First-year Flathead coach Phil Jackson had a lot of spots to fill on his golf teams, but he’s more than looking forward to another year on the courses with the Braves and Bravettes.

“I was Coach (Roy) Antley’s assistant for six years,” Jackson noted this week. “I had the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. When he announced he was going to retire from coaching and teaching I was excited about the opportunity.” 

The rub, if you want to call it that: Not a single boy from last year’s team that advanced to the State AA meet returns, including All-State golfer Dylan Morris and strong No. 2 Korbin Eaton. 

“We’ve had kids working and playing over the course of the summer,” Jackson said. “We’re kind of an unknown right now, but I’m excited about the kids we have. We lost some pretty good players last year. ... but we’ve got a good group and I’m excited to work with them.” 

Conner Gall, a senior, is the golfer with the most varsity experience. The other senior in the current top five is Tucker Morrin. 

Juniors Trygbe and Jacob Sullenger got some varsity time last season and freshman Andrew Converse fills out the squad for Wednesday’s opening triangular meet in Whitefish. 

“That’s our five right now,” Jackson said. “We’ll see if some other kids rise from the JVs. We have a big group of junior varsity players.” 

Like Glacier, Flathead has a dearth of girls: Just six, compared to 34 boys. 

Sophomore Becky Schmidt and junior Hayden Ward have the most experience; Jackson has Ward, who was hampered by a wrist injury last fall, penciled in as his No. 1 golfer. 

Seniors Madeine Matson and Sienna Blanchard fill out the team alongside freshman Hadley McDonald. 

Things heat up quickly: Thursday brings the annual Crosstown Cup with Glacier to Village Greens. It’s moved up while more crossover tournaments are scheduled for the back end of the regular season.  

Before now, the Great Falls Invitational gave Western AA teams an early look at the Eastern AA. Then they wouldn’t see each other again until State. 

“Usually we’d be in Great Falls right now,” Jackson said. “The coaches kind of put a proposal together. In order to see more of the Eastern schools, we restructured.” 

Hence, the Helena Invitational on Sept. 5, when the Crosstown Cup would usually take place. 

The Western AA Divisional is set for Sept. 25-26 at Northern Pines (Glacier is host school) and the State AA meet is Oct. 2-3 at Butte. 

    Flathead's Becky Schmidt watches her drive off the first tee during the Crosstown Cup at Village Greens on Thursday, Sept. 5. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider