The Class B final features a pair of unbeaten as Manhattan heads to the Hi-Line to battle the Mustangs of Malta-Whitewater-Saco-Dodson (Mustangs-Penguins-Panthers-Coyotes for the old timers in the crowd). Both teams have been tested a couple times this fall in what is probably the most balanced classification this year. Each squad made short work of their semifinal foes, with Manhattan topping Red Lodge 34-7 and the Mustangs blanked Florence-Carlton 37-0, ending the Falcons bid for a fourth straight championship.

Montana Class C 8-Man

A couple small schools in the Golden Triangle are still alive. In the Class C 8-Man ranks, the Belt Huskies qualified for their third straight title game as they blasted Flint Creek (Drummond-Philipsburg) 45-0. Belt took home the big prize two years ago with a 54-24 win of Mission High (St. Ignatius), but lost last year’s final game 40-28 to the Fairview Warriors. This Saturday Belt will get a shot at revenge when they journey 367 miles to play Fairview once more for the trophy. Fairview outfought Scobey 18-6 on the other side of the bracket to give the Warriors a chance to repeat. Both teams are 12-0 and have been ranked 1-2 all season so it’s no surprise that they’ll tangle once more.

Montana Class C 6-Man

The other area team with title aspirations is the Box Elder Bears, playing the 6-Man game. The boys from the Bear Paws will hit the road to take on the Bridger Scouts after knocking off Hot Springs 57-54 in a real nail biter. The Bears, also the defending state Class C basketball champs, are undefeated at 10-0 and scoring over 60 points per outing. Bridger lost one game early on, but the Scouts have found their stride down the stretch. Last week, they survived against the defending state champion Centerville Miners in a wild one…82-74. Their offensive output resembles Box Elder’s, so this promises to be a high scoring thriller.

KMON will put a bow on this and air the final game of the campaign for the boys in Maroon and Gold. Be sure to tune in to Saturday’s broadcast at 1:00 p.m. It’s Belt at Fairview for all the marbles and you can listen on 560 AM, on our website and on the 560 KMON App.