Class A Playoffs

The first playoff game is in the books, and the Montana High School Association Class A Football Championship Series is officially underway. Three more games will be played on Saturday, with the quarterfinal matchups likely all played next Saturday, November 5.

Class AA Playoff Picture

Now that all but one game has been played in Montana Class AA football this season, we have a great idea as what the playoffs will look like. Well, okay … so we know who is in, and we have an idea as to whom they will play.

Here’s who is in:
Helena (9-0)
Billings West (9-1)
Helena Capital (8-1)
4. Kalispell Glacier (8-2)
5. Billings Senior (7-3)
6. Great Falls CMR (5-5)
7. Butte (5-5)
8. Kalispell Flathead (4-6 – wins tie-breaker over Missoula Big Sky due to head-to-head)

Friday Night Finales and Playoff Scores

Tonight is the last Friday night of the regular season for the Class AA teams in Montana High School football, while the Montana High School Association Football Championship Series begins with a pair of games – a Class A battle and a Six-man contest. Here is the schedule, and we will post finals as they become available. You can follow along here with all of the Class AA games, as well as maybe updates from Stevensville and Alberton, on both our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Class AA
Great Falls CMR 21, Great Falls 7 – Rustlers earn No. 6 seed in AA playoffs.
Butte 42, Missoula Sentinel 28 – Bulldogs will be the No. 7 seed in AA playoffs.
Kalispell Glacier 55, Missoula Big Sky 35 – Wolfpack collect No. 4 seed, Eagles knocked out of playoffs.
Kalispell Flathead 48, Missoula Hellgate 12 – Braves earn playoff spot with win, head in as the No. 8 seed.
Billings West 33, Billings Skyview 12
Helena vs. Helena Capital (Saturday, 2 p.m.)

Class A Playoffs- 1st round
Stevensville 52, Whitefish 19

Class C 6-man Playoffs – 1st round
Alberton 41, Reed Point-Rapelje 32

Thursday score, AA Playoff picture

There was one final from Thursday night in high school football action in Montana, with Billings Senior officially making sure that Bozeman would have their run of defending state champions end before the playoffs begin. The Broncs took down the Hawks, 52-29, and ensured that there would be no repeat champion in Class AA this season.

Senior has locked in a game with Kalispell Glacier – it’s just who will be the home team that is still to be determined. Glacier gets Missoula Big Sky – a team needing a win to clinch a playoff berth. A Wolfpack win means the Broncs are heading to Kalispell, while a Eagles win nets a tie for fourth, and a tiebreaker situation.

Some of what is here, we have had in a prior post … but with tonight’s final in the books, we can try to make things a tad bit clearer. Notice we said try …

The top seed will come down to a pair of games – Billings Skyview vs. Billings West, and Helena vs. Helena Capital. If West wins and Capital beats Helena, then West will get the No. 1 seed (based on standard point-differential), Capital gets the No. 2 (head-to-head) and Helena the No. 3 seed. A Helena win makes it simple – the Bengals go to the No. 1 seed, West gets the No. 2 and Capital will be the No. 3 seed, thanks to their win last Friday over Glacier.

Ahh … that’s where the mud comes in. We will know just what kind of help each team needs in order to make the playoffs. There are now five teams mathematically still alive for a playoff berth – Butte, Big Sky, Great Falls CMR, Great Falls and Kalispell Flathead.

Butte, Missoula Big Sky and Great Falls CMR have simple objectives – if they win their games on Friday, they are in the playoffs. Seeding is another issue, but the three 4-5 teams have the advantage. Oddly enough, one of the 3-6 teams is playing against that group – and it’s Great Falls, who gets their crosstown battle to determine, maybe, who is headed to the playoffs.

Here’s a look at the five teams and how they have fared head-to-head:
Butte – 1-1 (beat Big Sky, lost to CMR)
CMR – 3-0 (beat Butte, Big Sky and Flathead)
Great Falls – 0-1 (lost to Flathead)
Flathead – 2-1 (beat Big Sky, beat Great Falls, lost to CMR)
Big Sky – 0-3 (lost to Flathead, CMR and Butte)

For Big Sky, it’s simple – a win, and they are in … a loss, and they would need help, in the form of the following …. they would need Butte and CMR to win, and for Flathead to lose. If that happened, they would be the only 4-6 team and would get in as the No. 8 seed.

If Flathead and Great Falls win – remember, the Bison play their crosstown with CMR on Friday, while Flathead plays Hellgate in Missoula – and Big Sky loses, it forges a four-way tie at 4-6, and Big Sky is left out of the mix. Same goes for a five-way tie at 4-6, which is possible if Butte falls to Missoula Sentinel.

If Butte wins, they are no worse than a No. 7 seed. If CMR also wins, the Rustlers would be the No. 6 seed. A Butte win and a CMR loss moves the Bulldogs up a notch to the No. 6 seed.

Class B Bracket, thoughts

Maybe the deepest class in the state in football is Class B, where any one of the 16 teams in the tournament could emerge with a state title. Both wild card teams – Red Lodge and Florence – actually had a chance to win their conference, and in the case of Red Lodge, had just one loss on the season. Here are the first-round matchups, in bracket order, with home teams indicated with an (H):

(1) 1B Fairfield (H) vs. (SWC) Red Lodge    
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1) 5B Manhattan (H) vs. (2) 3B Colstrip           
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1) 4B Huntley Project (H) vs. (2) 2B Plentywood        
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1) 6B Missoula Loyola (H) vs. (2) 7B Eureka       
Game Time – Saturday – 1:30pm        
(1) 7B Bigfork (H) vs. (NWWC) Florence 
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1) 2B Malta (H) vs. (2) 1B Choteau       
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1) 3B Baker (H) vs. (2) 4B Columbus 
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm (H)
(2) 5B Big Timber (H) vs. (2) 6B Ronan    
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm

Initial Thoughts:
Beyond Fairfield, this could be considered a wide-open tournament. But teams (and football fans throughout the Class B landscape) should not overlook the defending state champions, as Bigfork has a chance to make a run. The stumbling block could be Baker, who, if they can beat Columbus (which is a big “if”, as well as the Cougars have played this season) and then would have to play at either Big Timber or Ronan, would host the semifinal game. Talk about a trip.

Three things to watch for:
- The success of the 4-B teams. Red Lodge will give Fairfield a game, Huntley Project is, well, Huntley Project, and Columbus will not be an easy out by any means.
- Can Bigfork make it back to the title game, or more like, are the Western B teams stronger that people think?
- Upsets. This is a season where teams are bound to be shocked in the first two rounds. Class B football around the state is pretty deep, and the best of the best will get challenged.

8-man bracket, thoughts

Here is the bracket for the 8-man Football Championship Series. All eight games will kick off on Saturday at 1 p.m. We will post finals on both Facebook and Twitter as soon as possible on Saturday. Teams with an (H) will be the home team in that contest, and the games are listed in bracket order.

(1E) Fairview (H) vs. (4N) Centerville
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(2W) Charlo (H) vs. (3S) Absarokee
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1N) Chinook (H) vs.(4E) Culbertson / Bainville
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(2S) White Sulphur Springs (H) vs. (3W) Drummond
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1W) Superior (H) vs. (4S) Ennis
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(2E) Wibaux (H) vs. (3N) Power / Dutton-Brady
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(1S) Twin Bridges (H) vs. (4W) Lincoln
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm
(2N) Chester-Joplin-Inverness vs. (3E) Scobey / Opheim
Game Time – Saturday – 1:00pm

Initial Thoughts:
The three best teams in the state are Fairview, Chinook and Superior (in bracket order). The Warriors and Beeters will duel before one of them faces Superior, if the seeds hold up. And that is a big “if” this season … If Fairview survives Centreville, they will either see a high-paced version of a ground-and-pound by Absarokee, or a spread attack from Charlo, which would be a good prelim for Superior, who plays a lot like Texas Tech … The darkhorses are aplenty in this bracket, because in the mix of them are two teams who have a tradition of playing in big games – Drummond and Wibaux … Of all the brackets in the state, this is the one that I expect to “hold to chalk” the most, and would not be surprised if all four No. 1 seeds make it to the semis … OK, I will pick one surprise team – CJI. Problem is, if they meet Chinook in the Championship Game, they would have a lot to live up to – their regular-season battle went triple overtime.

Class C-6 Bracket, initial thoughts

Here’s the 6-man football bracket, with start times included. We will list them in bracket order. By the way, there will be one Friday night game in the first round – if anyone is attending the Alberton vs. Reed Point-Rapelje game, and can text us updates, send a text to 406-853-2910.

First Round (Saturday 1 p.m. kickoffs unless indicated):
(4N) Valier at (1E) Savage
(3S) Custer/Melstone at (2W) Hot Springs
(4E) Hysham at (1N) Big Sandy
(3W) Lima at (2S) Fromberg/Roberts
(4S) Reed Point-Rapelje at (1W) Alberton, Friday, 7 p.m.
(3N) Geraldine/Highwood at (2E) Richey/Lambert
(4W) Lone Peak at (1S) Denton
(3E) Terry at (2N) Stanford-Geyser

Saturday results, tie-breaking confusion

First of all, we have a handful of finals from the day’s action. I am still missing some scores (including the Terry-Ekalaka final), so if you see one is missing, post it on our Facebook or Twitter pages (now TSPreps2011 on Twitter, by the way), or e-mail BigSkyPreps@gmail.com.

We’re also looking for clarification on tie-breakers, if for no other reason, for future reference. Which, of course, would be subject to change. The immediate need right now is to find the explanation for the Western C tie-breaker.

So, without any further adieu, the finals from Saturday:

- Twin Bridges 43, White Sulphir Springs 28 (South Seeding) – Twin gets No. 1 seed from Southern C, WSS gets No. 2 seed.
- Centreville 26, Great Falls Central 21 (North Playoff) – Centreville claims No. 4 seed from Northern C.
- Huntley Project 43, Shepherd 7 – Red Devils claim No. 1 seed from 4-B.
- Absarokee 56, Broadview-Lavina 42 (South Seeding) – Absarokee gets the No. 3 seed from the Southern C, Broadview-Lavina receives the No. 4 seed.
- Power/Dutton-Brady 58, Belt 6 (North Playoff) – PDB goes in as the 3rd seed from the Northern C.

Playoff picture, Take 2

(UPDATED Saturday 10/22. 11:30 p.m.) Now that we have made it through the next-to-last day of regular-season games for most of the Montana High School football programs (Class AA, you have your own stage next Friday. I won’t know what to do with tracking just six games … since Senior hosts Bozeman in Billings on Thursday), the playoff picture is still a cloudy mess, in a couple of corners of the state.

Finals from Friday’s action

Playoff spots were officially claimed in most cases on Friday night, and a handful were waiting for the magical tie-breakers to be figured out. More on that later … but at the moment, here are the finals:

Class AA
Great Falls CMR 39, Kalispell Flathead 21
Bozeman 42, Missoula Hellgate 14
Billings West 31, Missoula Big Sky 21
Helena 22, Butte 10
Helena Capital 35, Kalispell Glacier 23
Billings Skyview 32, Missoula Sentinel 26
Billings Senior 31, Great Falls 0

Class A
Miles City 21, Hardin 6
Lewistown 7, Belgrade 0
Havre 54, Livingston 28
Whitefish 18, Frenchtown 12
Dillon 54, Butte Central 7
Laurel 52, Sidney 19
Polson 40, Browning 0
Billings Central 44, Glendive 0
Libby 35, Columbia Falls 28
Hamilton 40, Anaconda 20
Corvallis 18, Stevensville 15

Class B
Shelby 41, Harlem 18
Plentywood 26, Glasgow 0
Missoula Loyola 27, Florence 7
Ronan 34, St. Ignatius 12
Manhattan 42, Big Timber 7
Deer Lodge 58, Plains 27
Baker 23, Colstrip 13
Choteau 54, Conrad 0
Boulder 13, Townsend 12
Bigfork 49, Eureka 7
Troy 34, Thompson Falls 13

Class C 8-man
Superior 48, Drummond 29
Ennis 48, Park City 20
Harlowton-Ryegate 41, Shields Valley 0
Arlee 54, Victor 50
Noxon 63, Philipsburg 44
St. Labre 68, Hays-Lodge Pole 20

Class C 6-man
Reed Point-Rapelje 40, Custer/Melstone 20
Bridger 62, Grass Range-Winnett 13 (Thursday)
Hot Springs 62, West Yellowstone 20 (Thursday)