Down 2-0 at halftime, the Glacier boys soccer team, led by a group of seniors, huddled together in the cold and made something clear.

"They met as a group and decided that they were not going to lose that game," Glacier coach Ryan O'Rourke said.

The pep talk paid off.

Brad Holmgren knocked in a penalty kick, and Ian Cavigli and Tanner Maroney followed with a goal apiece to lead the Wolfpack to a physical, come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over Western AA foe Missoula Big Sky on Thursday.

"You could see the demonstration of senior leadership for sure," O'Rourke said of the halftime meeting.

The intensity swung in Glacier's favor in the second half. Bart Tobiason assisted Cavigli in the tying goal midway through the second and Holmgren hooked up with Maroney for the game winner with only six minutes left to play.

"It was a good team effort by everybody in the end," O'Rourke said. "They definitely stepped up."

Second-place Glacier (7-3) finishes the regular season on the road against undefeated Missoula Hellgate on Saturday and against Helena High on Oct. 17.

Missoula Big Sky 2 0 - 2

Glacier 0 3 - 3

BIG SKY - Ramon Naya (Petr Vodicka) 30:00; Tyler Smith (penalty kick), 35:00

GLACIER - Brad Holmgren (penalty kick) 55:00; Ian Cavigli (Bart Tobiason), 69:00; Tanner Maroney (Holmgren), 74:00.

Shots on goal - Big Sky 9, Glacier 11

Goalie saves - Big Sky 4 (Nate Goodburn), Glacier 5 (Sean Peters)

Corner kicks - Big Sky 6, Glacier 7

Fouls - Big Sky 19, Glacier 10

Cards - Big Sky 3 yellows, 1 red; Glacier 1 yellow

Whitefish 9,

Columbia Falls 2

COLUMBIA FALLS - The Whitefish Bulldogs are now in control of their Class A playoff destiny after beating Northern A foe Columbia Falls handily.

The Bulldogs improved to 5-1-1 in conference and 7-3-1 overall and play on the road in Libby on Saturday in the regular season finale.

If Whitefish wins, it claims first place and moves into the playoffs. If it ties and Polson beats Bigfork on Saturday, Whitefish still claims second place. But if the Bulldogs lose and Polson wins, the Pirates take the playoff reins. If both teams lose, Whitefish still moves on.

"It's too much stress for a coach to handle," joked Whitefish coach O'Brien Byrd.

"We just want to take the steering wheel and control our own destiny. We don't want to leave it in the hands of others. We're going down (to Libby) to win a game, not to eke out a tie or see what happens."

Whitefish 2 7 - 9

Columbia Falls 2 0 - 2

WHITEFISH - Anto Daoud (Tanner Hosek), 13:00; Jack Steele (Matty McCrone), 40:00; Joel Bacher (Steele), 53:00; Travis Adams (John Joern), 60:00; Bacher (Daoud), 71:00; Adams (McCrone), 74:00; Cristian Saavedra (Adams), 75:00; Curran Edland (Taylor Thompson) 79:00; Sean Janni (Curran Edland), 80:00

COLUMBIA FALLS - Nate Holt, 9:00; Trevor Brown (Matt Hensley), 38:00

Shots on goal - Whitefish 25, Columbia Falls 3

Goalie saves - Whitefish 2 (Alex Whitaker), Columbia Falls 16 (Jacob Calderwood)

Corner kicks - Whitefish 8, Columbia Falls 0

Fouls - Whitefish 16, Columbia Falls 13

Cards - Whitefish, yellow

Libby 2, Polson 1

LIBBY - Libby clinched a spot in the upcoming playoffs by topping Polson in the late going.

Cree Maloney, with Crawford Dinning assisting, scored with a minute to play to give the Loggers a thrilling Northern A victory.

"We were playing well, I was confident we were going to still win the game," Libby coach Charlie Webster said.

"It was a hard-fought game. Polson played great, Libby played a little better."

Patrick Valentine gave Libby (9-2 overall and 6-1 league) the early lead 21 minutes into play.

Libby concludes regular-season action on Saturday hosting Whitefish, 4 p.m.

Polson 0 1 - 1

Libby 1 1 - 2

POLSON - Peter Hansen (Sean Hart), 77:00

LIBBY - Patrick Valentine (Nick Reny), 21:00; Cree Maloney (Crawford Dinning), 79:00

Shots on goal - Polson 7, Libby 7

Corner kicks - Polson 0, Libby 2

Goalie saves - Polson 4 (Clay Frissell), Libby 6 (Lewis Brossman)

Fouls - Polson 11, Libby 22

Cards - Libby, 2 yellow

Girls

Big Sky 3, Glacier 2

In a battle for first-place in Western AA, the Big Sky Eagles scored two goals in the final minutes of play and beat Glacier in heartbreak fashion.

Big Sky (5-0-5) bumped Glacier (4-4-2) down to third place after rallying from a 2-1 deficit with two quick goals.

Maddey Frey and Skyler St. Onge each notched a goal for the Wolfpack.

"It was an exciting game. There were two fairly evenly matched teams out there so it was a hard-fought game," Glacier coach Paul Holmgren said.

"We just had trouble finishing," he added.

Missoula Big Sky 1 2 - 3

Glacier 1 1 - 2

Big Sky - Katie McKay (Tifani Zanto) 1:00; Kara Altenbrun, 78:00; Sarah Henning, 80:00

Glacier - Maddey Frey, 39:00; Skyler St. Onge, 71:00

Shots on goal - Big Sky 13, Glacier 18

Goalie saves - Big Sky 16 (Jessie Gilligan), Glacier 12 (Kayla Byle 6, Patty Hughes 6)

Corner kicks - Big Sky 2, Glacier 4

Fouls - Big Sky 7, Glacier 6

Cards - None

Columbia Falls 1, Whitefish 0

COLUMBIA FALLS - McKenzie Reeve scored five minutes into play and that held up as Columbia Falls (6-4-1 and 4-3-1) completed its season with a Northern A victory over rival Whitefish.

Whitefish won the earlier meeting this season between the two schools by the same score.

"It was a good game, a good battle," Whitefish coach Erin Morrison said.

"We had our chances in the second half. Natalie Gayner had a great game, almost put a couple in."

Whitefish (6-3-2 and 5-2) finishes the regular season Saturday at Libby.

Whitefish 0 0 - 0

Columbia Falls 1 0 - 1

COLUMBIA FALLS - McKenzie Reeve (Sophie Peterson), 5:00

Shots on goal - Whitefish 7, Columbia Falls 8

Corner kicks - Whitefish 6, Columbia Falls 4

Goalie saves - Whitefish 3 (Madisen Cross), Columbia Falls 5 (Neisha Thompson)

Fouls - Whitefish 5, Columbia Falls 5

Cards - None

Libby 3, Polson 2

LIBBY - Chelsea Ahart's goal at 76 minutes kept the perfect season alive for Libby. Assisting on the goal was Jaime Gilden.

"It did get tense, that's for sure," Libby coach Matt Warner said.

"Just a well-fought battle on the field, good soccer, both teams."

Polson's Sarah Devlin scored at 66 minutes to tie it at 2-all.

Libby (10-0 and 7-0) wraps up regular-season play Saturday hosting Whitefish 2 p.m.

Polson 0 2 - 2

Libby 1 2 - 3

POLSON - Makenzie Wagner (Marissa Binder), 43:00; Sarah Devlin, 66:00

LIBBY - Ashley VanHoose, 16:00; Anna Valentine (Chrissy Vennes), 53:00; Chelsea Ahart (Jaime Gilden), 76:00

Shots on goal - Polson 6, Libby 11

Corner kicks - Polson 2, Libby 5

Goalie saves - Polson 8 (Jacie Morrison), Libby 4 (Audra Poppen)

Fouls - Polson 7, Libby 4

Cards - None