Smoke alters local prep football schedule

Poor air quality throughout the Flathead Valley wreaked havoc on the prep football schedule Friday night.

Five games involving area teams have been either postponed or canceled for reasons at least tangentially related to the smoky conditions.

In Northwestern A, Polson, Whitefish and Columbia Falls are all now scheduled to play Saturday.

The Pirates’ scheduled home opener has not only been pushed back a day, it’s also been moved nearly 200 miles away to Butte. Polson and Browning will square off at Montana Tech at 6 p.m.

In Corvallis, Activities Director Tyson Tucker explained the decision to move their game against Columbia Falls to 7 p.m. Saturday.

“We saw that the (particulate concentration) was way up this morning and we haven’t had a lot of change throughout the day lately,” Tucker said. “We knew it would have been risky to ask Columbia Falls to come down here, and we’re going to do what’s best for our kids and not put them at risk.”

The Wildcats game at Corvallis is part of so-called week zero, which was a factor in the decision to reschedule.

“There isn’t as much importance on this early game as if we were in week five and something like this came up,” Tucker said. “If it’s later in the season those are games you’re going to have to try to get in.”

Whitefish was already scheduled to play Saturday but has pushed the start time two hours later to 4 p.m. in response to the closure of U.S. 2. The Bulldogs are still scheduled to leave Whitefish at 6 a.m., but will have to take extra time to detour south around the fires.

In Class B, Bigfork’s home game against Florence has been moved to Monday at 5 p.m. and Libby’s game at Missoula Loyola has been postponed with no makeup date announced.

If Bigfork is able to play Monday, the Vikings will play two games in five days. Bigfork is scheduled to play at Ronan on Sept. 4.

“(Playing Monday) is not a great scenario but it’s what we’ve got,” Bigfork coach Todd Emslie said. “That would definitely effect the rhythm of our practice for next week.”

Schools scheduled to play Saturday all say they will decide whether or not that day’s games will be played before noon.

UPDATED FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Saturday

Havre at Whitefish, 4 p.m.

Polson vs. Browning (at Montana Tech), 6 p.m.

Columbia Falls at Corvallis, 7 p.m.

Monday

Florence at Bigfork, 5 p.m.

Joseph Terry contributed to this report.