Wildcats blank Rams, advance to semis

COLUMBIA FALLS — If the first half was just Columbia Falls and Billings Central trading jabs, then the second half was where the big hits were landed.

Finley Sundberg delivered the knockout punch with his goal in the 75th minute of Saturday’s State A quarterfinal to give Columbia Falls a 2-0 win and send the Wildcats to their third consecutive state semifinal.

A sluggish first half prompted a fiery halftime speech from coach O’Brien Byrd. It clearly had its intended effect — the Wildcats came out swinging and Dale Blickhan scored three minutes into the second half. There was a collective sigh of relief.

Billings Central, the No. 2 seed in the east, was undefeated coming into Saturday’s game. The Rams were a second seed despite that record because Livingston won a tiebreaker for seeding.

Columbia Falls remains the last unbeaten team in the state at 13-0.

“To be honest, we predicted Billings Central to be the second-best team in the state,” Byrd said. “Billings Central gave us everything we could handle. In fact, they had more shots in the first half than we did.”

Byrd chalked up the play in the first half to a number of factors.

“We haven't been pushed,” he said. “And I think the pressure of us being the number one, the top dogs, was starting to get to us. We started to see some cracks in the first half. Even our leadership was quiet.”

Sundberg leads the state in goals, and his score Saturday was the KO. The speedy Sundberg seemed to feed on the crowd’s energy, got in on a 2-on-1 play with Kai Golan and sent the ball past the Rams’ keeper on the right side.

“Then we really were like, we could play really relaxed with that two goal cushion,” Byrd said.

Bryce Dunham picked up his eighth shutout of the season, which is one away from the Columbia Falls school record.

“I'm just proud of the boys, Byrd said. “I tell you what, we're a good enough team to have an entire half of soccer played poorly and still win. We just took down the last unbeaten team in the state and very much relieved to be playing one more week at least.”

Adam Schrader got an assist on Blickhan’s goal.

For the semifinal, Columbia Falls plays host to Missoula Loyola on Saturday.

Billings Central 0 0 — 0

Columbia Falls 0 2 — 2

CF — Dale Blickhan (Adam Schrader) 43:00

CF — Finley Sundberg (Kai Golan) 75:00

Shots — BC 14, CF 17; Corner kicks — BC 2, CF 6; Goalie saves — BC 7, CF 9 (Bryce Dunham); Fouls — BC 21, CF 14.