Full Count with Fritz Neighbor
Read Fritz Neighbor’s Full Count sports columns offering seasoned analysis of Montana athletics, high school sports, and college rivalries. With decades of experience, Neighbor delivers sharp commentary, storytelling, and context on teams, athletes, and major sports moments across Northwest Montana.
6 feet and beyond: That would be Wilde
What happens when you clear 5 feet, 6 inches in the high jump as a high school senior?
Full Count: Pretty much the same thing over and over
Most people would celebrate their team’s 13-2 season, as they should, but man did the Bobcats knock some shine off that record.
Full Count: Of Bobcats, Grizzlies and butterflies
The beautiful Great Divide Trophy is not at stake Saturday when the Grizzlies and Bobcats battle in what we’re now calling “The Super Brawl” in Bozeman.
Full Count: A beginning, a middle and a next game
Much has already been made about the postgame dust-up between Montana State running back Julius Davis and an opposing player, and his coach, and his teammate, and I don’t mean to pile on.
Full Count: Officially official for Bravettes’ coach Downing
When Amber Downing was named head coach of Flathead’s girls wrestling program on June 1, it was a first for the high school.
Full Count: A (chicken or) Egg Bowl of our own
The 124th Cat-Griz game, lately known as the Brawl of the Wild, brought back that chicken-or-the-egg question about Montana’s offense:
Full Count: Not even mad; just disappointed
The ESPN College GameDay program that airs each Saturday morning during football season seemed like it would be in Missoula this week.
Full Count: Vals are no less amazing this season
When we last checked in with Bigfork soccer coach Park Schara, he was giddy about his Valkyries and their 1-1 draw with Laurel on Aug. 26, 2022.
Appreciating the buzz out of Hornetville
I’m going to miss these guys.
Full Count: A flip-flop at least half of us can understand
Count me unsurprised that the fifth-ranked Montana State Bobcats are ahead of the No. 4 Montana Grizzlies in the first FCS Playoff Selection Committee’s Top 10…
Allen, Ah Yat, Bell and Kay: Who did it better?
The first weekend of October, if you extended it backwards to Thursday the 2nd, brought yours truly dangerously close to a football overdose.
Full Count: Fairways and greens for the Green and Gold
Some 2,200 miles separate Asheville, N.C., from Whitefish, which is a lot, but at the end of that journey Scott Minton found two familiar sights: Mountains and impressive golf courses.
Full Count: Flathead A’s -- Stopping the unstoppable
There were a couple unstoppable forces facing the Flathead A’s U16 baseball team last weekend: The earth’s rotation and Charlie Getlinger.
Full Count: Buckmaster holds onto pitching itch
Bryce Buckmaster was pretty much unhittable for 600 pitches this season, anchoring a solid starting rotation for the American Legion Kalispell Lakers.
Full Count: Faces change but Bobcats stay constant
Someone pointed out to Montana State coach Brent Vigen, during the Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff, that just five of the 24 players present for interviews…
Full Count: (Flip Darling) Field of Dreams beckons again
The idea to have a Division I women’s soccer exhibition in Columbia Falls had been on O’Brien Byrd’s mind for some time, and when it finally happened — the Mon…