Wildcat boys shut out Pirates

By JOE SOVA

Hungry Horse News

A goal by Josh McNeil 25 minutes into the match was all Columbia Falls needed to earn a 1-0 Northwest A Conference victory over visiting Polson on a rainy Thursday. The win pushes the Wildcats' league mark to 2-2-1.

Bonners Ferry built a 2-0 lead on Saturday in Idaho and held on for a 2-1 win over the Cats.

CFHS takes a 5-3-1 overall mark into Saturday's key home match against Libby. Game time is 11 a.m.

The Cats had a chance to score on a free kick midway through the first half against Polson, but Travis Pete's shot sailed over a wall of Pirate defenders — going well above the net. But CFHS took the lead two minutes later on the goal by McNeil, assisted by Michael Hensley. On the other end of the field, a header by Hensley in front of the Cats' goal late in the first half helped preserve the shutout.

Polson had a shot off the post early in the second half as the Cats dodged a bullet.

"We were able to get up 1-0 at half," Cats coach Peter Browne said. "We should have buried them early. We have a problem when it comes to executing in a game."

CFHS played the game shorthanded, as DJ Stoneman sat out the match due to strep throat and Chase Jackson because of an Achilles injury.

"We were a little weak up front," Browne said. "We had trouble executing our plays."

The Cats had to play from behind at Bonners Ferry. The Badgers led 1-0 at half, then scored in the 50th minute. CFHS got within one on an unassisted goal by McNeil in the 67th minute.

Minutes later, DJ Stoneman was just about to take a penalty kick that would have tied the game, but the linesman then notified the center referee that the ball was out of bounds before the foul was called.

"We had our opportunities but we didn't capitalize on them," Browne said. "They're a scrappy team.

"We were a little tentative the first half, but we played a pretty solid second half," the coach added.

Also on Saturday, Whitefish extended its long win streak with a 5-1 win over Libby, going to 4-0 in the Northwest A. Bigfork is 2-3 in league play after shutting out Polson, 2-0. The Pirates dropped to 0-4.

Spikers fall to Bigfork, Libby

By JOE SOVA

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls fell to 1-3 in the Northwestern A Conference as the Wildkats were swept by Bigfork and Libby last week at home.

The Kats had no answer for 6-foot-2 Alyssa Fierro of Bigfork on Thursday. The Valkyries posted a 25-13, 25-19, 25-14 victory in CFHS' long-awaited home opener. On Friday, Libby used a balanced attack to earn a 25-17, 25-14, 25-8 win.

On Saturday, Libby went to 4-0 in conference action with a win over Whitefish in four games. Bigfork defeated Ronan in a five-game match.

Both the first and second games in the Columbia Falls-Bigfork match were close until the Vals pulled away. Fierro was strong in the middle for Bigfork, sparking a run that gave the Vals a 22-12 lead. The Kats were close late in game two, trailing 20-17, but the Vals went on a 4-0 run and put the game away on a kill by Jill Hamilton.

CFHS led early in the third game, but the Vals used an 18-5 run to take control.

"Flat" was Kats coach Addy Hines' one-word description of how her team played against Bigfork.

"It's a hard challenge to get the girls motivated," Hines said. "We practice better than that. It's frustrating."

The coach said the left-handed Fierro is a good player with a "big arm swing." The senior led the Vals with 15 kills, three blocks and three service aces. Avery Vogel added eight kills and had 10 digs. Ashlee Gordon had 16 set assists.

Sarah Marcille had 14 assists and four aces for the Kats. Auttem Osborne had six kills and Alyssa Ladenburg added four. Staci Pence had six digs.

The Kats and Libby were tied at 13-13 in the first game Friday, but the Lady Loggers took advantage of a couple of CFHS errors and built a 24-16 lead.

In the second game, the Kats were there for a number of block attempts, but could not keep the ball in play. Again, unforced errors hampered the Kats as Libby pulled away to the win. CFHS could not stay with the Lady Loggers in the third game.

The Kats hosted Ronan on Thursday for their Homecoming match.CFHS plays Saturday, Sept. 29 at Whitefish.