Columbia Falls Wildcats get a rematch for state football title
FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 4 months AGO
SPORTS EDITOR Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast. IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together. | November 17, 2023 5:12 AM
The Dillon Beavers’ 10-0 mark this season includes a 22-19 win over the Columbia Falls Wildcats, which may or not mean much Saturday.
When the teams battle for the State A championship in Dillon (kickoff at 1 p.m.), they’ll know they’re evenly matched. They also know that the first battle was 10 weeks ago.
“The two teams are quite a bit different at this point,” Columbia Falls coach Jaxon Schweikert said. “Whether it’s injuries, or playing different players. We’ve worked our way into what we’re really good at, and got rid of stuff we weren’t. And same with them, right? They’ve changed things up.”
The quarterbacks remain key. Dillon’s Kee Christiansen scored the go-ahead touchdown in September, and is a dual threat who has thrown for 22 touchdowns — though he had just 49 passing yards the first time around.
The Beavers also have a thousand-yard rusher in Kale Konen.
“What’s really big is not letting either one of those guys have any momentum coming downhill at us,” Schweikert said. “We’ve got to keep them going sideways, going lateral, and use our speed.
“They’re both very fast.”
The Wildcats have speed as well, which has helped quarterback Cody Schweikert throw for 2,484 yards and 22 touchdowns, with just two interceptions. Partly due to the absence of running back Reggie Sapa, who was injured in Columbia Falls’ fourth game, Schweikert has also run for 653 yards and 19 scores.
“In the first game it was mostly self-inflicted damage,” Jaxon Schweikert recalled. “We snapped it over the punter’s head, and that led to touchdown. They scooped and scored a fumble that was essentially an incomplete pass.
“Defensively we were pretty good against them, but they’re better offensively now. Better at what they do.”
Dillon switches defenses, playing three in all, and is chasing its ninth state crown. The Beavers last won it all in 2016; it came 34-17 over Columbia Falls. The next season the Wildcats won the program’s lone state championship, over Hamilton.
The elder Schweikert celebrates the programs’ high-knowledge, high-effort athletes and feels the game could be a four-quarter affair again. Health could be an issue. Playing clean football definitely will be.
“If we’re not making turnovers, dropping passes, making silly mistakes,” he began, “we’ll have a chance to be very effective in this game.”
ARTICLES BY FRITZ NEIGHBOR
Flathead Crusaders claim national title
The Flathead Valley Crusaders, a local home-schooled basketball team, made a bit of history in February when they overcame injury and made a late-season push to the Montana Christian Athletic Association boys state title. They weren’t done.
Baseball: Wolfpack 9 ready to take to diamond
Erik Brink didn’t move to the Flathead Valley to teach and coach; it just turned out that way.
Full Count: Have to ask, Will it play in Meridian?
When we sit back to watch the Big Sky Conference absorb another lopsided loss at the NCAA Tournament — Idaho's men play Houston at 8:10 p.m. local time Thursday on that channel we watch once a year, TRUTV — we can at least root for the home-grown kids.