Soccer event to Showcase area talent
O'Brien Byrd and a few of his soccer buddies on the Flathead Rapids have been kicking this idea around for at least a couple years.
Well, guess what?
On Nov. 4 at Memorial Field in Whitefish, that idea finally becomes reality. That's when the Flathead Rapids Senior Showcase and Valley Cup soccer games will be played.
"We like the timing, we like the local feel to it, the location," said Byrd, who also coaches the successful Whitefish High School boys soccer program.
"It had to be in a stadium with lights and a venue to seat a lot of people."
The Girls Senior Showcase game is set for 4 p.m., followed two hours later by the Boys Senior Showcase game.
The special evening of soccer will conclude with the Flathead Rapids, which consists of ex-college and semi-professional players, facing one of the premier teams in Idaho and their closest and bitter rivals - the Sandpoint Monarchs - in the first Valley Cup at 8.
The Showcase games for boys and girls will feature all-conference and all-state seniors from Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Flathead, Glacier, Libby, Polson, Stillwater Christian and Whitefish.
There will be a minimum of 22 boys and girls with a maximum number of 36.
"We will randomly group different teams together," Byrd said.
"All Whitefish players will be on one team. We will group rosters together based on school and positions.
"It will be kind of tricky, but we will try to keep those two principles in mind. What we're looking for are two evenly matched teams."
The seniors will practice once at Smith Fields in Whitefish on Nov. 2 from 4-6 p.m.
Participating players will receive a Senior Showcase Certificate and a game jersey.
MVP honors will be handed out to one player on each team.
Coaching the two boys and girls teams will be members of the Rapids.
"You seen senior all-star games in basketball, the Shrine Game for football (summer) and the Shodair All-Star (soccer) game in Helena in the middle of the summer after the seniors graduate," Byrd said.
"This is the perfect cap to the season. "The kids are in shape, their touch on the ball is good.
"It's unique to the valley," Byrd said.
"Everybody in the soccer community will know these all-stars."
Soccer has a long and storied tradition in the Flathead Valley.
"When Flathead started in 1991, Flathead and Missoula was at the forefront of competitive state soccer," Byrd said.
"There has been a lot of success coming out of Northwest Montana, so it only made sense (to do this)."
Byrd said high school soccer for Whitefish started in 1991, "so it's the 20th anniversary."
He said Columbia Falls added soccer to its high school activities a year later.
"Everyone's response has been ‘Oh my gosh, this is a great idea. Thank you so much for doing this. What a great honor for our seniors to get something like this.'"
Tickets for the event will be $5 for single admission or $10 for a family pass. Children 12-and-under will be admitted free.