School may begin Sept. 6th here in the Bitterroot but elsewhere in the state, the classrooms have been full. But even though school isn’t in session, the fall sports season began on August 15th when practiced began for football, soccer, golf, volleyball and cross-country. This weekend marked the first games on the soccer fields for Hamilton, Corvallis and Stevensville
Hamilton’s Daymon Halstead led his team to their first victory of the season with three goals in the 5-0 victory over the Laurel Locomotives. Halstead opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 12 minutes into the match. He followed that up 14 minutes later when he took an assist from David Feldmann to score. Halstead scored his final goal off a Dace Moerkerke assist at the 33-minute mark. John Ryker scored early in the second half when Moerkerke booted him the ball. Moerkerke finished the scoring for the Broncs off of a Halstead assist. Hamilton had 17 shots on goal while Laurel only had seven shots. Bronc keeper Niall Gallagher-Clancy had five saves.
Hamilton took on Billings Central on Saturday and lost, 2-0.
The Hamilton girls lost to Laurel, 2-1, in a close match. Hamilton took an early lead when Casey Shifflett look an Erin Loranger assist at 36 minutes into the match. Laurel rallied in the second half with a goal by Alexis Lewis on a penalty kick and then another goal by Bailey Dooper with only six minutes remaining in the game.
Hamilton lost to Billings Central, 6-1, on Saturday.
The Corvallis boys lost to Billings Central, 3-0. Corvallis’ goalkeeper Shelby Gifford had 12 saves. The Corvallis girls lost to Billings Central, 4-1. Ayden Eickhoff scored the lone goal for the Blue Devils. Roxy Rademacher had 17 saves for Corvallis in the match.
Laurel defeated the Corvallis boys, 2-1, on Saturday. D.J. Pekco tied the game with a Corvallis goal at 24 minutes off of a John Carmona assist. Laurel’s Tyson Adams booted the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the game. Corvallis had four shots on goal while Laurel had five shots. Shelby Gifford had nine saves for the Blue Devils.
The Corvallis girls lost to Laurel, 3-0. Corvallis took 10 shots and Rademacher had 10 saves for the Blue Devils.
Stevensville lost to Whitefish, 7-0. J. J. O’Bannon had 15 saves for the ‘Jackets. The Stevensville girls also lost to Whitefish, 12-3. Bridget butler, Mersadiez Leese and Brooke Constantino each had goals for Stevensville.