It’s heeeerrreee!!!

Light the lamps, ring the bells, buy some extra Velcro or duct tape, whichever you prefer to keep you in your seat. Playoff time takes flight this weekend!

And while the nation starts making party plans for the rapidly approaching Super Bowl, folks here in Western Montana are fluffing up their “stadium chairs” and making plans to be in “exotic” places like Shelby, Polson and St. Ignatius.

It all gets underway this coming weekend (Feb 2-3) with the Montana Western B-C Divisional wrestling extravaganza from the halls of Shelby High School.

Well, at least the gym.

That’s where grapplers, coaches, friends and families of the three high schools in Sanders and Mineral Counties will gather, with the goal of moving on to the All-Class state championships in Billings two weekends hence to crown champions in AA, A, B and C classes and their 13 weight categories from 103 pounds to the big boys and girls of the heavyweight ranks.

Last year Superior High produced two state champions, 126-pounder Decker Milender, and heavyweight (285 pounds) Chandon Vulles, on their way to the Class C team title under coach Charlie Crabb.

Crabb and company are back this year, with several state hopefuls in the fold including heavyweight Jaxson Green, 152 pounder Lucas Kovalsky and standout freshman Turner Milender (160) among the Bobcats who have solid shots at advancing to Billings.

Thompson Falls 170-pound wrestler Max Hannum also won an individual title and is back this year, one weight class up the scale at 182 pounds.

Let the falls begin! Start rolling up the ref attention-getting towels. Let the squeaking of shoes and mats ring throughout the land, or at least Shelby!

And keep your wrestling eyes focused on the Plains/Hot Springs co-op Savage Horsemen, who have a chance at advancing a bevy of wrestlers to the state meet, including senior Drew Carey, the guy with the coolest name in Montana High School sports. And watch 152-pound Plains standout John Waterbury, he of Hot Springs, who has had an impressive year for coach Jesse Jermyn’s young and talented bunch.

Yup, it’s playoff time in the Treasure State!

And the weekend after the dust settles in Billings’ First Interstate Arena, local basketball fans will have their turn at postseason mayhem.

Basketball is waiting in the wings, winding down it’s regular season competition with upsets the norm. District play begins the weekend of February 16-17.

Locally, the District tournaments are up first, with the Class B schools, T Falls, Plains and Superior congregating in St. Ignatius for the Western 7B tournament and the right to advance to the Western Divisional round one week later at Salish-Kootenai College in beautiful, downtown (almost) Pablo.

Top finishers from the Divisional tourney punch a ticket to the state Class B finals in Billings. All three local teams have the ability to make a run in the opening rounds of the playoffs, including upstarts Plains and T Falls, which have flirted with the top of the 7B conference throughout the year. Superior is a sleeper, and a dangerous one, if ever there was one.

And in the ultra-competitive Western 14C ranks, the District tournament in Polson promises to be a nail-biter with five teams, St. Regis, Charlo, Two Eagle River, surging Noxon and Hot Springs all having shots at moving on to the Western C Divisional tournament one week later. The conference’s sixth team, Alberton, recently took Noxon, which pulled off a win over Charlo last week, to the fourth quarter before subduing the game and hearty Panthers.

Top finishers from the Polson event advance to the Western C Divisional tournament, set for the following weekend in Frenchtown.

Get all that?

If you are a sports fan, this is your time of year. Wash and iron the school sweatshirts. Dust off the hats, paint your face if you wish.

This is playoff time.