FRITZ NEIGHBOR
SPORTS EDITOR
Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast.
IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together.
Recent Stories
Column: Where QBs go - but not to stay
It was a spring evening a couple years ago when a longtime friend — we’d played fastpitch together, and like me he is maybe a little too fond of Red’s Bar — made an off-hand yet salient point.
Sterling defenses await Cats, Griz
A couple statistically strong defenses await the Montana State Bobcats and Montana Grizzlies Saturday, and the old cliche — something has to give — applies times two.
AA wrestling teams hit mats Saturday
Things are changing in the prep wrestling world — we have new weight classes in Montana — but there are also some constants.
Vigen: 'Not going to let it happen'
It was a year ago, in this very round of the FCS playoffs, that Montana State’s season came to a stunning close with a 35-34 home playoff loss to North Dakota State.
Griz notebook: Montana was too special for TSU
MISSOULA — Tennessee State football coach Eddie George has played and seen a lot of football, and he had the Montana Grizzlies pretty well scouted coming into their first-round FCS playoff game Saturday.
Bergen times two
Montana tops Tennessee State thanks to a pair of punt return TDs
The Tennessee State Tigers did a lot of things right Saturday night at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, worrying the host Montana Grizzlies with big plays and ball-hawking defense. The major issues? Two jail-break snaps that lost big yardage; a bevy of false starts; and two punts that got to the hands of Junior Bergen.
Too many Joneses
Bobcats win 123rd Brawl, 34-11 over Griz
BOZEMAN — The Montana State Bobcats had too much for the Montana Grizzlies to handle Saturday.
Bruins claw past Wolfpack, 34-21
HELENA — The Glacier Wolfpack hoped a second chance at Helena Capital would turn out better, and that a surprising surge into the State AA football championship would bring exaltation.
Cat-Griz Football Capsule
o. 9/10 Montana at No. 2 Montana St. When: Saturday, noon; TV — CBS (KPAX). Where: Bobcat Stadium (17,777 FieldTurf)
Brawl: A rivalry with lasting power
Given the conference upheaval in the Bowl Championship Subdivision of college football, a rivalry game like Saturday’s in Bozeman — the 123rd Brawl of the Wild — could soon be the Grandaddy Of Them All.
Cat-Griz: Who will be most special
The last three Cat-Griz games have been lopsided affairs won by the home team, and it is easy to find reasons.
Column: Senior season a test for Thompson
What was supposed to happen, coming off a scintillating 2023 season, was that Skyleigh Thompson would again be a force for the Montana Grizzlies soccer team her senior year this fall.
Cats and Griz football capsules
Portland St. at No. 10/11 Montana When: Saturday, 1 p.m.; TV — MTN. Web — ESPN+; Radio — Grizzly Radio Network
In Bigfork, good things keep arriving in 2s
One of the cool things about Ariel Putman’s time coaching Bigfork volleyball is that she has coached three sets of twins.
Battling at The Brick: Volleyball teams head to Bozeman for state tourney
The All-Class State Volleyball Tournament gets underway at 10 a.m. Thursday, and Flathead Valley teams won’t waste any time getting warmed up at “The Brick,” as we call Brick Breeden Field House in Bozeman.
Aggies rally past Griz
UC Davis shook off a slow start with a fine finish Saturday, scoring the final 17 points of their Big Sky Conference showdown with Montana to beat the Grizzlies 30-14.
Flathead, Glacier take to road with State at stake
Volleyball play-in games at Hellgate, Butte
Pass the jelly tree: While the Glacier Wolfpack gets to enjoy some home cooking this weekend, the football squads from Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Eureka are on the road.
Cats, Griz Capsules
Sacramento St. at No. 2/2 Montana State
Column: Key for Eureka is having a good, even great Day
OT header lifts Billings Central, 3-2
One of the factors behind Eureka’s long-term success on the high school gridiron is that coach Trevor Utter has been a middle school principal for 18 years.
Bulldog Determination
Carson Gulick found his spot: as Whitefish QB
It was the summer of 2023 and Carson Gulick was at a crossroads.
Lions on 464-mile hunt for playoff win
The Eureka Lions’ reward for dropping a pair of Western B football conference games — a rare occurrence around this corner of Montana — is a quick trip to Glasgow.
Delaney wins A girls title; Wildkats 2nd as team
MISSOULA — Morgan Delaney had the speed and Columbia Falls had the depth.
State Cross Country: Bissen, Thiel finish third in AA
Glacier’s girls take fourth in team race
MISSOULA — Glacier’s Owen Thiel and Lauren Bissen each had run the times to win the individual titles at the AA portion of the State Cross Country Championships Saturday.
Cross country teams look for perfect ending
The State Cross Country Championships are Saturday at the University of Montana Golf Course, and the weather should be a runner’s dream: 42 degrees at 11 a.m., when the Class B girls start things off; warming up to 55 by 2 p.m., when the AA boys get going.
Glacier's Reese Ramey right in the middle
The Wolfpack senior captain leads by example
Ramey is one of seven seniors on a nine-win Glacier squad that has a State AA soccer playoff game with Helena Capital today at 3 p.m., at Legends Stadium.
Big Sky notes: The rich get a little richer
Lost in Montana State’s vaunted rushing attack — the Bobcats average 6.59 yards a carry and 311.4 yards a game, both second in the Football Champion Subdivision — is that Julius Davis hasn’t had one carry.
Fife, Griz drop Lumberjacks
The Montana Grizzlies seem to have the big finish figured out for 2024, after rallying again in the second half of a 31-20 victory over Northern Arizona Saturday in their homecoming game.
Column: From Rawson to the Grizzlies' Hall of Fame
Dylan McFarland confirmed that he was in Washington-Grizzly Stadium Saturday, watching Weber State prevail over his alma mater 55-48, and he is surprised as anybody that it was the Wildcats’ fifth win in six games against the Griz.
Bridger Smith happy to be back with the Pack
A budding receiver working out with a who’s-who of Salt Lake City-area quarterbacks, Bridger Smith didn’t figure he’d wind up in Kalispell, Montana, his sophomore year of high school.
Pack, Braves looking to get right at crosstown
The Crosstown football game, set for 7 p.m. tonight at Legends Stadium, pits two teams yearning to get going in the right direction.
Weber State wins in OT
The Montana Grizzlies keep setting the wrong kind of records. On Saturday they gave up the most points ever allowed at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, 55, which is what Weber State tallied to take a seven-point Big Sky Conference victory, in overtime.
Crosstown I is Thursday at Flathead
Crosstown I, Volleyball Edition is set for Thursday.
Fortunate Son: Sam Engellant enjoys 2 years of fairways and greens
It was Sept. 19, the second round of the Kalispell Invitational golf tournament was winding down, and Sam Engellant was in trouble.
Big Sky notes: A surplus of yards, on both sides
The Montana Grizzlies gained 701 yards Saturday, in their first win on the red turf of Roos Field, for the second-biggest offensive output in the football program’s history.
Major decision takes Troupe to rugby pitch
Sawyer Troupe reached the pinnacle of high school wrestling on Feb. 10, pinning Bozeman High’s Hudson Wiens in 2 minutes, 37 seconds in the State AA heavyweight finals.
Big Sky: Griz try to break through at struggling EWU
You could definitely say that Eastern Washington’s football program had “it” going on this century, with a national title in 2010 and perennial playoff teams behind strong quarterback play.
Griz, Cats football capsules
When the Grizzlies have the ball: Junior Bergen’s No. 5 jersey showed up last week, and that will help an offense that stalled the second half at North Dakota, but was unstoppable Saturday against Morehead State.
Big Sky Notes: Catamounts may be tough to tame
The Western Carolina Catamounts, who visit Washington-Grizzly Stadium Saturday at 1 p.m. for a non-conference football game, are tough to figure.
Marquee Matchup: Crosstown flag football
Legends Stadium is the place to be Thursday night at 7. Or even 6 p.m., or 5.
Braves look to shake off loss in Missoula
Woelfle fires ace
Coming off a baseball score loss, the Flathead Football Braves intend to regroup, refortify and rebound.
Big Sky notebook: Griz look to bounce back
Woelfle fires ace
The weekly Montana Grizzly football press conferences aren’t generally a lengthy affair, and Monday’s edition unsurprisingly — given UM’s second-half performance in a 27-24 loss at North Dakota — was tight.
Prep Football: Glacier has home opener; Flathead heads to Belgrade
After a promising road win, the Glacier Wolfpack football team heads into its home opener Friday night looking simply to improve.
Ready at the Net
Glacier, Flathead volleyball teams gear up
Volleyball season has officially begun for the Glacier Wolfpack and Flathead Bravettes, and both teams are having to rebuild a bit, each with just 2-3 seniors.
Column: Samson hits send, lands big fish
It was March of this year that Kyle Samson, seeking a home football game for his Montana Tech Orediggers, did something drastic.
Flathead soccer teams shoot for success in 2024
With a match under their belt, the Flathead Braves and Bravettes can look ahead to better results this soccer season.
Notebook: Two hot Big Sky Conference teams
It was a hot one for the Montana schools of the Big Sky Conference Saturday, or rather a hot two.
Fife, Griz hold off Missouri State
MISSOULA — Keali’i Ah Yat was fine. Logan Fife was finer.
CMR rides big plays past Braves
It was those one-play drives that were killer.
AA Football: Braves picking up speed
The Flathead Braves are still young, as they head into the 2024 football season, but could still be fierce.
Soccer: C-Falls girls, boys look to make noise
The Whitefish boys and girls had banner soccer seasons in 2023, ending with State A championships for both programs. Now it might be Columbia Falls’ turn.