Whitefish starts playoffs at home, Columbia Falls hits the road

A full slate of games is scheduled today for the quarterfinals of Class A soccer playoffs across the state.

The Laurel girls beat Park in a play-in game Wednesday and host Columbia Falls (9-3 overall, 6-2 conference) at noon.

It’s the fourth time in four years the teams have met in the playoffs and Laurel, the defending state champion, has stymied the Wildkats each time.

“We’re at a point where if you really want to be the best and prove that, you have to go out and beat the best teams in the state,” Columbia Falls coach Thomas Clark said.

The Locomotives (12-1, 7-1) beat the Wildkats 4-0 in early September, but Clark says the team is different now.

“Formation-wise we honed in on the way that we wanted to play,” Clark said. “I think we’re just peaking at the right time.”

Clark is especially encouraged by the team’s performance against Northern A rival Whitefish two weeks ago. The Wildkats were moments from a draw with the undefeated Bulldogs until a last-minute goal gave Whitefish a 3-2 win.

“The Whitefish game was a heartbreaker — if we finish our chances we probably come out with the win in that one,” Clark said.

It was a narrow victory for Whitefish, who had only really been challenged by Park up until that point and otherwise ran roughshod across its opponents. No doubt it felt good for Columbia Falls to give their biggest rival a scare, even if the effort didn’t end up in the win column.

Mya Maack presents the biggest challenge to the Wildkats as Laurel’s leading scorer and state record holder for goals scored in a single season (38). The goal is to shut her down, obviously. But Laurel isn’t necessarily one-dimensional in that aspect.

“They’ve got a ton of quality players that step up when they’re asked to,” Clark said. “Any time you’re playing a team that has a really dominant player — you’ve got to plan for that. We’re not going let her beat us. We’re going to ask those other gals on the team to score for them, if they do, great.”

The Wildkats have scoring threats of their own in Maddie Robison, who’s just behind Maack with 26 goals, Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz, with 21, and Hope McAtee, who’s scored seven goals and just tied the state record for assists in a single season (21).

“We’re just excited and happy to be here,” Clark said. “It kind of feels like we’re playing the state championship … I don’t remember a quarterfinal with a feel to it like this in my career.”

Both Whitefish teams finished the season with identical records — 12-0 overall and 8-0 in Northwest A play.

And both teams host playoff games today at Smith Fields.

The girls draw Loyola, a team the Bulldogs haven’t played this season but one that coach Roland Benedict says is similar to other Southern A opponents like Hamilton and Stevensville.

“We were successful against those (Southern A) teams,” Benedict said. “For us, we’re gonna go out and play our game, and all I can say is good luck to them.”

Whitefish’s leading scorer is Emma Barron with 22 goals, and then have Olivia Genovese and Sophie Olson with 11.

The Bulldogs are dealing with some attrition, per Benedict, including one player out with a concussion and another, 10-goal scorer Brooke Roberts, with an ankle injury.

“We’re a little banged up but we’re deep, we’ll be fine,” Benedict said.

The Whitefish boys have Corvallis, a 7-3-2 team out of the Southern A, in a 2 p.m. game — and one the Bulldogs already beat in the regular season.

Corvallis’ leading scorer is Luke Sangster with 11 goals.

Whitefish has Gabe Menicke as its leading scorer with 22 goals, and Chase Sabin with 11 goals.

It’s difficult to see where Corvallis could derail Whitefish’s bid for a fourth consecutive state title, barring major disaster.

Columbia Falls boys are in Big Sky, taking on Lone Peak in a noon game, the first step in its bid to return to the state final. Lone Peak beat Billings Central Wednesday in a state play-in game to advance to quarterfinals.

The Wildcats (9-2-1, 6-2) played Lone Peak in the first game of the season, a 1-1 tie. Columbia Falls has three of the top goal scorers in the state in Kai Golan (who just set a new Columbia Falls school record for goals), Dale Blickhan, and Findley Sundberg.

Class A soccer quarterfinals

Boys

1 p.m. — 1E Park vs. 2S Stevensville

2 p.m. — 1N Whitefish vs. 3S Corvallis

11 a.m. — 1S Loyola vs. 3N Bigfork

Noon — 3E Lone Peak vs. 2N Columbia Falls

Girls

10 a.m. — 1E Billings Central vs. 2S Hamilton

Noon — 1N Whitefish vs. 3S Loyola

Noon — 1S Stevensville vs. 3N Bigfork

Noon — 2E Laurel vs. 2N Columbia Falls