Bigfork made transition two years ago and has excelled

RONAN - If Ronan is looking for a crystal ball to see into what it will be like to move down to class B, they only need to take a gaze down U.S. Highway 35 at Bigfork, which jumped down from class A to B two years ago.

"It's kind of one of those emotional moves," Bigfork activities director Matt Porrovecchio said.

There was plenty of tension around Bigfork's move and points of view were split evenly for the adults and students of the school.

The biggest thing was the familiarity with the competition.

"Initially, it was pretty tough," Porrovecchio said. "Our kids had developed some strong relationships with other kids and rivalries. We still have them though. The reality is you recreate rivalries and maintain the ones you have."

One specific rivalry that may be on the mind of Ronan fans is their rivalry with Polson, however the payoff could be great when they move down to the B classification.

"Ultimately in the end, it's been a really positive move for us," Porrovecchio said.

It's hard to argue the results as Bigfork has gone from winless seasons earlier in the decade in the Northwestern A conference to playing in the state championship game for football next weekend.

"I'd put our basketball and football teams up against any team in the state," Porrovecchio said.

Despite the success, teams that have recently moved down a classification shouldn't automatically expect to win state championships.

"I think in some respects we've seem tougher teams in C and B," Porrovecchio said.

The big advantage of moving down is that all your sports teams are on a more level playing field against similar-sized schools.

"Overall the highs and lows are less pronounced," Porrovecchio said. "Our thinking was that there was a reason for this classification."

Ronan doesn't necessarily have the competition woes that Bigfork had with the Chiefs going 5-4 last season in football under the coaching of Jim Benn.

Porrovecchio was very receptive to the possibility of Ronan playing in their district.

"We want to play the best, that's how you get better," he said. "They'd be very competitive, that would be great for us. We'd love to be in their district."

Porrovecchio said that in terms of costs, it was basi-cally a wash for Bigfork in terms of travel.

"I think there were some initial concerns, it really hasn't evolved to anything dramatic," he said.

However, the central location for Ronan could be beneficial if they enter the Western 7B district.

"I think they're in a better spot than we were," Porrovecchio said.

Thompson Falls, Plains, Mission and Hot Springs are all a relatively short drive away when considering some of the distances that sports teams travel in the state of Montana.

Ronan's move is part of a two-year cycle, something that the Montana High School Association just recently enacted.

"This is only the second cycle of the new process," said Mark Beckman, the executive director for the MHSA. Montana used to reclassify every year, meaning that some schools would change every year due to changes in the enrollment.

Beckman said the two-year process allows for more sta-bility among conferences.

"It's a good process to make sure we review those enrollment numbers," Beckman said.

Montana as a whole has seen an eight percent drop in public school attendance when the MHSA started their first two-year reclassification check.

This year, Beckman said he is recommending that seven schools reclassify and that only one of those is moving up and the three are remaining in their classification regardless of attendance numbers.

"They probably have pretty good reasons to stay up," Beckman said.

Private schools like Billings Central and Butte Central may have numbers under the enrollment requirement but due to the rules, can continue to stay in a classification that is intended for bigger schools than them.

"The board would probably always allow them to stay up," Beckman said.

The MHSA has a ten percent gray area for schools for enrollment requirements, but a school can't elect to drop down a classification unless they meet the criteria.

Class C is by far Montana's biggest classification with 100 schools, followed by B with 40, A with 20 and AA with 14 schools. Those numbers will continue to change though as schools like Ronan have to make the difficult choice of staying or dropping down.

Examples of success like Bigfork do show that going to B could be a good thing.

"I hope it ends up being a great thing for Ronan," Porrocecchio said.