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
Sapa goes big, Wildcats take third
BUTTE — A state trophy was a long time coming for the Columbia Falls Wildcats, who beat Butte Central 58-53 Saturday in the State A boys basketball consolation game. So was a big game from Reggie Sapa.
State A: Davey lifts Valkyries into title game
BUTTE — If the final State A girls basketball semifinal was a slog for the Bigfork Valkyries, well, Ava Davey had just about as fine a 4.9 seconds as you can have.
AA: Wolfpack girls fall to unbeaten Skyview
MISSOULA — Things didn’t look great at halftime at Dahlberg Arena, where the Glacier girls trailed Billings Skyview 29-18 in the first round of the State AA basketball tournament.
Chasing History
The Bigfork Valkyries have a shot at a unique repeat
Last March the Bigfork Valkyries put a bow on their final season in Class B, sweeping through three opponents to win the program’s first state basketball championship. A year later? These Vals might just make history.
State AA: Wolfpack girls take aim at 21-0 Skyview
The State AA basketball tournaments begin Thursday at Dahlberg Arena on the University of Montana campus, and Kalispell is represented by one upstart squad: The Glacier girls.
Bravettes, Pack girls hope to spring upsets
The Flathead Bravettes and Glacier Wolfpack didn’t figure to be the bottom two seeds going into the Western AA Divisional that starts Thursday in Butte, but that’s how it worked out.
Frontier tourneys have Flathead Valley feel
As the Frontier Conference basketball tournaments approach, a question is raised: When’s the last time Aubrie Rademacher of Glacier High (Class of 2020) and Maddy Moy of Flathead (‘23) squared off? Turns out it was less than a week ago.
Tunnel Vision
A standout on the court, Tommy Running Rabbit has Griz gridiron goals
The Browning Indians boys basketball team has made quite a run, with nine straight wins and its first Northwest A regular-season title in four years in hand.
Excellent finale
Kastelitz, Wolfpack cruise in Harkins’ last home game
The Glacier Wolfpack have been looking for that signature boys basketball win this season, and Tuesday they got it: A tightly-defended, crushed-them-on-the-glass 63-40 win over the powerful Missoula Hellgate Knights.
Kiera Sullivan finds her calling
Wolfpack senior works back from torn ACL
What was supposed to happen was, Kiera Sullivan would keep tackling, shooting and sprinting from the end of her 2022 school year straight through to today.
State Swimming: Glacier school records fall
The team results weren’t quite what Karen Bouda or the Glacier Wolfpack wanted, but the veteran swim coach for both of Kalispell’s AA schools prefers to stay positive.
Butte tops Bravettes, Braves at Flathead gym
Flathead’s Braves and Bravettes fell short on the basketball court Saturday afternoon, with visiting Butte closing out one game late (girls) and building a big lead early (boys) for two Western AA wins.
Prep Hoops: Wolfpack girls win, boys fall to Butte
A mild upset by the Glacier girls seemed to set the host Wolfpack up for a basketball sweep against visiting Butte Friday. The Bulldogs’ Hudson Luedtke had other ideas.
State Wrestling: Brawlers look to get back to top
Ronan dual threat at State
The way Jeff Thompson sees it, it’s a four-team race at the State AA boys wrestling meet that begins Friday at First Interstate Arena.
Thompson Twins ready to roll
Jeff Thompson remembers being surprised that one child turned out to be two, but maybe he shouldn’t have. His wife was a twin, and his mom as a twin, and so it seemed like the odds were in their favor.
Column: Greenhorns make history on BC ice
The Greenhorns made history on Jan. 21 at Lake Windermere, British Columbia, and it’s at least partly because a group of Whitefish High graduates started playing Wii.
Caging Cousins
Kelch, Kastelitz standout for Whitefish, Glacier hoops
This is a story about Mason Kelch and Cohen Kastelitz, first cousins who happen to lead their respective basketball teams — the Whitefish Bulldogs and Glacier Wolfpack — in scoring and rebounding.
Kats' coach Cary Finberg to step down after season
COLUMBIA FALLS — Come December things will look different at the Columbia Falls High School gym.
A cut above
Retooled Bravettes rely more than ever on Kennedy Moore
Kennedy Moore figures she gets her height — she’s 6-foot-2 these days — from her grandfathers, both of whom stand 6-5.
Crosstown Hoops: Pack girls want to stop skid; Braves seek first W
Coming into their Crosstown game at 6 p.m. Friday at the Flathead gym, neither the host Bravettes nor the visiting Glacier Wolfpack girls basketball teams have been scoring in bunches.
Crosstown mat battles are set
Flathead wrestling teams head to Glacier for duals
It wasn’t on purpose that this year’s Crosstown wrestling duals have a little extra build-up: Blame Montana weather, with last week’s blizzard wiping out, among other events, the Rocky Mountain Invitational in Missoula.
Column: Regrettable detail, remarkable season
The most recent press conference hall of fame moment, where Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles was asked about playing in frigid Detroit on Sunday — “You do know we play indoors, right?” Bowles answered — has me thinking about last Sept. 2.
Montana fans travel far to see Grizzlies in FCS title game
The Montana Grizzlies are back in the NCAA Division I Football Championship for the first time since 2009, and there’s no way Mark Josephson wasn’t going to be there in person.
Bring on the Jacks
Grizzlies take underdog role into FCS title game
FRISCO, Texas — For No. 2 Montana to pull off the upset of No.1 South Dakota State Sunday, some things are going to have to hold up for the 13-1 Grizzlies.
Something will have to give when Jacks, Griz battle again
For Montana coach Bobby Hauck, it’s a string of three losses in these games. Meanwhile the defending champion Jackrabbits are looking for their first-ever win over Montana.
Column: A memorable Texas trip is quite possible
Before there was a trip to Frisco, Texas, there were three voyages to Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Nuce is Loose
Glacier product returns for Grizzlies’ playoff run
When we checked in with Henry Nuce in August, he was talking about donating stem cells to a cancer patient and accepting that his junior season with the Montana Grizzlies would have to wait.
Full Count: Fritz Neighbor's top 10 for 2023
As a trip to the FCS title game looms, I wonder at times if I’m getting too old for this.
We call it, 'Bison': Another Griz win highlighted by special teams
Another Griz win is highlighted by special teams plays
MISSOULA — This is getting to be ridiculous, how special teams, and especially the punt returns of Junior Bergen, keep tilting games in the Montana Grizzlies’ favor.
Grizzlies topple Bison 31-29 in double OT
MISSOULA — For the first time to Frisco go the Montana Grizzlies, who needed two overtimes to get past North Dakota State 31-29 in a wild FCS semifinal game Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Grizzlies hunt Bison victory for chance at championship
Bobby Hauck made no bones about it Monday: The North Dakota State Bison looked very good in their 45-17 FCS quarterfinal win last week.
Glacier, Flathead wrestlers head to Holiday tourney
The local high schools are getting in plenty of action in pre-Christmas break, and no sport is getting more done than wrestling.
Montana Grizzlies return to FCS semifinals with win over Furman
Bergen’s 2 special teams TDs boost UM
MISSOULA — To get to their first semifinal home game in 14 seasons, Montana needed Junior Bergen to do something no Griz had done in 21.
Wolfpack gather forces for another tourney run
Glacier girls look to rise up Western AA ranks
Last season was a banner one for the Glacier boys basketball team, which went 17-8 and picked up the second State AA trophy in program history with a third-place finish.
Bravettes reload after runner-up finish
Flathead boys, also under new leadership, look ahead
The Flathead Bravettes have changed coaches and graduated most of their minutes off a team that played in the State AA girls basketball championship last March, but we shouldn’t count them out.
Where was everyone in ‘01
Griz to meet Furman in rematch of FCS title game
The Montana Grizzlies’ last title? That came in 2001, 13-6 over a little school in Greenville, South Carolina called Furman. Little, as in 3,000 students were enrolled there at the time.
Snow blinded: Grizzlies roll past Blue Hens, 49-19
MISSOULA — The snow started right before kickoff Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, and not much else went right for the Delaware Blue Hens from there.
Cats, Griz back at it
Four Big Sky teams play Saturday
The Big Sky Conference will start playing in the afternoon and go well until after dark Saturday, with four teams having Football Championship Subdivision second-round playoff games.
Flathead wrestlers fine with losing favored status
After two straight State AA championships Flathead’s boys wrestling team slipped to second at last year’s tournament, and now the Brave Brawlers are right where coach Jeff Thompson likes them.
Glacier grapplers look to replace seniors, fill weights
The Glacier boys wrestling team lost five seniors off last year’s squad, but the good news is one half of its state placers return.
The Long Goodbye
Eureka's Garrett Graves closed out a long Griz career
For many college football players, including those that matriculate through the University of Montana, there is a common refrain: I blinked, and it was over. Garrett Graves is not one of those players.
Big Sky Notes: Momentous return
For a second in the second half of Saturday’s Brawl of the Wild, the 122nd renewal of the Cat-Griz game, it looked a little like Montana’s trip to Idaho the month before.
Trending up: McDowell keys Grizzlies’ win over Bobcats
The Montana Grizzlies are No. 3 with a bullet after beating Montana State decisively, 37-7, in the 122nd Brawl of the Wild at foggy Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Harrison, Hawks hold off Pack for AA crown
Glacier’s talented, senior-laden squad gave the 12-0 Hawks — last year’s State AA runners up — a run.
AA football: Pack looks to break through against Bozeman
A second football championship won’t be easy for the Glacier Wolfpack, since they have to go through the unbeaten Bozeman Hawks, and on the road, to make it happen.
One of a Keim
Glacier's Isaac Keim rises up as Wolfpack surges to AA title game
As State AA semifinal games go, Glacier’s Isaac Keim had a good one in the Wolfpack’s 35-14 win over Gallatin.
Columbia Falls Wildcats get a rematch for state football title
The Dillon Beavers’ 10-0 mark this season includes a 22-19 win over the Columbia Falls Wildcats, which may or not mean much Saturday.
122nd Brawl shaping up as biggest ever
It’s a top-five matchup and the Big Sky Conference championship hangs in the balance, so obviously the 122nd Brawl of the Wild needs no hype.
Big Sky notes: Something's gotta give Saturday
It’s that time of year again: When something has to give.
Wildcats get windy win over Blue Devils
CORVALLIS — Columbia Falls’ 19-7 win over Corvallis Saturday was as tough as advertised, — and with the usual suspects stymied by a sturdy wind and stingy Blue Devil defense, the play of the game came from a Wildcat who wasn’t supposed to be in there.