Soccer game changes for Glacier, Flathead

The Flathead and Glacier high schools have been forced to reschedule or adjust several soccer games this week due to a bus driver shortage in the area.

Glacier was unable to provide transportation to Missoula for boys and girls games against Sentinel today. The games were rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9, according to Glacier athletic director Mark Dennehy.

“There’s not enough drivers to go around when we have multiple trips on the same day,” Dennehy said. “This hasn’t happened in my career as an AD … in 21 years it hasn’t happened.”

Flathead was scheduled to travel to Butte for Thursday’s games but instead will play host to the Bulldogs, who agreed to make the trip to Kalispell.

It’s the second time in less than a week that Flathead did not have a bus available for the soccer teams. The school rescheduled a game against Missoula Hellgate on Saturday to Tuesday, Sept. 14.

“It has never been this bad,” Flathead AD Bryce Wilson said Wednesday. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had to change or cancel a game before this week where we were scrambling like this.”

Wilson noted that he spoke with other ADs across the state who said they are having similar transportation issues.

Both Dennehy and Wilson said they expect more bus drivers will become available in the coming week, which should help to alleviate the shortage.