Rivalry weekend in N'western A

The Daily Inter Lake

Not only is it the final weekend of the regular season in Class A football, it's also rivalry weekend for four of the six teams in Northwestern A.

Polson (4-0 and 6-2) has already locked up the season title and No. 1 seed for the upcoming playoffs, and gets a first-round bye. The Pirates will host the winner of the first-round playoff game between the No. 2 seed from Eastern A and the No. 3 seed from Central A.

Columbia Falls (3-1 and 4-3) and Whitefish (3-1 and 4-4) are battling for the No. 2 and 3 seeds in the conference. Whoever lands the No. 2 seed will host a first-round playoff game Nov. 1 or 2 versus the No. 3 from Southwestern A.

The No. 3 seed in Northwestern A travels to face the Southwestern A No. 2 in the first round.

The following games all kickoff tonight at 7.

Columbia Falls

at Whitefish

Yes, bragging rights are on the line, but perhaps more importantly, the winner will host a playoff game.

The only league loss for both teams is to Polson, and it came on back-to-back weekends.

The Pirates stopped Columbia Falls 20-10, and Whitefish 41-24.

Columbia Falls downed Whitefish 20-7 a year ago to earn a playoff spot. That allowed the Wildcats to host a playoff game for the first time since 1976.

Mackey Nolan (683 yards on 94 carries and seven TDs) and Stephen Baumgartner (612 yards on 59 carries and 12 TDs) power the Wildcats ground game.

The Bulldogs have a potent passing attack with Mac Roche and Aaron Tkachyk.

Roche is completing 59 percent of his passes (58 for 97) for 943 yards and 12 TDs.

Tkachyk, who leads Northwestern A in average yards per catch at 19.16, has 32 receptions for 613 yards and nine TDs.

Polson at Ronan

Polson, missing out on playoff action in 2007, has won four straight. Ronan (1-3 and 3-4) is coming off a 47-22 loss at Libby.

Polson beat Ronan last year 27-0 as quarterback Craig Bagnell passed for two touchdowns and ran for another.

Bagnell has had a strong senior season, completing 52 percent of his passes (75 for 144) for 1,142 yards and 12 TDs. His yards passing and TD total are second best in Northwestern A.

Polson's Tim Rausch leads the league in rushing yards (817), attempts (115) and rushing TDs (18).

Libby at Bigfork

Libby (1-3 and 4-4) is currently tied with Ronan for fourth place in the league, while Bigfork (0-4 and 0-7) hopes to avoid a third-straight winless campaign.

These two teams also played on the last weekend of the season in 2007, with Libby rolling to a 56-0 victory.

Libby quarterback Joel Fuller ran for two touchdowns and passed for another in that romp. This will be the senior's final game as the Loggers will not advance to postseason action.

Fuller leads Northwestern A in passing yardage (1,697) and TD passes (20). He has completed 128 passes out of 260.

Libby's Conner Benson has 55 receptions for 796 yards, which are both league highs.

He shares the league lead in TD receptions with nine.