The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Everyone, well most everyone, looks forward to the start of the new school year. For seniors, they’ve reached the top of the mountain, they’re top dogs in the building, Juniors, well they can see the finish line and everyone else is excited to be one step closer.

For many in the communities of those schools the new school year means the return of high school sports and in Montana, on the Hi-line, that’s a HUGE deal.

Each fall the Blaine County Journal is very excited to get the ball rolling with our annual Fall Sports Preview and after what we all have been through with the Covid-19 Pandemic, talking sports is such a bright spot.

With fingers crossed, the hope is for a much more ‘normal’ fall sports season. If things go as we all hope they will. Gyms will once again be full of fans and the sidelines will be as well. That being said it is still recommended that before attending any sporting event that one checks with the school hosting the event what protocols are in place. If you feel sick or may have been exposed to someone with a positive Covid test, please don’t attend.

For the most part the Northern B and Northern C Volleyball divisions remain the same. There are a few minor changes to rules or points of emphasis as discussed during the off season. Those changes as well as the current Covid-19 attendance policies can be found on the MHSA website.

The Harlem Lady Cats will be part on the District 2B along with the Glasgow Scotties, Wolf Point Wolves, Malta M-ettes and Poplar Indians. The Chinook Sugarbeeters and Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds are once again members of the District 7C along with the Geraldine/Highwood Rivals, North Star Knights, Box Elder Bears, Fort Benton Longhorns, Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks, Centerville Miners and Big Sandy Pioneers.

The District 2B tournament will be held in Wolf Point October 29-30. The top four teams will advance to the Northern B Divisional tournament in Glasgow the following week. From there the top two teams will advance to the State B tournament in Bozeman on the campus of Montana State University, November 11-13.

The District 7C tournament will be held in Chinook, October 28-31 with the top four moving onto the Northern C Divisional in Fort Benton, November 4-6. The top two teams will then head to the State C in Bozeman, November 11-13.

The Lady Cats will be favored to make a return trip to the Northern B once again and may even turn some heads with a strong performance at the Northern B. The Sugarbeeters, along with North Star and Fort Benton will again be the favorites in the District 7C.

The Most significant change comes in Class C Eight-player football with the realignment of the Northern C. The Harlem Wildcats have made the move to Eight-player football after decades in the Northern B.

The move will also reignite the old rivalry with the Chinook Sugarbeeters. The two teams played annually for many years as members of the District 5B. The last Varsity meeting between the ‘Beeters and Wildcats came in 2003 with Chinook earning a 37-20 victory.

The Sugarbeeters played a Junior Varsity schedule in 2004 with a skeleton roster. This marked the last time the two teams played in the football field with the contest going the way of the Sugarbeeters, 28-26. Chinook moved to Class C in 2005. The Highway 2 rivalry will resume in Chinook on Friday, September 10 with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m.

The move down from Class B to Class C Eight-player can be looked at many different ways. Often times the fans and supporters of the school moving down feel confident that their team will excel in a ‘lower’ classification though history clearly states otherwise.

The transition often comes with a learning curve that can take some time. The move from Class B to Class C has a lot of variables, more so than say from Class A to Class B. The most significant being that the enrollment of most Class B Schools and Class C schools is more comparable than Class A to Class B.

Next, there are roughly three times as many Class C Schools as Class B. Class C schools, being smaller, often times have much higher participation rates amongst students, meaning a lot more athletes are getting to experience the game.

In the past 35 years nine of the current Northern C Eight-player teams have moved down from the Class B ranks. Many others in the Eastern, Southern and Western C Divisions have as well.

In those 35 years success has been very limited on a Championship level. In fact only Chester which moved to Class C in the 1988-89 season and the Chinook Sugarbeeters (2005) have won State Championships. Chester won it all in 1998 and the Sugarbeeters were State Champions in 2010 and 2015. Chinook also played in the Championship game in 2014. In fact no other team that has made the transition from Class B to Class C Eight-man has reached the title contest after making the move.

Realignment has become a year to year adjustment with the Class B rapidly shrinking. Even the Class C Eight-player has seen a number of schools transition down to Class C Six-player in recent years.

This year the Northern C Eight-player Division looks to once again be one of the strongest in the state. The Northern C Eight-player is once again broken into two sub-divisions. The ‘A’ Sub-division includes the Belt Huskies, Cascade Badgers, Choteau Bulldogs, Fort Benton Longhorns, Great Falls Central Mustangs and Rocky Boy Northern Stars. The ‘B’ Sub-division includes the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks, Chinook Sugarbeeters, Harlem Wildcats, Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds, Shelby Coyotes and Simms Tigers.

The consensus among a collection of coaches, sports writers and avid followers of the Northern C have the Fort Benton Longhorns, Belt Huskies and Choteau Bulldogs as the favorites in the ‘A’ Sub-Division with the nod going to the Longhorns. In the ‘B’ Sub-division the Chinook Sugarbeeters, Shelby Coyotes and Simms Tigers are expected to be at the top with the Sugarbeeters holding a slight edge.

Good luck to all of our Blaine County Fall Sports Teams, be safe, play hard and have fun!