FRENCHTOWN — The third time was the charm Saturday for the Columbia Falls Wildcats, who advanced to the Class A semifinals with a 2-1 upset of the Frenchtown Broncs, the southern No. 1 seed.

Finley Sundberg scored the game-winner with five minutes remaining and the season on the line.

“I’m proud of the boys, they had a razor’s edge grit in the second half,” Wildcats coach O’Brien Byrd said.

Frenchtown (9-4) had previously beaten Columbia Falls (10-1-1) in playoffs two out of the last four seasons.

“We could’ve lost today and had a bunch of excuses,” Byrd said.

The Wildcats were down a couple players due to myriad injuries and quarantine, thus fielding a team that included seven sophomores and one freshman. Their second-leading goal scorer, Niels Getts, was pinch-hitting for the starting goaltender, Bryce Dunham. The Wildcats beat the Broncs earlier this season, however. Getts was in goal then, too.

Frenchtown had a healthier squad, including the eight seniors that started. The Broncs are pretty seasoned too — they’ve advanced to semis in three consecutive seasons.

“I’m just so happy because Frenchtown has the experience, they went to semis last year. None of our players on the team have ever been by the quarters,” Byrd noted.

Wildcats leading scorer Jason Albin got things going nine minutes in for a short-lived 1-0 lead, before Frenchtown’s leading scorer Jeff Jacobs tied it up.

Albin assisted on Sundberg’s winning goal, which was scored at 75:00.

“An unbelievable performance,” Byrd said.

The Wildcats have a home semifinal game next Saturday against Billings Central, who beat Bigfork 3-1 on Friday.

Columbia Falls 1 1 — 2

Frenchtown 1 0 — 1

CF - Jason Albin (Johnny Carl), 9:00

F - Jeff Jacobs, 18:00

CF - Finley Sundberg (Albin), 75:00

Shots on goal - Columbia Falls 11, Frenchtown 20. Goalie saves - Columbia Falls 13 (Niels Getts), Frenchtown 4 (Bodi Beauchamp). Corner kicks - Columbia Falls 12, Frenchtown 1. Fouls - Columbia Falls 10, Frenchtown 11. Cards - Columbia Falls 2 yellow.

Girls

Columbia Falls 3,

Corvallis 1

CORVALLIS — It took 46 minutes but the Columbia Falls Wildcats eventually solved the Corvallis goalkeeper.

It was Kate Hatfield who found the back of the net on a set piece, starting a scoring flurry that lifted the Wildkats to a 3-1 win over the Blue Devils and a trip to the Class A semifinal for a second straight year.

“It was a heart attack game,” Wildkats coach Thomas Clark said.

Columbia Falls (10-2) had already beaten Corvallis (7-3-3) once this year but that might have led to too much of a comfort level, as Clark noted.

“We started a little flat and I think anytime you’re playing a team that you’ve already beaten, you’ve got to fight the complacency,” he said.

Corvallis’ Madison Henry scored 15 minutes in and the Blue Devils held up that 1-0 lead for the rest of the first half.

One minute into the second, Hatfield scored to tie it. Then freshman Hope McAtee fed Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz for the go-ahead goal in the 60th minute.

McAtee iced the cake with her 69th minute goal.

“So proud of the girls responding to adversity and making changes at halftime,” Clark said.

Columbia Falls will play a home game against Laurel, who knocked them out in the semis last year, on Saturday.

Columbia Falls 0 3 — 3

Corvallis 1 0 — 1

C - Madison Henry (Lauren Criddle), 15:00

CF - Kate Hatfield, 46:00

CF - Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz (Hope McAtee), 60:00

CF - McAtee (Maddie Robison), 69:00

Shots on goal - Columbia Falls 10, Corvallis 8. Goalie saves - Columbia Falls 7 (Zoey Byrd), Corvallis 6. Corner kicks - Columbia Falls 1, Corvallis 2. Fouls - Columbia Falls 14, Corvallis 11. Cards - Columbia Falls 1 yellow, Corvallis 1 red.