LIBBY — Jon Sigurdsson scored four times to lift Columbia Falls to a 5-3 win in Libby on Tuesday, guaranteeing an undefeated and untied conference season for the Wildcats, who are champions of the Northern A for the first time in 11 years.

Columbia Falls (10-1-1, 7-0-0 Northern A) has only one match remaining on its schedule, Saturday against Bigfork. The Vikings are not fielding a team this fall, and with a 1-0 forfeit win in that match the Wildcats will conclude the regular season with a perfect 8-0-0 mark in league play.

Sigurdsson got the ’Cats going early in Libby, scoring three straight goals in the 10th, 16th and 22nd minutes to put the visitors ahead 3-0. Columbia Falls was missing three starters against the Loggers, including leading scorer Logan Stephens.

“We talked about it all week that some guys are going to get an opportunity to be counted and they stepped up big time,” Columbia Falls coach O’Brien Byrd said. “We had a few freshmen out there and we had to move some guys around.

“We had to lean on guys to fill the void and they did exactly that.”

Libby (5-5-1, 2-4-0) rallied back behind senior Cody Wood, who followed Sigurdsson’s burst with three goals of his own to tie the match with tallies in the 27th, 35th and 45th minutes.

Sigurdsson scored once more in the 74th minute and Jakob Grein added insurance six minutes later to give Columbia Falls the win.

Columbia Falls had 18 shots on goal and forced Libby’s Ryan Nagle to make 10 saves. Brandon Karberg was credited with eight saves for the Wildcats.

C. Falls 3 2 — 5

Libby 2 1 — 3

CF — Jon Sigurdsson (unassisted), 10:00

CF — Sigurdsson (unassisted), 16:00

CF — Sigurdsson (unassisted), 22:00

LIB — Cody Wood (Colin Maloney), 27:00

LIB — Wood (unassisted), 35:00

LIB — Wood (unassisted), 45:00

CF — Sigurdsson (unassisted), 74:00

CF — Jakob Grein (Skylar Chute), 80:00

Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 18, Libby 14. Saves — Columbia Falls 8 (Brandon Karberg), Libby 10 (Ryan Nagle). Corner kicks — Columbia Falls 5, Libby 2. Fouls — Columbia Falls 17, Libby 8. Cards — None.

Whitefish 3, Polson 2

POLSON — Marty Anderson made 16 saves, Xander Burger scored the winner early in the second half and Whitefish clinched a state tournament bid in a Northern A conference match.

The Bulldogs (7-6-0, 4-3-0 Northern A) can finish no worse than third in the league and will be returning to the eight-team state tourney after falling short a year ago.

Burger, a sophomore, secured the win when he put away an Eli Joos assist in the 52nd minute. In the first half, Burger drew a penalty kick that Avery Hirsch converted into a Bulldogs goal.

“Xander had a fantastic game today,” Whitefish coach John Lacey said. “He drew that penalty kick and had numerous threatening chances.”

Whitefish needed all three goals to weather a furious Polson attack that fired 20 shots on goal and earned eight corner kicks, keeping Anderson busy.

“He had a lot of work to do,” Lacey said of his keeper. “Polson’s strength is certainly their attack. They put a lot of balls into our box and Marty needed to come up with some big saves.”

Casey Schneider scored the first Whitefish goal, in the seventh minute.

Andrew Hanson and Linde Lambson earned the Polson (7-4-0, 4-3-0) goals.

Whitefish 2 1 — 3

Polson 2 0 — 2

WF — Casey Schneider (Noah Romagnuolo), 7:00

POL — Andrew Hanson (unassisted), 17:00

WF — Avery Hirsch (penalty kick), 25:00

POL — Linde Lambson (Robin Erickson), 37:00

WF — Xander Burger (Eli Joos), 52:00

Shots on goal — Whitefish 9, Polson 20. Saves — Whitefish 16 (Marty Anderson), Polson 6 (Russell Smith). Corner kicks — Whitefish 1, Polson 8. Fouls — Polson 10. Cards — Yellow: Polson 2.

GIRLS

Polson 2, Whitefish 0

POLSON — Amber Clarke and Ashlee Howell scored second half goals as Polson denied Whitefish a perfect conference season with a shutout win.

The Pirates (8-2-1, 5-1-1 Northern A) avenged a 1-0 loss on Sept. 24 in Whitefish by controlling play on their home field. Polson outshot the Bulldogs 13-5 on Tuesday and Clarke netted the match-winner in the 47th minute, off a Howell assist. Howell’s insurance goal came in the 70th minute.

“The last match, we had five starters out,” Polson coach Michael Hewston said. “Of those five starters, four of them are back and I think that just made the difference for us.”

Polson contained Whitefish’s Haley Nicholson, hounding the state’s leading scorer with senior Hannah Kasnitz marking Nicholson throughout.

Whitefish (8-3-0, 6-1-0) still controls its own fate and can clinch a conference championship with a win Saturday against Libby at 2 p.m.

Whitefish 0 0 — 0

Polson 0 2 — 2

POL — Amber Clarke (Ashlee Howell), 47:00

POL — Howell (Tiara Duford), 75:00

Shots on goal — Whitefish 5, Polson 13. Saves — Whitefish 11 (Kess Nelson), Polson 5 (Jenna Evertz). Corner kicks — Whitefish 4, Polson 6. Fouls — Whitefish 11, Polson 3. Cards — None.

Columbia Falls 3, Libby 0

LIBBY — Columbia Falls sewed up a spot in the Class A state tournament with a one-sided shutout in Northern A conference action.

The Wildkats (6-4-1, 3-3-1 Northern A) are locked into third place and will represent the league, along with Polson and Whitefish, in the state tournament. It will be Columbia Falls’ seventh straight tourney appearance.

Hannah Callender got the ’Kats on the board in the 20th minute and the visitors led 1-0 at halftime.

Kaylee Ashe and Meghan McCallum scored the Wildkats’ second-half goals.

Shannon Reny made 16 saves in a losing effort for Libby (0-10-0, 0-6-0).

C. Falls 1 2 — 3

Libby 0 0 — 0

CF — Hannah Callender (Hannah Gedlaman), 20:00

CF — Kaylee Ashe (Gedlaman), 43:00

CF — Meghan McCallum (Ashe), 71:00

Shots on goal — Columbia Falls 19, Libby 3. Saves — Columbia Falls 3 (Madeline Jarvis), Libby 16 (Shannon Reny).