When Florence and Loyola meet, there are usually fireworks of some such nature. Emotions are always high and the nerves are stretched thin. Friday night was no different. The Florence/Loyola football game began with fireworks when the Falcons were introduced at Rollin Field in Missoula. The night sky lit up each time a Falcon was introduced and it looked as if the trend would continue throughout the night. But as the night wore on, the game became a defensive match with each team playing tough, hard-hitting defense. When the final buzzer sounded, Loyola won, 14-7.

Loyola learned early in the first quarter that the Falcons were going to be tough on defense when Ram quarterback Brandon Haggarty was sacked by Florence’s Tanner Galusha. Although the Rams came back on their next possession and scored, they knew the Florence defense was going to be in their faces all night. And they were.

Loyola scored first on a 32-yard run by Kevin Berland. On the ensuing kickoff, Florence fumbled and Loyola recovered the ball on the 10-yard line. After being pushed back once, Haggarty broke through and made it to the end zone for another Loyola touchdown.

After hanging their heads for about 10 seconds, the Falcons got busy. They marched down the field and scored when quarterback Spencer Burns followed his linemen through for the touchdown and put Florence on the board. But then the defense took over for both sides with most of the action being played right in the middle of the field. Florence was close to scoring in the final minute of the half and had the momentum on their side after recovering a Loyola fumble at the 29-yard line. With Burns back to pass, what looked to be interference on Loyola’s part was not called. The play took the wind out of the Falcons’ sails and the half ended with no score.

“We let them play on a short field too often,” said Florence coach Terry Maki. “We need to keep the drives going and capitalize on the turnovers and our field position.”

After making a few adjustments at the half, it looked as if Florence may have found the key to breaking the Ram defense. Quarterback Burns moved up out of the pocket to right over the center. And the Falcons unleashed a new running back, Tanner Galusha. Galusha said he had done some rushing when he was younger but this was the first time in a long time he played the full back position. Time after time he ran right at the Loyola line and time after time it took four or five players to bring him down. He finished the night with 55 hard earned yards on 17 carries, all in the second half.

Burns finished the night with 58 yards passing and completed five of 14 passes with one interception. He had 101 yards rushing on 19 carries. Galusha had four catches for 54 yards in addition to his rushing yards.

Florence has another tough game this Friday night. The Powell County Wardens are nipping at the second place Falcons heels and will be another test for the Falcons. The winner of that game will advance to the playoffs. Loyola sealed up first place with the win over Florence.

Hamilton squared off against Corvallis in Hamilton. There was only one point difference at the end of the first half with the Broncs on top, 7-6. But Hamilton scored once in the third quarter and once in the fourth to top the Blue Devils, 21-12.

The Broncs tallied up 342 yards rushing and two rushing TDs. Cody Noffsinger had 160 yards for the night on 32 carries and had one three yard scoring run. Paul Donaldson added another 123 yards on the ground and was at the receiving end of a Josh Brenneman pass for 24 yards and the final touchdown of the game. Brenneman also scored on a seven-yard run.

Trevor Brown opened up Corvallis’ offense when he caught a 44-yard pass from Keenan Strong. The second Blue Devil touchdown was the result of a 22-yard pass from Strong to Rodee Anderson.

Victor defeated Seeley-Swan, 55-13, in Western C action on Saturday. The Pirates scored twice in the first quarter and then opened the throttle and went to town. Kurt Manley connected with Alex Bishop three times for touchdowns. Randy Lewis also had a touchdown reception. Lewis rushed for 80 yards and Dustin Harris rushed for 109 yards. Victor’s Tim Krenke kicked a rare field goal from 45 yards out and brother Matt Krenke had a touchdown run of 12 yards. Corey Deering scored the final Pirate touchdown when he rushed in from 11 yards out. Victor improved to 4-2 in league play and 4-4 overall.

Stevensville lost to Dillon and Darby lost to Superior.

Another one bites the dust for Hamilton

Hamilton was host to Belgrade in first-round playoff action on the soccer field Saturday. After coming out and playing aggressively in the first half of the first half, the Hamilton girls had to toughen up their defense to hold on to a 2-1 victory.

“We played very well in spurts,” said Hamilton coach Gregg Shifflett. “Especially offense in the first 15 to 18 minutes of the game. We had some nice combination passes, nice ‘through’ balls where we were getting shots at the goal.”

Hamilton’s first goal was at the six-minute mark when Casey Shifflett passed to Bry Gordon who took on Belgrade’s keeper, one on one, and scored. Belgrade went on the attack several times but each time, Hamilton’s keeper, Ali Stahl, kept the ball out of the net.

Hamilton’s Kelly Branggocio and Nellie Moran work to put the ball in the net as a trio of Belgrade Panthers defend the goal. Hamilton won, 2-1.Jean Schurman photo.

“She had some great saves,” said Shifflett. “She was kind of beaten on the one that clanged the crossbar but I think if it had been any lower, she would have tipped it.”

Hamilton had several opportunities early in the second half including two back-to-back corner kicks. The Broncs kept the pressure down but just couldn’t get the ball in the net, even when Belgrade’s keeper was down on the ground. But they didn’t let up and at the 52-minute mark, Shifflett again hit the open player, Kelsi Almond, for another goal.

“We needed to finish some of the shots,” said Shifflett. “And we will work on shooting next week before we go to Libby.”

Belgrade scored with just under five minutes remaining in the match. Shelby Erdahl took the ball right down the middle of the field and calmly shot it past Stahl for the goal.

With time running out, Belgrade tried to apply more offensive pressure while Hamilton held on to their defense, clearing out balls when it was needed and earning the 2-1 win.

“They played with a ton of heart and gave a complete effort,” said Shifflett. “They were whipped at the end.”

Hamilton had 15 shots on goal while Belgrade took 14. Stahl had 10 saves and Belgrade’s Danielle Shingleton had nine saves. Hamilton had three corner kicks and Belgrade, four. Hamilton finished with six fouls.

They will travel to Libby on Saturday for a semi final match at 1 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the state championship.

Breakthrough for Corvallis

For four years, the Corvallis boys’ soccer team has played some outstanding soccer during the regular season only to falter in the opening round of the playoffs. The pressure of the past three years was weighing heavily on the team and coach Brock Hammill Saturday when they matched up against Belgrade in first-round playoff action.

It was looking as if history was going to repeat itself after Belgrade scored at the 39-minute mark of the game. Corvallis had controlled the tempo of the game but a Blue Devil foul gave the Panthers the edge. Panther Merrick Haglund scored an unassisted goal with only a minute left in the half. But if a goal can be lucky for the opposing team, this was it. Corvallis used half time to look at how the goal was scored and then talked about how to stop that route of play.

“That was our advantage this year,” said Hammill.

Corvallis’ Cody Pearce sizes up the Belgrade defense during the playoff game on Saturday. Corvallis won in overtime, 2-1, and will play Whitefish in the semi finals on Saturday in Whitefish. Jean Schurman photo.

After scoring, Belgrade stepped up the defense and didn’t go on the offensive. Corvallis, on the other hand, was pressuring with every touch of the ball. Belgrade’s starting keeper went down early in the match. His replacement had his work cut out for him. Corvallis took 27 shots on goal while Belgrade only had nine.

With four minutes remaining in regulation play, Seth Pelkey took a Gabe Nevins pass and dribbled up the field and shot the ball right past the keeper’s foot. Corvallis was on the board and the match was tied.

The teams battled but the tie held at the end of regulation play and then it was overtime! Soccer overtime consists of two 10-minute periods. It doesn’t matter if someone scores in the first period, there is still a second period.

Corvallis kept up the pressure but the monkey was back on their backs and everyone was thinking, would they be able to play next weekend. With only a couple minutes remaining in the first OT period, the Blue Devils stepped up the pressure. Pelkey saw the opening and kicked a long ball towards Belgrade’s net. As he booted the ball, senior Cody Pearce broke loose and was waiting, just behind the Belgrade keeper to sail the ball into the net and give Corvallis the lead.

“He likes to cross it a lot to me,” said Pearce. “Me and Aaron (Jessop) were both there. If I hadn’t have gotten there, Aaron would have. The entire team looked good on that play.”

Corvallis didn’t let up after the goal but continued to send ball after ball at the Panthers. Although they didn’t score again, the 2-1 victory was enough. Corvallis had gotten the monkey off their backs and advanced to the semi finals.

David Illgenfritz had three saves for Corvallis and Belgrade’s keeper had 10. Corvallis will play Whitefish in Whitefish on Saturday.

“Almost every year, we are out in one game,” concluded Pearce, a senior. “This time we pushed it through.”

Both the Stevensville boys and girls lost to Billing Central in their first round playoff games.

State Cross Country Championships this weekend

The All-Class State Championship cross-country meet will be this weekend in Missoula at the University of Montana Golf Course. Teams from across the state will compete for both individual and team championships. The Bitterroot boasts of two returning champion teams, the Hamilton boys won last year’s team Class A championship and Darby won the Class B boys championship.

Darby looks to be tough again this year. Seth Garbett won the Loyola Invite last Thursday and clocked a 15:51.7 to win the race. That was almost 20 seconds faster than second place. Garbett has been running strong all fall and will definitely have everyone chasing him. Garbett was third last year behind Matt Stout and Mike Assai of Manhattan. Doug Raymer and Sean Abrahamsen are also experienced competitors and could help Darby repeat.

Darby’s Heather Demorest won the state championship last year. She has been placing consistently faster and faster each week this year and is looking to claim the title again. Bigfork’s Kayla Carlson could be a challenger for the top spot but Demorest is healthy and hungry this year. Demorest was second at state two years ago.

The Hamilton boys lost several good competitors to graduation but did place four runners in the top 20 at the Divisional Meet in Dillon on Saturday. Corvallis won the meet and Hamilton finished third. Chris Jessop of Corvallis won the individual scoring with a time of 17:27.4 and will be tough this weekend.

On the girls’ side, Annie Jessop of Corvallis finished in second place and Hamilton’s Misha Trotter was fourth. Both will be at the forefront on Saturday and could be in the running for the top spot.

Southwest A Divisional results

Girls

Team scores: Hamilton 51, Dillon 58, Anaconda 78, Frenchtown 92.

Top 15 individuals from Bitterroot

1. Emily Schall, Frenchtown, 20:36.3; 2. Annie Jessop, Corvallis, 21:21.1; 4. Misha Trotter, Hamilton, 21:36.1; 7. Heather Handy, Corvallis, 22:32.9; 9. Paige Squire, Corvallis, 22:36.9; 10. Jill Harmon, Hamilton, 22:43.2;

11. Maureen Palmersheim, Hamilton, 22:48.6; 12. Sarah Del Rae, Hamilton, 22:55.7; 14. Sara Amish, Hamilton, 23:55.5; 15. Chelsea Hayes, Hamilton, 23:59.5;

Boys

Team scores: Corvallis 39, Frenchtown 50, Hamilton 66, Anaconda 91, Dillon 105.

Top 20 individuals

1. Chris Jessop, Corvallis, 17:27.4; 3. Spencer Fehr, Corvallis, 18:18.8; 6. Mackenzie Walters, Hamilton, 18:34.8; 9. Bubba Gueldenhaar, Hamilton, 18:46.7; 10. Chase Stoker, Corvallis, 19:02.6;

11. Emmett Stoker, Corvallis, 19:03.6; 12. Cameron Harder, Hamilton, 19:06.8; 14. Jakub Prasek, Corvallis, 19:13.8; 15. Collin Johns, Hamilton, 19:23.5; 17. Devan Williams, Corvallis, 19:35.4; 18. Fischer Elliot, Corvallis, 19:49.1;

Page One •	Valley News •	Op/Ed •	Sports •	Calendar •	Classifieds •	Legals •	Links •	About Us •	Back Issues •	Email Us •	Home
©2009 Bitterroot Star This site was Done By Dooney