Cats claw Ronan, 42-6; face Libby Friday

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

Homecoming can be quite a distraction for a high school athletic team, but it certainly was not for Columbia Falls on the football field Friday night.

The Wildcats rushed to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and cruised past Ronan 42-6 in both teams' Northwestern A Conference opener.

Columbia Falls (2-2 overall) built a 14-0 lead against Stevensville last week, but lost four fumbles and had two punts blocked in a 36-22 loss. Against Ronan, the Wildcats again led 14-0, but poured on the coal and put the Chiefs away — leading 28-0 at halftime.

Homecoming wins on the gridiron have been few and far between for Columbia Falls in recent years, but it was the night of the Wildcat on Friday.

"The focus started on Monday with a team meeting when we discussed that this is a team sport," Wildcats head coach John Thompson explained. "It's played by individuals but it's a team sport. Eleven guys have to do their jobs and we can't have anything coming between our players. We've faced some adversity the last two weeks and we did not respond well. "

Six players carried the football on the Wildcats' first possession to start the contest. Senior Mackey Nolan carried most of the load during a 73-yard march that resulted in a 3-yard touchdown run by Stephen Baumgartner. The senior would score four times on the evening.

Baumgartner broke through and blocked a Levi Walchuk punt on the Chiefs' first possession. Baumgartner scooped up the ball and returned it to the Ronan 14-yard-line. A personal foul penalty on the play on Ronan moved the ball to the 7. Baumgartner scored on the next play. Nolan kicked the conversion after both scores for a 14-0 Columbia Falls lead.

Lefty quarterback Mike Fisher returned the kickoff to near midfield for great field position for the Chiefs, but Mitchell Wassam — the Wildcat linebacker and quarterback — sacked Fisher and two plays later Ronan had to punt.

With the door of opportunity wide open, the Wildcats stormed through. Lanky 6-foot-3 sophomore Kaleb Johnson returned a Walchuk punt to the Ronan 47. Four players later, Wassam lofted a perfect aerial to Johnson at the goal line for a 25-yard scoring play with 1:39 left in the opening period.

In the second quarter, a 29-yard punt return by Johnson had the Wildcats in business again. An 11-yard swing pass to Nolan set the stage for a 1-yard touchdown dive by Baumgartner. Nolan converted and Columbia Falls carried a 28-0 into halftime.

In that first half, the Wildcat defense held Ronan to 25 yard of offense while Columbia Falls amassed 78 rushing and 101 passing for 179.

"We picked up the intensity in practice and got really focused and ready for this game," said Nolan, who credited the offensive line for its blocking. "Oh, man, the blocking is the best it's been since I've been here."

Ronan marched to the CFHS 37 to start the third period, but pressure by Mike Macijunas forced an incompletion on third-and-long. Houle recovered a Chiefs fumble on the next play.

A 60-yard drive was capped by a 9-yard Baumgartner run and Nolan's kick made it 35-0.

"Up front I thought our guys just did a great job of pass protection, of coming off the ball," Thompson said.

Taking the ball at midfield, CFHS put another six on the board as Chris King carried two tacklers into the end zone from nine yards out. John Woody had a key 26-yard run during the drive.

Ronan avoided a shutout when Cory Hardy scored on a 2-yard run with 2:48 remaining in the game.

While Ronan lost two fumbles, CFHS did not have a turnover. Eliminating mistakes was a focus for the Wildcats against the Chiefs.

"That was our number-one thing on the board tonight," Thompson said. "Number two was, get the win. Number three was seniors, this is your season. And number four was you control the effort. I thought we got pretty good effort from our players tonight."

Columbia Falls travels to Libby for a key 7 p.m. conference game Friday.

Thompson and his staff are concerned about quarterback Joel Fuller, who can do it all for the Loggers.

"They have the offensive player of the conference the last two years as their quarterback," the coach said. "It'll be a week of studying field, a week of trying to limit their offensive opportunities and try to make sure we're consistent on offense."

The Cats lead the Northwestern A in rushing at 257 yards a game. Woody and Baumgartner are both averaging more than 10 yards a carry. Nolan has 354 yards and 7.5 yards a carry. Baumgartner has scored 10 touchdowns.

Ronan 0 0 0 6 — 6

Columbia Falls 21 7 7 7 — 42

CF — Stephen Baumgartner 3 run (Mackey Nolan kick)

CF — Baumgartner 7 run (Nolan kick)

CF — Kaleb Johnson 25 pass from Mitchell Wassam (Nolan kick)

CF — Baumgartner 1 run (Nolan kick)

CF — Baumgartner 9 run (Nolan kick)

CF — Chris King 9 run (Nolan kick)

Ronan — Cory Hardy 1 run (kick failed)

Harriers shine at Classic

Ten boys and six girls had season-best times for Columbia Falls at the Mountain West Classic cross country meet Saturday in Missoula.

Shawn Whitman broke 17 minutes for the first time this season and placed ninth among the Class A competitors — on the same course the state meet will be held Oct. 25. Whitman had the fastest Class A time.

Patric Jessat was 17th among Class A harriers with a season best.

CFHS coach Stephen Gasche said sophomore Pascal Jessat was the big surprise of the day. He ran under 18 minutes for the first time.

Tripp Gimbel, Tim Chopper and Michael Kruse all had their fastest runs of the season to help the Wildcats to a top-four finish in Class A competition.

In JV action, Justin Whitman , Kodiak Gimbel, Joe Gross, Coby Hutchens and Ben Burgess all had their best times. Gasche said the Cats had five boys under 18 minutes.

"If we can keep improving our times and get our gap under a minute, we will be very competitive at the state level," Gasche said.

For the girls, Leesa Benner became our first girl to break the 21-minute mark — finishing 11th among Class A runners. Gasche said Nicki Moser had a "huge breakthrough" with a season-best time. Other girls showing improvement were Madison Stolte, Jinise Osborne, Nikki Elek and Tessa Cowan.