MT High School Football Rankings - Week 10

[VimSince03]

Class AA

1. Billings Senior (9-0)
2. Billings West (8-1)
3. Kalispell Glacier (8-1)
4. Bozeman (7-2)
5. Helena High (6-3)
6. Helena Capital (5-4)
7. Missoula Big Sky (5-4)
8. Missoula Sentinel (5-4)

Nate Dick accounted for all six of Senior's first six touchdowns against Billings Skyview, en route to a 50-12 Broncs victory. The senior QB finished off another fantastic senior season and he may be the 2016 Gatorade Player of the Year before it's all said and done. His senior campaign was certainly good enough up against other competitors. Dick through three touchdowns and ran for three more as he totaled 365 yards of offense (191 rushing/174 passing). Senior will get the Hellgate forfeit this weekend so they get a bye heading into the Class AA playoffs. They will be the #1 seed. Billings West maintained their hold on a top three seed and clinched a top four seed with a 21-7 win over Great Falls. The Bison have had a tough-luck season as they only have one win but they have went toe to toe with every team except for Senior. After a scoreless first quarter, West got on the board with a Deming to Deming touchdown connection. They also got a big kickoff return in the third quarter from Si Ryan to put them up 14-0 en route to the 21-7 win. One theme that has been consistent for the Golden Bears this year: they play good team defense that has allowed about 17 points a game. They keep their offense in the game. They have one of the most important matchups in the final week with a battle against Helena High, who still has an outside shot at a top four seed depending on if Bozeman loses to Skyview (not likely to happen). The game is at Helena. Kalispell Glacier got back on track offensively with a 43-7 trouncing of cross-town rival Flathead in a wet, sloppy football game. The first half was full of competition as Glacier could only muster two Drew Turner touchdown runs. However, their defense was strong all night as they led 15-0 going into intermission. Things changed in the third quarter as Glacier reeled off 28 points because of Tadan Gilman's arm and legs. The senior QB ran in three scores and threw another to TE Patrick O'Connell in the quarter. The lone Braves touchdown came on a Bridger Johnson toss to Trae Vasquez. Glacier has the other big game of the final week with a matchup against Missoula Big Sky. If they win, they will be the either the #2 or #3 seed. They are already guaranteed a top four seed. The game will be at Glacier. Bozeman throttled CMR 42-7 on the arm of QB Callahan O'Reilly, who threw five touchdowns in a row between the second and third quarters. The receiver trio of Lance McCutcheon, Bailey Paddock, and Logan Kleinhans dominated the game along with O'Reilly. Bozeman has been a pretty motivated team since they got thumped by Senior. They travel to Skyview in the final week and if they win they guarantee themselves a top four seed. Helena High got a big game from RB Ryan Arntson en route to a 49-14 drubbing of Butte. Arntson ran for 276 yards, five touchdowns, and broke the single season touchdown record for Helena High set in 2013 with 23 total touchdowns (21 rushing/2 passing). His 21 rushing touchdowns also broke the single-season record of 19 set in 2001. The win guaranteed the Bengals a playoff spot and they a chance at a top four seed if they win this weekend AND Bozeman loses to Skyview. The Bengals welcome the 7-1 Billings West Golden Bears to town. Helena Capital won their fourth straight game and improved to 5-4 on the year with a 34-14 victory over Missoula Big Sky. Capital's offense has started to find its footing late in the year and got four passing touchdowns from QB Carter Pappas in his best game of the year. The win guaranteed Capital a playoff spot and they travel to Butte to finish the season this weekend. As for Big Sky, the loss bumped them down to the current #7 seed in the playoffs and they now need to beat Glacier to guarantee they won't face Senior in the first round. The current #8 seed in the playoffs is Sentinel and they had a bye week with a forfeit win over Hellgate. Sentinel needs to beat Flathead in the final weekend and then hope Big Sky or Capital loses to make sure they don't face Senior in the first round. CMR, Flathead, and Butte were all eliminated from playoff contention with losses last weekend. The eight teams have been set as only seeding remains.

AA Co-Players of the Week in Week 9: Billings Senior QB Nate Dick - 365 yards of offense (191 rushing/174 passing) and six touchdowns (three rushing/three passing); Helena High RB Ryan Arntson - 276 yards rushing and five touchdowns

Game(s) of the Week: Billings West at Helena High (playoff seeds on the line for both teams); Missoula Big Sky at Kalispell Glacier (playoff seeding on the line for both teams)

Class A

1. Dillon (7-1)
2. Polson (7-1)
3. Columbia Falls (7-1)
4. Sidney (8-1)
5. Billings Central (6-2)
6. Belgrade (6-2)
7. Laurel (5-3)
8. Lewistown (6-2)
9. Hamilton (6-3)
10. Havre (5-4) (did not qualify for playoffs)

Other teams in playoffs: Butte Central (4-5), Miles City (4-5), Corvallis (4-5)

The top nine teams in my ranking won in the final week of the regular season in Class A football. Dillon clinched the Southwestern A with a 45-21 win over Butte Central. Troy Andersen and the running back trio of R.J. Fitzgerald, Graden Greenslade, and Tory Walker scored the first four touchdowns of the game and Fitzgerald added an interception return for a touchdown. The Beavers were up 35-7 at halftime and finished with 337 yards on the ground. Dillon will get a bye and will await the winner of Lewistown at Laurel. Despite the loss, Butte Central still earned a wildcard spot out of the West and will play Hamilton in the first round at Hamilton. Polson came off their conference-clinching win over Columbia Falls with a 47-14 win over Havre, which knocked the Blue Ponies out of the playoffs. QB Tanner Wilson accounted for six touchdowns (four passing/two rushing) all four of those passing touchdowns went to WR Matthew Rensvold. Polson jumped out to a 40-0 lead midway through the third quarter before Havre RB Jase Stokes ran in a touchdown from seven yards out. Polson will await the winner of Billings Central and Miles City on the bottom side of the bracket. I still don't quite understand how Miles City (4-5) got in over Havre (5-4) despite Havre beating Miles City during the season and having a better conference and overall record than the Cowboys. But I guess the Class A Power Rankings system determined Miles City got in over Havre. I'm guessing it came down to strength of schedule and Havre had a weaker schedule. Regardless, the system is flawed because Havre beat Miles City and finished with a better overall record. I don't get what I'm missing here. Anyway, Columbia Falls bounced back from a tough loss to Polson with a 61-0 throttling of Frenchtown. Everyone got in on the action for the Wildcats but QB Dakota Bridwell finished his fantastic regular season senior campaign with four more touchdowns (three passing/one rushing). They held the Broncs to 28 total yards of offense and played with a chip on their shoulder the entire game. The Wildcats will host Corvallis in round one of the playoffs and then travel to Sidney if they win. Columbia Falls will far and away be the toughest non-number 1 seed in the playoffs. QB Dawson McGlothlin and RB Alec Lovegren accounted for five of the six first quarter touchdowns for Sidney in their 45-14 route of Hardin. Sidney awaits the winner of Columbia Falls and Corvallis. Sidney proved themselves in the Eastern A this year but Columbia Falls will be a stiff test if they beat Corvallis. Billings Central clinched the #2 seed in the Eastern A with a 28-10 win over Laurel. It was only a 14-10 BC lead at halftime but the rams scored 14 unanswered points en route to the win. RB Noah Smelser and RB Brayden Huppert combined for the four Billings Central touchdowns on the night. Billings Central will host Miles City in the first round and will travel to Polson if they win. Laurel will travel to Lewistown and travel to Dillon if they win. Laurel has battled despite the loss of star QB/S Casey Cole and should be competitive on the bottom side of the bracket. Belgrade wrapped up its 6-2 campaign with a 72-6 win over Livingston. Personally, I though Belgrade ran up the score as they played their starters in the third quarter despite a 59-6 halftime lead. Regardless, QB Zach Spady accounted for five touchdowns while Hayden Van Winkle ran in three of his own. Belgrade will be the #1 seed in Central A and will await the winner of Hamilton and Butte Central. Since it is Central A's turn in the rotation, Belgrade has home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Lewistown guaranteed themselves the #2 seed in Central A with a 26-0 win over Browning. The Golden Ealges will welcome the Laurel Locomotives in first round action this weekend and if they win they travel to Dillon. Hamilton clinched the #2 seed in the Southwestern A conference with a 33-20 win over Whitefish. RB Manny Rivera ran for 202 yards and a touchdown while QB Carson Rostad accounted for three more touchdowns. Hamilton will host Butte Central in the first round and they travel to Belgrade if they win. Hamilton is capable of making some noise in the playoffs as they have a good, physical offensive line and rushing attack. They couldn't have asked for a more winnable draw than Corvallis in the first round followed by Belgrade in the quarterfinals.

A Co-Players of the Week in Week 9: Polson QB Tanner Wilson - six total touchdowns (four passing/two rushing); Hamilton RB Manny Rivera - 202 yards on 40 carries and one touchdown

Class B

1. Fairfield (8-0)
2. Missoula Loyola (8-0)
3. Huntley Project (8-0)
4. Colstrip (8-1)
5. Baker (6-2)
6. Eureka (7-1)
7. Bigfork (7-1)
8. Whitehall (8-1)
9. Shelby (6-2)
10. Cut Bank (6-2)

Other teams in the playoffs: Columbus (5-3), Glasgow (6-2), Malta (5-3), Manhattan (6-2), Ronan (5-4), Roundup (4-4)

Fairfield won their 20th game in a row and completed their third straight undefeated regular season with a 42-0 win over Choteau. QB Luke Batson threw two touchdowns to WR Cantor Coverdell and ran in two more. The Allen brothers, Dawson and Chandler, returned a punt for a score and ran in a touchdown, respectively. Fairfield will take on the #2 seed out of the 7B conference, the Bigfork Vikings, in the first round of the Class B playoffs. Missoula Loyola initially had their hands full with non-playoff qualifier Florence-Carlton as their was no score after the first quarter. The Rams went on to score two touchdowns in the second quarter and then 28 in the second half as they won 42-0. Loyola's schedule was fairly weak this year but you can't take away what they did defensively as they allowed 18 total points all season, never allowed more than six points in any game, and pitched five shutouts. QB Kellen Round score four of the six touchdowns in the win. However, despite having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, Loyola may have drawn the toughest first-round matchup as Baker claimed the Wildcard out of the South division in Class B. Baker is a tough matchup with a tough trio to slow down in QB Luke Gonsioroski, RB Angus Lund, and WR Cleet Wrzesinski. But the Rams have proved to be possibly the best defensive team in Class B and their offense is no slouch either with a good QB in Round and a deep stable of RB's. Baker at Loyola should be the most intriguing matchup in the first round of the Class B playoffs. Huntley Project was not going to lose their #1 seed but they were close to losing to conference rival Shepherd in a 21-14 win. Shepherd held a 14-7 lead going into the fourth quarter. But stud Red Devil RB Lane Sumner scored on runs of 74 and 30 to secure the win. The last touchdown came in the last 2 minutes of the game as the Red Devil defense kept giving their offense chance after chance to comeback in this game. Huntley Project, like Loyola, will welcome a tough Wildcard team to town as the Shelby Coyotes got that designation out of the North/West division. Colstrip earned the #2 seed out of the tough 3B conference with a 13-12 victory over the Baker Spartans. The first half was dominated by Baker with Luke Gonsioroski hooking up with Cleet Wrzesinski for scores of 80 and 7. But in the second half, Colstrip put the clamps down and got a touchdown in the third quarter and then a Ben Galloway 10 yard run with about a 1:30 left to put the score at 13-12. The win means Colstrip will travel to Glasgow for a showdown with the Scotties. Colstrip beat Glasgow 12-7 at home earlier this year. See how they do on the road. Baker will travel all the way to Missoula for a showdown with the Rams. Eureka did not play in the final week as their season ended earning the #1 seed in 7B last week. Eureka will play the Malta Mustangs from the 2B in the first round at Eureka. Bigfork's season ended with that loss to Eureka which gave them the #2 seed out of 7B. The Vikings will travel to Fairfield in the first round. Whitehall was in a must-win situation in 5B action versus Townsend but the Trojans throttled the Bulldogs, 56-12. This one was never really close as QB Braden Larsen accounted for five of the first six touchdowns, which all came in the first half. In my opinion, Braden Larsen has been the MVP of Class B football with how important he is to his team. He also is just a really good QB. The win means Whitehall will travel to Cut Bank to take on the #2 seed out of 1B. Speaking of Cut Bank, they had a showdown with Shelby for the #2 seed in 1B and Cut Bank ended up running the Coyotes into the ground with a 28-0 win. QB Wylie Novak, RB JR Seewald, RB Keaton Anderson (yes there are two Keaton Andersons playing high school football in Montana) and the rest of the Wolves ground attack plowed the way in the second half. Shelby is going into the playoffs being shut out their last two games against Fairfield and Cut Bank. In other games, Glasgow and Malta was a great one. The battle for the 2B conference ended with Malta scoring a touchdown with 1 second on the clock but then getting stopped on the game-winning two point conversion as Glasgow won 34-33. Glasgow will host Colstrip and Malta will travel to Eureka. Columbus beat Roundup in the 4B championship game. Both teams made the playoffs as Columbus will host Ronan and Roundup will travel to Manhattahn. Speaking of Manhattan, they earned the #1 seed out of 5B despite a loss to 21-28 loss to Jefferson. Ronan beat St. Ignatious and Deer Lodge lost to Anaconda so Ronan clinched the #2 seed out of 6B. Ronan will travel to Columbus.

B Player of the Week in Week 9: Whitehall QB Braden Larsen - six total touchdowns (4 passing/2 rushing)

Class C (8-man)

1. Ennis (9-0)
2. Wibaux (7-0)
3. Belt (9-0)
4. Fairview (6-1)
5. Charlo (8-1)
6. DGS (8-1)
7. Cascade (8-1)
8. Victor (6-2)
9. Harlowton (7-2)
10. Twin Bridges (5-3)

Other teams in the playoffs: Circle (5-3), Chester-Joplin-Inverness (5-4), Great Falls Central (6-3), Flint Creek (5-3), Park City (6-3), Scobey (5-3)

Ennis finished their regular season going 9-0 with a 74-14 win. The usual five guys (the Wood brothers, Jake Knack, Gavin McKitrick, and Austin Baum) did all the scoring in the first half. During the season, Ennis' average margin of victory was 71-12. Their average halftime score? 56-1 (they allowed six points to Shields Valley in the second quarter of their 4th game). Their average first quarter score? 41-0! The Ennis Mustangs may have completed the most dominant regular season of any team in Montana Class C 8-Man history. Those are staggering numbers. Their starters did not play a full game during the regular season because of the margin of victory. The three teams that finished below them and made the playoffs in the Southern C were DGS, Harlowton, and Park City. Ennis beat those three teams by an average of 67-7. Good luck to any team that thinks they can slow down the Ennis Mustangs. They host the Scobey Spartans in the first round this weekend. Wibaux finished their season last week as the #1 seed out of the Eastern C and they will host Park City in the first round. QB Harry Green threw three touchdowns and ran in another as the Belt Huskies completed their undefeated regular season with a 42-0 win over Power-Dutton-Brady. Belt will welcome a scrappy Twin Bridges team out of the Western C. Fairview completely their season last week as they are the #2 seed out of the Eastern C and they will host Harlowton, the #3 seed out of the Southern C. Charlo shutout Arlee, 52-0, and in doing so ended Arlee's playoff hopes. Charlo QB Landers Smith ran for three touchdowns and threw for another. Charlo will be the #1 seed out of the Western C and they will host the #4 team out of the Northern C, Chester-Joplin-Inverness. Arlee's loss meant they were passed in the standings by Victory, Flint Creek, and Twin Bridges, who all won last week. Denton-Geyser-Stanford wrapped up the #2 seed out of the Southern C with a 22-0 win over Hobson-Moore-Judith Gap. DGS will host the Circle Wildcats, the #3 seed out of the Eastern C, in the first round. Cascade finished strong and clinched the #2 seed out of the Northern C conference with a 73-12 win over Simms. They will host Flint Creek, the #3 seed out of the Western C, in the first round of the playoffs. Victor clinched the #2 seed in the Western C with a 38-14 win over Clark Fork. Victor will host the #3 seed out of the Northern C, Great Falls Central Catholic, in the first round of the playoffs. Harlowton earned themselves a little playoff momentum with a 58-18 victory over Broadview-Lavina. Harlowton will make the trip east to Fairview in the first round. Twin Bridges beat Plains 62-33 on the heels of 110 yards and three touchdowns from RB Wesley Harshbarger to earn the #4 seed out of the Western C and trip to Belt this weekend.

C 8-man Player of the Week in Week 9: Shields Valley RB Brock Peterson - seven total touchdowns (5 rushing/1 receiving/1 punt return) and a safety on defense; Ennis QB Tanner Wood - six total touchdowns (4 passing/2 rushing)

Class C (6-man)

1. Hot Springs (9-0)
2. Bridger (9-0)
3. Westby-Grenora (8-1)
4. Valier (7-1)
5. Geraldine-Highwood (8-1)
6. White Sulphur Springs (8-1)
7. Valley Christian (6-2)
8. Bainville (5-2)
9. Richey-Lambert (6-3)
10. Sunburst (5-3)

Teams in the conversation: Custer-Hysham (4-4), Grass Range-Winnett (6-3), Jordan (4-3), Roy-Winifred (4-4), North Star (5-4), West Yellowstone (5-3)

Hot Springs completed their undefeated regular season with a 78-0 shutout of West Yellowstone. Trevor Paro ran for three more touchdowns and QB Sean Shea threw two more for the #1 Savage Heat. On the season, Hot Springs beat teams by an average margin of victory of 68-4. No team scored more than 12 points on them (which is very hard to do in 6-man) and no team held them to under 50 points. Their closest game was a 51-0 win over Valier (who is the #1 seed out of the 6-man North). Hot Springs will host the #4 seed out of 6-man North, North Star, in the first round. Bridger is the other undefeated team in 6-man as they went 9-0 after a 56-15 thumping of Custer-Hysham. Colter Zentner accounted for four touchdowns in the win. Bridger will host the #4 seed out of 6-man East, Jordan, in the first round. Bridger will be on the opposite side of the bracket of Hot Springs so their is a very good possibility both could meet in the championship game undefeated. However, the Westby-Grenora Thunder may have something to say about that as they clinched the #1 seed out of the 6-man East with a 50-12 victory over Richey-Lambert. QB Jeremiah Paine threw for four touchdowns and ran in another for the Thunder. The Thunder rolled through their conference schedule and their only loss on the season was a 32-20 decision to Bridger and they lost that game without one of their best players who has since returned. Westby-Grenora will host Custer-Hysham, the #4 seed in 6-man South, in the first round. Richey-Lambert will be the #2 seed out of 6-man East and they will host Roy-Winifred, the #3 seed out of 6-man South. Valier, the #1 seed out of 6-man North, took down Box Elder 70-6 to finish their regular season campaign 7-1. RB Isaac Ramos scored five total touchdowns (two rushing/two interception returns/one kickoff return) for the Panthers. They will host West Yellowstone, the #4 seed out of 6-man West, in the first round of the playoffs. Geraldine-Highwood beat up North Star, 52-15, to clinch the #2 seed out of 6-man North. The Rivals only loss on the season was a 46-22 decision to Valier. They will host the #3 seed out of 6-man West, Valley Christian, in the first round of the playoffs. White Sulphur Springs secured the #2 seed in 6-man West beating Valley Christian 66-26. QB Jordan Barfuss tossed five touchdowns for the Hornets on the afternoon. WSS will host Sunburst, the #3 seed out of 6-man North, in the first round of the playoffs. Bainville did not play last week and clinched the #3 seed out of 6-man East two weeks ago. They will travel to Grass Range-Winnett, the #2 seed out of 6-man South, in the first round of the playoffs. Sunburst needed a win over Heart Butte to secure a playoff seed and they did just that by winning 45-40. They will travel to White Sulphur Springs. Reed Point-Rapelje's loss to Grass Range-Winnett knocked them out of the playoffs in 6-man South as Roy-Winifred and Custer-Hysham held the tie-breaker advantage.

C 6-man Player of the Week in Week 9: Westby-Grenora QB Jeremiah Paine - five total touchdowns (four passing/one rushing) and made every PAT

[WeedKillinCat]

Keep an eye on Chrishon Dixon of Billings Central. He is only a sophomore and has been starting as a freshman. He plays defensive back and wide receiver. On defense against Laurel Friday night, he had 2 spectacular interceptions. Against Miles City the week before he laid the lumber (legal hit) on a receiver from Miles City which took the kid awhile to get up. On offense he runs really crisp and clean routes, I think he had a nice reception against Laurel and a TD reception against Miles City. Chrishon is not a very big player but maybe he will grow some between now and his senior year.

His dad is Chris Dixon who was the Billings Outlaws QB when they had the indoor team here and is now head coach of the Billlings Wolves indoor team.

[LTown Cat]

Keep an eye on Chrishon Dixon of Billings Central. He is only a sophomore and has been starting as a freshman. He plays defensive back and wide receiver. On defense against Laurel Friday night, he had 2 spectacular interceptions. Against Miles City the week before he laid the lumber (legal hit) on a receiver from Miles City which took the kid awhile to get up. On offense he runs really crisp and clean routes, I think he had a nice reception against Laurel and a TD reception against Miles City. Chrishon is not a very big player but maybe he will grow some between now and his senior year.

His dad is Chris Dixon who was the Billings Outlaws QB when they had the indoor team here and is now head coach of the Billlings Wolves indoor team.

He's a stud. And he's big enough. I bet he's 6'

[kmax]

Wow, I hadn't even realized that they gave the second wildcard in East A to Miles City instead of Havre until I read this. I looked at the standings and just assumed the second one went to Havre. That really makes no sense to me at all either. Didn't realize we used the BCS system in high school football.

Looking forward to the playoffs and seeing Belgrade compete here at home. Good luck to them.

[RickRund]

Yep, Belgrade just destroyed Park (Livingson). Lately that is not a tough thing to do. Probably would have been nice to leave the starters on the bench for the second half.
The Miles City/Havre mess sounds like something run by the ncaa. But I guess they figured they knew better.

[WeedKillinCat]

I heard over the weekend that the top 4 teams from the Eastern A got to go this year.

[VimSince03]

I heard over the weekend that the top 4 teams from the Eastern A got to go this year.

I know...but both wildcards have an East division (Eastern A and Central A) and a West division (Northwestern A and Southwestern A). The West division teams made sense because Butte Central (2-2 Conf./4-5 Overall) and Corvallis (1-3 Conf./4-5 Overall) had better records or a win over the next best team, Whitefish (1-2 Conf./3-5 Overall). Whitefish lost to Corvallis head to head. In the East divsion, Laurel was an automatic Wildcard selection with a 3-2 conference record and 5-3 overall record. Miles City took 4th place in Eastern A with a 2-3 conference record and 4-5 overall record. Havre took 3rd place in Central A with a 2-2 conference record and 5-4 record overall. Havre also won their head-to-head matchup with Miles City 13-12 so despite the Eastern A being a stronger conference, Havre had a better overall record and won the head-to-head matchup over Miles City yet the Cowboys got in. It doesn't add up, despite what the Power Ranking system says in Class A. Would Havre have gone far? Likely not but I thought they deserved to get in over Miles City because they had a better record and beat them during the season.

[kmax]

Yep, Belgrade just destroyed Park (Livingson). Lately that is not a tough thing to do. Probably would have been nice to leave the starters on the bench for the second half.
The Miles City/Havre mess sounds like something run by the ncaa. But I guess they figured they knew better.

Just to be fair, it's not like the first string played the entire second half. They got one series each for offense and defense. The offense scored on their drive. It's really not that uncommon to see the first teamers getting one series after half even in a blowout at any level, especially considering they weren't going to be playing for 2 full weeks. The second team also scored one in the second half. With the mercy rule running clock it kind of seems like they were in for a long time but it really wasn't running up the score or anything. Unfortunately it somewhat backfired as the defensive series Belgrade lost a starting DLineman to a bad injury which no one ever wants to see.

[LTown Cat]

Yep, Belgrade just destroyed Park (Livingson). Lately that is not a tough thing to do. Probably would have been nice to leave the starters on the bench for the second half.
The Miles City/Havre mess sounds like something run by the ncaa. But I guess they figured they knew better.

Just to be fair, it's not like the first string played the entire second half. They got one series each for offense and defense. The offense scored on their drive. It's really not that uncommon to see the first teamers getting one series after half even in a blowout at any level, especially considering they weren't going to be playing for 2 full weeks. The second team also scored one in the second half. With the mercy rule running clock it kind of seems like they were in for a long time but it really wasn't running up the score or anything. Unfortunately it somewhat backfired as the defensive series Belgrade lost a starting DLineman to a bad injury which no one ever wants to see.

Fergus lost their starting QB up 26-0 on Browning late in the 3rd. FHS will have a tough time scoring on Laurel now.

[kmax]

Yep, Belgrade just destroyed Park (Livingson). Lately that is not a tough thing to do. Probably would have been nice to leave the starters on the bench for the second half.
The Miles City/Havre mess sounds like something run by the ncaa. But I guess they figured they knew better.

Just to be fair, it's not like the first string played the entire second half. They got one series each for offense and defense. The offense scored on their drive. It's really not that uncommon to see the first teamers getting one series after half even in a blowout at any level, especially considering they weren't going to be playing for 2 full weeks. The second team also scored one in the second half. With the mercy rule running clock it kind of seems like they were in for a long time but it really wasn't running up the score or anything. Unfortunately it somewhat backfired as the defensive series Belgrade lost a starting DLineman to a bad injury which no one ever wants to see.

Fergus lost their starting QB up 26-0 on Browning late in the 3rd. FHS will have a tough time scoring on Laurel now.

That's too bad, I remember watching him when they played Belgrade and he looked pretty good. Never like to see young kids going down like that.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[NorthernPlains]

Like everyone else I was shocked Miles City was in over Havre. I don't know how the Class A playoff point system is calculated but both of those schools knew coming into the final weekend that MC had the edge. This past weekend Havre knew they needed a win over Polson and/or a Miles City loss to Glendive in order to win a wild card slot.

As to what the point system might be... If they compared common opponents: Both schools beat Hardin and both lost to Sidney. Though Miles City did have wins over both the Central #1, Belgrade, and Central #2, Lewistown, while Havre lost to both of those schools. If you combined the number of wins by all the teams each school beat it may shed light on what the MHSA point system is doing... Havre beat Whitefish (3 wins), Hardin (3 wins), Miles City (4 wins), Browning (0 wins), and Livingston (1 win), for a total of 11 wins by the teams they defeated. Miles City beat Lewistown (6 wins), Belgrade (6 wins), Hardin (3 wins), and Glendive (1 win), for a total of 16 wins by the teams they defeated. However, no matter how the MHSA calculated it, it seems wrong that Miles City was in since Havre had the better overall record (5-4 vs. 4-5) and had a head to head win over Miles City (13-12).

In the past the top three teams from each conference qualified. This caused some other problems as the #3 team in the Central conference might qualify for the playoffs with a 4-6 record while the Eastern A #4 might be out with a 6-4 record. The MHSA created their point system to try to correct that sort of outcome. Obviously the MHSA still needs to work out their point system to avoid this year's sort of inequity.

[LTown Cat]

Yep, Belgrade just destroyed Park (Livingson). Lately that is not a tough thing to do. Probably would have been nice to leave the starters on the bench for the second half.
The Miles City/Havre mess sounds like something run by the ncaa. But I guess they figured they knew better.

Just to be fair, it's not like the first string played the entire second half. They got one series each for offense and defense. The offense scored on their drive. It's really not that uncommon to see the first teamers getting one series after half even in a blowout at any level, especially considering they weren't going to be playing for 2 full weeks. The second team also scored one in the second half. With the mercy rule running clock it kind of seems like they were in for a long time but it really wasn't running up the score or anything. Unfortunately it somewhat backfired as the defensive series Belgrade lost a starting DLineman to a bad injury which no one ever wants to see.

Fergus lost their starting QB up 26-0 on Browning late in the 3rd. FHS will have a tough time scoring on Laurel now.

That's too bad, I remember watching him when they played Belgrade and he looked pretty good. Never like to see young kids going down like that.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Ya he's good. Young, (just a soph) but good, and going to be really good. I feel terrible for him because I know the time and dedication he has for it. I also felt FHS truly had a shot at knocking off Laurel this year (I've lost track of how many years recently they've bumped us from the playoffs). It'll certainly be tough now, if it wasn't before.

And Havre absolutely got hosed--I don't understand that one.

[LTown Cat]

Like everyone else I was shocked Miles City was in over Havre. I don't know how the Class A playoff point system is calculated but both of those schools knew coming into the final weekend that MC had the edge. This past weekend Havre knew they needed a win over Polson and/or a Miles City loss to Glendive in order to win a wild card slot.

As to what the point system might be... If they compared common opponents: Both schools beat Hardin and both lost to Sidney. Though Miles City did have wins over both the Central #1, Belgrade, and Central #2, Lewistown, while Havre lost to both of those schools. If you combined the number of wins by all the teams each school beat it may shed light on what the MHSA point system is doing... Havre beat Whitefish (3 wins), Hardin (3 wins), Miles City (4 wins), Browning (0 wins), and Livingston (1 win), for a total of 11 wins by the teams they defeated. Miles City beat Lewistown (6 wins), Belgrade (6 wins), Hardin (3 wins), and Glendive (1 win), for a total of 16 wins by the teams they defeated. However, no matter how the MHSA calculated it, it seems wrong that Miles City was in since Havre had the better overall record (5-4 vs. 4-5) and had a head to head win over Miles City (13-12).

In the past the top three teams from each conference qualified. This caused some other problems as the #3 team in the Central conference might qualify for the playoffs with a 4-6 record while the Eastern A #4 might be out with a 6-4 record. The MHSA created their point system to try to correct that sort of outcome. Obviously the MHSA still needs to work out their point system to avoid this year's sort of inequity.

I hear rumblings of class A going back to the 3 major (8 team) divisions in the future. Not sure if that will help or hurt these sort of problems but that's what I'm hearing.

I also heard a little bit about some new MHSA rule regarding percentage of your total student body out for sports that would allow teams to drop to Class B for football--not sure what it is all about or most of the details but, for example in Fergus' case I was told we could go Class B if we elected to do so...take that for what it's worth--I'd love to hear the details if someone knows them--maybe Kenneth??

[kmax]

Like everyone else I was shocked Miles City was in over Havre. I don't know how the Class A playoff point system is calculated but both of those schools knew coming into the final weekend that MC had the edge. This past weekend Havre knew they needed a win over Polson and/or a Miles City loss to Glendive in order to win a wild card slot.

As to what the point system might be... If they compared common opponents: Both schools beat Hardin and both lost to Sidney. Though Miles City did have wins over both the Central #1, Belgrade, and Central #2, Lewistown, while Havre lost to both of those schools. If you combined the number of wins by all the teams each school beat it may shed light on what the MHSA point system is doing... Havre beat Whitefish (3 wins), Hardin (3 wins), Miles City (4 wins), Browning (0 wins), and Livingston (1 win), for a total of 11 wins by the teams they defeated. Miles City beat Lewistown (6 wins), Belgrade (6 wins), Hardin (3 wins), and Glendive (1 win), for a total of 16 wins by the teams they defeated. However, no matter how the MHSA calculated it, it seems wrong that Miles City was in since Havre had the better overall record (5-4 vs. 4-5) and had a head to head win over Miles City (13-12).

In the past the top three teams from each conference qualified. This caused some other problems as the #3 team in the Central conference might qualify for the playoffs with a 4-6 record while the Eastern A #4 might be out with a 6-4 record. The MHSA created their point system to try to correct that sort of outcome. Obviously the MHSA still needs to work out their point system to avoid this year's sort of inequity.

I hear rumblings of class A going back to the 3 major (8 team) divisions in the future. Not sure if that will help or hurt these sort of problems but that's what I'm hearing.

I also heard a little bit about some new MHSA rule regarding percentage of your total student body out for sports that would allow teams to drop to Class B for football--not sure what it is all about or most of the details but, for example in Fergus' case I was told we could go Class B if we elected to do so...take that for what it's worth--I'd love to hear the details if someone knows them--maybe Kenneth??

Within the next 3 years or so there will likely be a shakeup again of Class A divisions as Belgrade is forced up to AA. Won't make a whole lot of sense to have 6 in the East A and only 4 in the Central. I think that 3 bigger divisions then makes some sense as I'm not sure who you would move over from the East to Central, Laurel is the closest geographically but that is kind of silly with Billings Central and Hardin right there. After a Belgrade move I could see 3 Divisions with the Central pulling in Dillon & Butte Central and the remainder of the Southwest combining with the Northwest to form one division:

East:
Sidney
Glendive
Miles City
Hardin
Billings Central
Laurel

Central:
Lewistown
Livingston
Havre
Butte Central
Dillon
Browning

West:
Columbia Falls
Whitefish
Polson
Frenchtown
Stevensville
Corvallis
Hamilton

Will be interesting though if there is something regarding changing the classification requirements to be around participation instead of just student enrollment as I suspect that will really shake things up across all of the levels.

[Joe Bobcat]

I'm certain that having classification determined by percentage of student body participation in sports would be a huge can of worms.

[catamaran]

From what Im hearing, next year will be the year they roll out the new conferences.

[kmax]

From what Im hearing, next year will be the year they roll out the new conferences.

Interesting, any word on if it will be 3 or 4 for A? The guess I had above would still work and just put Belgrade in the Central A for now and then when they leave it falls back to that.

[LTown Cat]

From what Im hearing, next year will be the year they roll out the new conferences.

Interesting, any word on if it will be 3 or 4 for A? The guess I had above would still work and just put Belgrade in the Central A for now and then when they leave it falls back to that.

I'm hearing 3 conferences with plans for Belgrade to go up to AA within 3 years, but also Big Fork, Libby, Ronan, and Anaconda coming back to A. Not sure on the other rule as possibly some will stay B for football...
Keep in mind I don't necessarily have inside info--just rumors I've heard.

Edit--I believe the vote on all of this takes place in January.

[Hawks86]

I wonder what AA will do when Belgrade and Bozeman#2 are added? That would be 16? schools.

[kmax]

From what Im hearing, next year will be the year they roll out the new conferences.

Interesting, any word on if it will be 3 or 4 for A? The guess I had above would still work and just put Belgrade in the Central A for now and then when they leave it falls back to that.

I'm hearing 3 conferences with plans for Belgrade to go up to AA within 3 years, but also Big Fork, Libby, Ronan, and Anaconda coming back to A. Not sure on the other rule as possibly some will stay B for football...
Keep in mind I don't necessarily have inside info--just rumors I've heard.

Ahh, that makes sense where you were coming from with the 8 team divisions that you mentioned then. I hadn't heard anything about those teams coming back up potentially.