Class A soccer: Expectations sky high for C-Falls, Whitefish
The Northern A division is home to some of the best teams in the state on the girls and boys sides, between two schools a few miles away from each other —Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
Whitefish’s boys are vying for a fourth state title while Columbia Falls is hungry to unseat the defending champs.
The Columbia Falls and Whitefish girls bring back deep rosters. Columbia Falls wants to get past the semifinals and Whitefish wants back in the title game.
Columbia Falls
Girls
The Wildkats return nine starters, including seniors Maddie Robison and Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz. Robison led Class A with 32 goals last season and Johnston-Heinz had 15.
“It’s huge to have senior leadership that knows the way you want to run the program,” said coach Thomas Clark. “It’s a luxury to have them.”
And they may have a bit of a chip on their shoulders after losing to buzzsaw Laurel two years in a row in the playoff semifinals in an otherwise impressive 11-3 season.
“I think when you have kids that have come back and played in two if not three playoff runs, the most important thing is they know how to get there,” Clark said. “The big thing is taking the next step and we really feel like we have the team to do that.”
The Wildkats didn’t miss a step Friday in their season opener at Lone Peak, an 8-2 win that featured hat tricks by Robison and Sydney Mann. Hope McAtee had four assists.
“I was incredibly excited to see our offense start up right where we left off last year,” Clark said. “Huge credit to Zoey Byrd who played the best game of her career and looks like she could be one of the top keepers in the state this year.”
Columbia Falls 4 4 — 8
Lone Peak 1 1 — 2
CF — Sydney Mann (Hope McAtee)
CF — Maddie Robison (Mann)
CF — Robison ( McAtee)
CF — Robison (Apani Awua)
CF — Robison (McAtee)
CF — Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz (McAtee)
CF — Mann (Robison)
CF — Mann (Robison)
Shots on goal — CF 20, Lone Peak 11. Goalie saves — CF 9 (Zoey Byrd), Lone Peak 12. Corner kicks — NA. Cards — NA.
Boys
Once the youngest starting 11 in the state, the Columbia Falls Wildcats return a little older, wiser and definitely hungrier after a defeat in the Class A state final to three-time champ Whitefish last year.
“Even though that loss was tough we’ve got a great squad to challenge them and we’re looking forward to doing exactly that,” coach O’Brien Byrd said.
The Wildcats lost four starters including their leading scorer Jason Albin, but Byrd said they are a little more balanced this year.
“We are definitely more diverse this year, more talent spread across the team, more well rounded,” he said.
And they are more seasoned too.
“To play against your rival in the state championship… You don’t get more battle tested than that,” Byrd said. “They’ll never forget it.”
For now, Byrd isn’t looking too far into the future, but those games against Whitefish are circled on the calendar.
“They’ve got some lofty goals,” he said. “But we’ve got to get past the favorites. We’re just taking it one day at a time and enjoying focusing on the process, not the outcome.”
The Wildcats visited Lone Peak in their season opener and tied 1-1. Kai Golan scored for the Wildcats.
“We haven’t worked on finishing very much, we struggled to find a goal,” Byrd said.
Lone Peak’s Asher Wikan scored when his shot bounced off a sprinkler head and bounced past Bryce Dunham at an odd angle.
“Luck definitely wasn’t on our side today,” Byrd said. “ Lone Peak battled us hard. They’re a good team.”
Columbia Falls 1 0 — 1
Lone Peak 1 0 — 1
CF- Kai Golan (Findley Sundberg) 21’00
LP - Asher Wikan 43’00
Shots on goal — CF 16, LP 4. Goalie saves — CF 1 (Bryce Dunham), LP 11 (Sawyer Wolfe). Corner kicks — CF 7, LP 3. Fouls — CF 5, LP 4. Cards — LP 1.
Whitefish
Boys
The Bulldogs lost seven starters from last year but the remaining roster has still played a lot of soccer together. Despite whatever growing pains may ensue, Whitefish seems poised to win a fourth straight Class A state title.
“The same state champs that those guys won, this year’s seniors won them too,” coach John Lacey said. “They’re really excited to make it entirely theirs this year. They’re ready to go get their fourth.”
Whitefish, who has won 42 consecutive games, won its third straight title in 2020 by defeating Columbia Falls in the championship game.
“Realistically, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they found themselves there again,” Lacey said. “We’re playing good soccer up here.”
In starring roles for the Bulldogs this year will be Gabe Menicke, Aaron Dicks, Will Peppmeier and Niko Hunter.
“We’re gonna have some work to do to replace those seniors,” Lacey said. “The quality of those seniors — it’s a testament to the deep legacy of the program.”
The Bulldogs open their season today against Frenchtown in an 11 a.m. game at Smith Fields.
Girls
Whitefish returns a squad that looks a lot like the one last year. Only two seniors were lost, which means Roland Benedict has virtually the same roster to work with this year.
“We will miss the leadership,” said Benedict. But it helps when you only lose two and not 10.”
The Bulldogs have one thing on their minds after losing to Laurel in the state final — getting back there — and winning.
“We all kind of agreed — it’s a blessing. It’s better we lost than won. I mean you always want to win, but if that group had won the state title, they might not want it as much this year.”
Whitefish unseated power school Butte Central in the semifinal, which was an upset at the time, considering the stranglehold that school and Laurel have on Class A soccer. If it happens again it wouldn’t be such a surprise.
“We’re not resting on our laurels, we’re here to prove to everyone — not only ourselves — that we’re the best team in the state,” Benedict said. “We still feel like we have everything to prove.”
With Anna Akey, Emma Barron and Lucy Lowry at the helm, Whitefish’s season opener versus Frenchtown is today at 9 a.m. at Smith Fields.