Postseason gridiron victory a long time coming

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

Last year was a landmark for the Columbia Falls High School football program. The Wildcats hosted a state playoff game for the first time in 17 years when Hamilton came to town. Despite a 24-0 loss to the Broncs, it was evident that there was momentum being built in the program.

With the desire for more success, the Wildcats earned a state playoff berth this year and rolled past Whitefish 35-7 to grab the home field in the first round against Corvallis, a team coming from a very tough conference, the Southwestern A. The Blue Devils, Frenchtown and 2007 state runner-up Dillon tied for first in the league, but Corvallis wound up third due to tie-breakers.

Last year was a landmark, but this year is even more significant. The win over Corvallis was the first actual state playoff victory for Columbia Falls since 1970, the year the Wildcats reached the state championship game before losing to Havre. So the 38-year drought is over.

Harold Hughes was a longtime head coach of the Wildcats, and he had a number of other very good teams. One was in 1973, when the Cats got within a win of the state title game, losing to Cut Bank 13-0 in the Northern-Western A playoffs. The Cats went 7-1 in 1974, and 8-1 in '75, falling to Livingston in the Western-Southern district playoffs. In 1976, CFHS suffered their only loss — to Glasgow in the divisional playoffs.

In 1970, some of the players on the Wildcats now have children as old as they were when they were in uniform. It was a year in which Richard Nixon was our President. Kansas City won the Super Bowl over Minnesota.

The Cats edged Libby 14-6 in what was considered a state playoff game, according to the Hungry Horse News. CFHS and Libby both had the same conference records, but the Cats earned a berth in the title game by virtue of the win over the Loggers.

CFHS hosted Havre for the state championship at Satterthwaite Memorial Field in early November of 1970. The Hungry Horse News report said the crowd was estimated at between 2,500 and 3,000, making it the largest crowd to see a football game in Columbia Falls.

Senior running back Steve Kracher scored two touchdowns — one on a 59-yard run — and senior back Dave Hoerner ran for another. But Havre won the game and the state crown, 34-18. It was noted in the Hungry Horse News that CFHS had an enrollment of 745 students compared to 1,150 enrolled at Havre High School.

Bob Spencer, now a Wildcat assistant coach, was a junior on the 1970 team — the year that R.J. Souhrada was the superintendent. Seniors Kracher, Hoerner, Casey Lane and Dale Stone, and junior Tom Ringo were known as "The 5 Horsemen," as labeled by the Hungry Horse News. Other seniors on the team were Steve Harner, Lewis Card, Gordy Wyman, Don Barnhart, Bob Frazer, David Kreck, Vance McMillan, Cary King, Bob Trodick, Larry Johnson, Dave Mattson and Larry Roye. Bob Cotner and Dennis Gochanour were the team managers. Hughes' assistant coaches were Jim Moulds, Bill McCleskey, Dennis McChesney, Bill Holt and Norman Hagen.

Hughes was quoted after the season. He said, "I'm proud of them, and how well they behaved. They had the desire to win as champions and we'd have like to have won that last one."

Now John Thompson has the reins of the Wildcat program as they face unbeaten Billings Central in the state quarterfinals on Saturday in Billings.