1. Flathead Lacrosse Club

Rivalries can spark quickly.

All it took to ignite the Flathead Valley’s newest rivalry was a little smack talk between classmates.

Lacrosse has grown rapidly in the region. Flathead Lacrosse Club started playing varsity games only five years ago, pulling players from Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Kalispell looking for a fun, fast alternative to track and baseball in the spring. The club found traction quickly, building a small high school team into an entire organization: hosting multiple youth teams and a state champion 15-and-under squad by last season.

“It started as a fairly casual sport,” Flathead coach Matthew Rizzolo said. “It’s become something pretty competitive and the kids are dedicated to it.

“One of my lacrosse players has a tattoo of lacrosse sticks and a skull on his calf. That’s super exciting to see some kids be focused and make it a priority.”

With the sport growing so fast, and the idea of providing more kids the opportunity to play varsity games, the Northwest SharpShooters began playing lacrosse this season in Kalispell. Many of the players from that 15U champion left to join the team closer to home and were able to recruit a few others.

The new team has gotten off to a hot start, dropping its first game by a point to undefeated West Billings, and winning the last four games to post a 6-2 record this season.

That mark is slightly better than Flathead, which is 6-3, winning five straight before a loss to undefeated Missoula Hellgate on Sunday.

The teams are nearly identical statistically, scoring the same number of goals this season and separated by just two goals in point differential.

They enter today’s cross-Valley showdown on nearly equal footing.

But, that’s not what’s feeding the rivalry.

This is about good, old-fashioned smack talk.

“Most of these kids go to school with each other,” SharpShooters coach Thomas Roehl said. “A couple (Flathead) kids started calling our kids a U15 team.

“(Now our kids are) fired up to play. They want a piece of Flathead.”

A slight like that, even in passing, is a time-worn way to spark a rivalry. A new team, already working for acceptance, never likes to hear the established veteran brushing them aside.

That goes over even worse between kids who know each other.

When the game starts off today at 6 p.m. at Glacier High School, those emotions will certainly be worked out.

While the rivalry smolders, it’s also building two strong, distinct programs.

That is turning out to be a boon for local athletes.

“It’s great to have a little bit more local competition,” Rizzolo said.

“It’s fun to watch the sport grow.”

Two kids from Flathead are already committed to play club lacrosse in college, with two more already on that level. Whitefish’s David Rizzolo and Kalispell’s Dominick Faith just won the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference title at Montana State and will play next week at the Men’s Lacrosse Club Association national championships. Rizzolo, only a sophomore for the Bobcats, was named first team all conference as a midfielder.

Even more could be headed that way in the future, with both Flathead and the SharpShooters boasting a field of talent and more young athletes finding the sport every year.

“We’re going to have so many players it’s unbelievable,” Roehl said. “We’re going to have to stop recruiting players and start recruiting coaches more.”

The sport is still fairly new to the area, but with passion and rivalries like the one burgeoning in the Flathead Valley, it can only grow stronger.