The Bobcat Nation

As a small, tight-knit state, why doesn't MT move the HS FB season up a week? Man I'd like to see a couple games this weekend but can't miss THE game Saturday.

Also, I thought there was talk of the Griz/Cat...I mean Cat/Griz game earlier in the year?

I think all of WY HS games were played in Laramie last weekend. GF needs turf and they can host all the games as they're the most Central "big" city. Even Bozeman. Or alternate MSLA/BZN/BIL/GF.

Rant over.

What my dream is for Montana is this:

UM and MSU both put in lights at their stadiums. Then the Thursday and Friday before Cat/Griz where ever the game is that year they host all the championship games. Thursday could feature both 6 and 8 man championships and be highlighted that night by the A championship. Then Friday they can host the B game and play the AA chipper that night under the lights. It would become the ultimate football weekend in Montana.

Billings_Griz wrote:As a small, tight-knit state, why doesn't MT move the HS FB season up a week? Man I'd like to see a couple games this weekend but can't miss THE game Saturday.

Also, I thought there was talk of the Griz/Cat...I mean Cat/Griz game earlier in the year?

I think all of WY HS games were played in Laramie last weekend. GF needs turf and they can host all the games as they're the most Central "big" city. Even Bozeman. Or alternate MSLA/BZN/BIL/GF.

Rant over.

coughcough....I would argue that Helena is a more central "big" city.

Speaking of which, the rumor still abounds around town that Bobby P has given a chunk of money to Carroll to install turf at Nelson Stadium - other rumors I've heard say turf, lights, and bleachers on the south side. Like I said....just rumors.

I agree with RTB 100%. What a great sports weekend for MT that would be. It can't be GF, Helena, or Billings. Either the highest seed hosts-as it is now, or you make it completely neutral like at MSU/UM.

watching the 6-man, or even 8 man state championship in a larger city would just ruin the feel of it to me. I'm pumped to watch Winifred play at Denton next weekend, if that were held in Bozeman, or Great falls, or any of those, the attendance would drop dramatically. small towns have such few big events that they can't afford to lose ones like these.

redspartancat wrote:watching the 6-man, or even 8 man state championship in a larger city would just ruin the feel of it to me. I'm pumped to watch Winifred play at Denton next weekend, if that were held in Bozeman, or Great falls, or any of those, the attendance would drop dramatically. small towns have such few big events that they can't afford to lose ones like these.

Fair enough. I think you could even just do this with class A and AA being held the Friday before Cat/Griz in the hosting town and still have a pretty cool event.

HelenaCat95 wrote:

Billings_Griz wrote:As a small, tight-knit state, why doesn't MT move the HS FB season up a week? Man I'd like to see a couple games this weekend but can't miss THE game Saturday.

Also, I thought there was talk of the Griz/Cat...I mean Cat/Griz game earlier in the year?

I think all of WY HS games were played in Laramie last weekend. GF needs turf and they can host all the games as they're the most Central "big" city. Even Bozeman. Or alternate MSLA/BZN/BIL/GF.

Rant over.

coughcough....I would argue that Helena is a more central "big" city.

Speaking of which, the rumor still abounds around town that Bobby P has given a chunk of money to Carroll to install turf at Nelson Stadium - other rumors I've heard say turf, lights, and bleachers on the south side. Like I said....just rumors.

Yeah, I bet you'd get a lot of arguments from the 3-time defending AA champs on holding it somewhere other than Helena (unless it's at a fairly neutral site like RTB suggested).

8 man and 6 man also use an 80 yard, narrower field, which could cause some problems with restripping the field. They could do it, it would just be a pain in the rear.

HiLineCat wrote:8 man and 6 man also use an 80 yard, narrower field, which could cause some problems with restripping the field. They could do it, it would just be a pain in the rear.

have to move the goal posts too. or somthing.

I was wondering when I was reading this thread if anybody would think of the 6-8 man field size.

You could play on a full size field but it would be a wild game, or rather more wild than it is now.

cats2506 wrote:

HiLineCat wrote:8 man and 6 man also use an 80 yard, narrower field, which could cause some problems with restripping the field. They could do it, it would just be a pain in the rear.

have to move the goal posts too. or somthing.

I was wondering when I was reading this thread if anybody would think of the 6-8 man field size.

You could play on a full size field but it would be a wild game, or rather more wild than it is now.

St. Leo's used to play their home games on Fergus' field. I think they just had an extra set of sidelines to narrow the field, and then they would move the ball forward 20 yards on each change of possession to account for the 80 yard field. Something like that, anyway. I was pretty young the last time I saw St. Leos play in Lewistown.

Sure, add Helena to the mix. Carroll gettin' turf, right?

I agree on the C games, let them play wherever. Some great times in small towns.

I was talking to a friend at the Capital game last week, and word is Carroll will have turf and lights within the next two years and will be hosting all of the High School and College games.

wbtfg wrote:I was talking to a friend at the Capital game last week, and word is Carroll will have turf and lights within the next two years and will be hosting all of the High School and College games.

All? There isn't enough time in the day, nor will Scobey travel to Helena 9 weekends in a row.

Hosting the championship games at predetermined sites would be a huge mistake. Imagine if the game was held in Missoula and both Billings West and Billings Senior made it to the championship game. Obviously both would have to travel to Missoula. You might get 2000 fans with almost all of those traveling on possible icy road conditions. That same game held in Billings would most likely get 7000+ fans with very little travel. Right now the best team is rewarded with home site. A predetermined site would many times feature two teams that have to travel. Bad idea.

In my best-case-scenario dream world, the start times for all of the games would be set up to allow them all to be televised live, no matter where they were. Financially not very realistic, from a potential broadcaster's standpoint. But it would be cool.

What ever happened to Omega TV? Must not have been feesable to continue broadcasting the games. I really enjoyed seeing the variety of contests they broadcast.

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:Hosting the championship games at predetermined sites would be a huge mistake. Imagine if the game was held in Missoula and both Billings West and Billings Senior made it to the championship game. Obviously both would have to travel to Missoula. You might get 2000 fans with almost all of those traveling on possible icy road conditions. That same game held in Billings would most likely get 7000+ fans with very little travel. Right now the best team is rewarded with home site. A predetermined site would many times feature two teams that have to travel. Bad idea.

It's time for Montana to catch up w/ most other states. Kind of like a state sales tax.

All the above mentioned ideas regarding central locations are solid, no matter who said what. The thing is, you can't do it for Class C due to the 6-man and 8-man boundaries, as alluded, too. Plus, as a couple have said, why would you take the small town out of small-town football? I agree that maybe AA or A could be given a "central" location, but it's only going to happen if A) the MHSA agrees to something like that, and I'm not sure that would happen. In most states, the high school championship games are spread out into communities throughout the classes - there are only a few states I know of that put every game in a central location, and a big reason is that there is a school (i.e. a Nebraska or an Iowa) that has a college campus near the "direct" center of the state. Technically, the "direct center" of Montana lies somewhere around Lewistown, possibly near Great Falls.
Here's the B) if you want to have it along with 'Cat/Griz (technically the right name based on the alphabet), it'd require lights in both stadium's as the rivalry game switches each season. That takes cooperation from the MHSA, UM and MSU. A lot of red tape and bureaucracy to go through, obviously, and though we think it's common sense to have that (or at least a good-to-great idea), sometimes it's not the financially sensible thing to do. Also, if the game is broadcast live or even taped for TV highlights, would a college stadium which is only 20-30 percent full look great on TV?
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Back to the original idea: move the season up. Seems feasible, but again it's a political decision in most aspects, and a financial decision in others. Plus, how do you tell parents of multiple athletes (say, football and volleyball) to decide which one to concentrate on? And say you have small-school fanbases who have teams in the football finals and volleyball championships? That's an issue.
Right now, the MHSA has every fall championship staggered to end over a month-long timeframe (or less) to have each season end accordingly in its own respect and with its own fanfare. That seems to have worked so far, aside from occasional grumbling (which is warranted - we all do it).

here is one of the reasons. HP is two time state champ, hosting both times against an undefeated, #1 conference seed in Fairfield. Followed the rules both times. Last year, South had preference so although Fairfield went on the road in quarterfinals both hosted semi's so HP gets to host. This year HP goes on road once, only it was in semi's, so although North had preference, because they traveled in semi's they host again. Fairfield plays in three straight and travels all 3 times. Maybe home field doesn't matter, as HP only team to win at home, but I think it takes out the argument of taking the small town out. The year Fairfield did host, they probably shouldn't have as Cut Bank had beaten them during the season in non conference. But both were #1 seed and Fairfield traveled that year. I think it is great for the towns, but when it possibly only comes around once in a while, and you don't get to host anyways, kind of takes the luster out of the intention.

preference is set at the beginning of the season and rotates conferences so if there is upsets or chalk holds, the priority to host isn't on a coin flip.

Not anymore but it was in 2007