It’s time for high-stakes soccer as the Class A playoffs begin today at various sites and times around Montana.

Northern A girls champion Columbia Falls, along with third-place finisher Whitefish, are both home for first-round matches.

Columbia Falls (8-2-2) entertains Laurel (5-4-1) at noon at Flip Darling Field while Whitefish (9-3-1) hosts Frenchtown (7-3-0) at Smith Fields at 1 p.m.

Columbia Falls played at Laurel back on Sept. 11, the third match of the season, and posted a 2-0 victory.

Whitefish and Frenchtown, however, did not meet during the regular season.

Whitefish qualified for postseason action with a 2-1 play-in victory over second-place Polson on Tuesday in Polson.

In other first-round matchups for girls today, it’s Corvallis (4-7-1) at Billings Central (9-0-1) at 11 a.m. and Belgrade (5-6-1) at Hamilton (11-1-0) at 2:30 p.m.

Columbia Falls would host semifinal action and the state championship match as long as it is not eliminated.

The Wildkats went 6-1-1 in league play, capturing their fourth regular-season title in the last five years.

Laurel defeated Columbia Falls 2-0 in last year’s state championship match in Columbia Falls.

Columbia Falls has qualified for Class A postseason action every year but once in coach Greg Trenerry’s 19 seasons on the sidelines. When Columbia Falls competed with Class AA, the Wildkats qualified for state twice in four seasons.

The Wildkats won a Class A state championship in 2004 and have been in the finals three times.

In the boys field, Northern A champion Polson (8-2-2) faces visiting Billings Central (8-2-0) today at 4:30 p.m.

Northern A runner-up Libby (8-4-1) is home versus Missoula Loyola (5-6-1) at 2 p.m.

Libby advanced to today’s action with a 3-1 play-in victory over third-seed Columbia Falls on Tuesday in Libby.

In the other matches, Stevensville (4-5-1) travels to Belgrade (10-1-1) for a 1 p.m. outing and Livingston (5-4-3) is at Corvallis (11-1-0) for a noon start.

Corvallis defeated Belgrade 3-2 in a shootout last year to capture the boys state championship.

The Corvallis boys have the top two scores in Class A this fall with Clay Ayers, 24 goals and 11 assists, and Emmett Semple, 17 goals and 12 assists.

Libby’s Cody Wood is third with 11 goals and nine assists. Polson’s Mike Mercer has eight goal and four assists.

For girls, Abbey Teagle of Frenchtown leads with 27 goals and 10 assists. Haley Nicholson of Whitefish is a close second with 26 goals and 10 assists.

Ellie Johnson leads Columbia Falls with 12 goals and 10 assists.