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
AA Football: Glacier earns title shot, 35-14
Glacier’s 35-14 win over Gallatin, in the State AA football semifinals Friday at Legends Stadium, didn’t have your usual number of explosive Wolfpack plays. Big plays? Plenty of those.
Prep football: Pack, Wildcats head into semis
Glacier and Columbia Falls have state championship berths in sight, with the Wolfpack seeking their first AA title game since 2016 and the Wildcats chasing their first since winning the 2017 title.
Column: Brisendine kicks open door to D-1
A few years ago, after watching a 5-foot-4 Glacier freshman bury a game-clinching goal from 70 feet in playoff win over Billings Skyview, a local writer wondered if Reagan Brisendine might someday add her name to the Legends Stadium Wall of Fame.
State Volleyball: Pack, Bulldogs and Lions rise up
Two of the cool things about Class AA volleyball is the pair of crossover tournaments held during the season, in which the Western AA squads take measure of their counterparts from the Eastern AA.
AA football: Pack puts away Spartans
The Sentinel Spartans brought more puzzles to solve for the Glacier Wolfpack Friday, but in the end — thanks to four second-half touchdown passes by Jackson Presley — the hosts prevailed 46-12.
Column: Musings of an aging sports editor
On March 10, 2010, I and former fellow Missoulian sports writer Nick Lockridge found ourselves at Tiny’s Tavern in Billings.
Glacier kicks off football playoff games
Eureka, C-Falls play Saturday
The State AA, A and B football playoffs have a plenty of local flavor, along with a bit of mystery.
Glacier, Flathead spikers head to Butte
The Western AA Divisional volleyball tournament begins Thursday in the spacious Butte Civic Center, and Kalispell has a pair of teams with the very reachable goal of the State AA next week at Montana State.
Big Sky Notes: Check out the new guys
Montana wasn’t the only Big Sky Conference football team to unveil a true freshman quarterback this past Saturday — the Grizzlies’ next opponent did the same with more impressive results.
Columbia Falls downs Whitefish 42-0 in playoffs
Columbia Falls quarterback Cody Schweikert threw for two touchdowns and ran for three, and the host Wildcats beat Whitefish 42-0 on a chilly Friday night.
Cody Schweikert latest in standout C-Falls QBs
In the 12 seasons Jaxon Schweikert has guided the Columbia Falls football program, the Wildcats have had their share of prolific quarterbacks.
Cat-Dog II set for Friday
Bigfork on road, Eureka at home as football playoffs begin
When Whitefish pinned a 20-14 overtime loss on Columbia Falls on Sept. 15, it marked the first game that first-year Bulldogs’ coach Brett Bollweg went all-in with Carson Gulick at quarterback.
Range Riders pick new manager
The Glacier Range Riders will have their third manager in three seasons in 2024, with the announcement Tuesday that Paul Fletcher will lead the Pioneer League baseball team going forward.
Fox picked to coach Bravettes basketball
The Flathead Bravettes basketball program has a new coach and she is a familiar face: Kaylee Fox, a longtime assistant at the school.
Browning boys heat up; Hardin girls too good for A
It was unseasonably warm at Rebecca Farm for the Montana State Cross Country Championships Saturday, as if the Browning boys needed help heating up.
Knights, Bison race to AA titles
Flathead has 3 All-State runners, Glacier 2
The State AA cross country landscape has its perennial powers, and it figured that Missoula Hellgate’s girls and Bozeman’s boys would run to state titles Saturday at Rebecca Farm.
Presley, Wolfpack rally past Sentinel
Jackson Presley’s three second-half touchdown passes ended Missoula Sentinel’s win streak over Glacier at six games Thursday.
State cross country: Backyard battle in Class A
Rebecca Farm is host to the 60th Montana State Cross Country Championships Saturday, and for the first time since 2020.
Doubling up: Standout Flathead runner Rumsey Eash added soccer to her duties this fall
Lilli Rumsey Eash is a good-bordering on-great cross country runner who came into 2023 with three All-State finishes to her credit.
Wolfpack welcomes Spartans; Flathead on road to play Hellgate
The Missoula Sentinel Spartans haven’t gone anywhere: The 2020-21 State AA champions still have a battle-hardened quarterback, a pair of Division I receivers and talent besides.
Glacier’s Henry Sellards is everything you’d want in a left tackle
At 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, Henry Sellards seems to have popped out of a left tackle mold and onto the gridiron for the Glacier Wolfpack.
Western A: compelling, mystifying
High school football’s regular season is winding down across Montana, and in this corner of the state, the second-highest classification has some explaining to do.
Big Sky notes: Get ready for Big Sky After Dark II
Big Sky Conference After Dark put on a great show last Saturday; it figures to do the same this weekend.
Flathead football falls, 28-7
A mysterious band of football players put together a workmanlike, 28-7 football win over the Flathead Braves Friday. According to the schedule it was Helena Capital.
Strong on the outside: Brody Thornsberry has been a consistent threat for the Flathead Braves
Second-year coach Caleb Aland is striving to steady the Flathead High football program, one that — including Aland — hired three head coaches in four seasons.
Braves bring Bruins back to Legends
Looking toward Friday’s Western AA football matchup with Helena Capital, Flathead coach Caleb Aland figures the Bruins probably got their bad game at Legends Stadium out of the way.
Cast of 1000s put Savik on Legends Wall
Lew Savik, 82 years old and officially now a Legend, was asked how he was doing the other day.
Glacier packs up to take on Big Sky
As the Glacier Wolfpack wound up preparation for a Thursday road game against Missoula Big Sky, coach Grady Bennett was thinking long-term and short.
Big Sky Notes: Little Brown (low-calorie) Stein
The Little Brown Stein is at stake this weekend, and if you wondered how the traveling trophy for which the Montana Grizzlies and Idaho Vandals battle came about, well, Libby’s own Jerek Wolcott is here to help.
Champion Falcons stymie Lions, 35-14
FLORENCE — Whalen Memorial Field, the gridiron shrouded in trees behind Florence-Carlton High School, played out like this for the two-time defending State B champion Falcons Friday: Short field for us, long one for you.
Wolfpack runs past Braves in 2nd half
Kobe Dorcheus, the junior half of Glacier’s running back tandem, was a tough tackle on Thursday night in the Wolfpack’s 42-6 Crosstown win over Flathead.
Tristan Butts has become a big-play receiver for unbeaten Eureka
Trevor Utter was a sophomore in high school when Jeff Casazza set Eureka’s single-game record for receiving yards: 193, in 1991. “It was a weird thing,” Utter, in his 12th season as the Lions’ head coach, remembered. “Jeff was fast, and we were at Conrad, and it was three passes. They were stacking the box, and Jeff just ran deep. Eighty-yard bomb, 80-yard bomb…”
Unique time, look to Crosstown
The 17th Crosstown football game is unique in that it has a Thursday night kickoff instead of Friday. It also sets Flathead’s unique offense against a Glacier team with a unique set of skill players.
Bobcat running back room continues to make noise
There are running back rooms and there is what the No. 2-ranked Montana State Bobcats seem to have put together this season, enroute to a 5-1 start.
Grizzlies subdue Bengals, 28-20
Saturday will go down as a bounce-back win for the Montana Grizzlies, who rode Clifton McDowell’s running and throwing to a 28-20 win over the Idaho State Bengals.
Glacier handles Capital, 56-0
Glacier coach Grady Bennett feels the 2023 Wolfpack are a little more together — and Friday, together, they put a complete thumping on the defending state champions.
Wolfpack faces big Bruin test
Flathead on road to play Helena High
The tests keep coming for the Glacier Wolfpack, who on Friday will host the defending state champion Helena Capital Bruins in a key Western AA football game.
Tudor steps down as Bravettes coach
The Flathead Bravettes basketball team will look to build on last year’s state title game appearance with a new coach: Sam Tudor announced his resignation Wednesday.
Pack boys chasing Sentinel; Pirate girls aim for A repeat
The Glacier Wolfpack’s run through the AA boys golf campaign took a little detour last week at Bill Roberts Golf Course, where Missoula Sentinel decided to stop the streak.
Seeking gold: Pair of aces lead Pirates’ chase for golf title
This has been quite a run for the Polson boys golfers, a quintet of seniors that will play their final high school meet Friday and Saturday, the State A tournament in Sidney.
Flathead fired up to battle Bulldogs
Glacier faces Hellgate on road Friday
The Flathead Braves of 2023 have moved the football capably, second-year coach Caleb Aland noted this week. It’s the last 25 yards or so that have been difficult.
Flathead wrestler Anders Thompson commits to Wyoming
A big spring and summer has taken a little pressure off this coming winter for Anders Thompson, who committed to wrestle for the University of Wyoming Sunday evening.
Sam Engellant plays big for deep Wolfpack
Heading into the Western AA Divisional golf tournament Wednesday and Thursday at Bill Roberts Golf Course, the Glacier Wolfpack boys are cruising.
Griz hold off Ferris St., 17-10
It says in the scoring summary that Nick Ostmo’s 3-yard run to the pylon at 1:39 of the third quarter was the difference in Montana’s 17-10 win over Ferris State Saturday.
Wolfpack finish off Helena, 35-7
Kash Goicoechea started the ball rolling for the Glacier Wolfpack Friday, and Cohen Kastelitz finished things off.
Glacier’s Griz-bound Goicoechea wants to finish strong
Glacier has won quite a few football games since this senior class came on the scene as sophomores, and yet it’s hard not to notice something. The Wolfpack is a little bit better when Kash Goicoechea is on the field.
Pack try to bounce back against Helena High
The Glacier Wolfpack welcomes Helena High to Legends Stadium knowing that a) they didn’t plan to start out 0-1 in Western AA play and b) the Bengals have been tough to beat.
Riders thrown by the Ponies down stretch
With the way they played the first half, it should have been a lock that nobody besides Missoula would have a better overall record in the Pioneer League than the Glacier Range Riders.
Confident Braves ready for Thursday tilt against Sentinel
The Flathead Braves feel like they’re making up ground on their football competition, and as an example can compare last Friday’s score against Missoula Big Sky — a 21-20 loss — to last year’s outcome.
Big Sky Notes: Griz face interesting foe in DII power Ferris State
The Montana Grizzlies had the far less strenuous football game last Saturday compared to Montana State, which lost a 20-16 heartbreaker at top-ranked South Dakota State. The roles could be reversed this Saturday. The Griz, who swamped Utah Tech 43-13 last week, brings two-time Division II champion Ferris State to Missoula while the Cats play host to Stetson of the Pioneer League.