Oh what a time we had.

The 2025 fall sports seasons in cross country, soccer, football and volleyball have ended for all area teams and it’s time to reflect on what we just witnessed, to look back on what this year’s sports hath wrought.

In cross country, the biggest local story was the first and third place finishes by Plains Horsemen harriers Owen Jermyn and Cord Greer in the State B meet in Missoula back in late October. Since the supreme running Horsemen are only sophomores, we can expect to hear a lot more from them in the coming seasons.

Being the old guy around here, I remember the days of Anders Booker and Owen’s uncle Casey Jermyn, then the brothers Steward, Craig and Dane, from the storied history of Plains distance running of the past. Owen has gone on record saying he wants to win everything that his uncle Casey ever won.

Although he could have his work cut out in that regard, Owen has cracked the magical 16 minute barrier in the event and owns the Plains school record (one he has set and reset several times already) in cross country, a pretty magnificent accomplishment in itself considering Horsemen running history.

We could also hear from 2024 State B champion Marina Tulloch of Plains on the girls side in a big way next year. Now a junior, Marina missed much of this past season due to illness after running to the title as a sophomore, but looks to return to form in 2026. To her credit, in spite of not being in prime form, Tullock did run to a fine 34th place finish in last month’s State B meet.

Down Thompson Falls way, sophomore Weston Block enjoyed a breakout running campaign of his own and ended up winning a respectable 11th place overall and All-State B honors in the boys’ portion of the State B meet in Missoula.

Sisters Libby and Lexi Franck led the Hawks at the Western B and State B meets and look to do the same next fall as Libby is only an eighth grader and Lexi a sophomore.

In soccer, the Thompson Falls-Plains-St. Regis cooperative continues to make strides, as both the boys and girls teams played competitively through a full schedule of games, unfortunately against mostly larger schools at this still early point in the programs’ history.

The Thompson Falls-Plains-St. Regis girls are coached by Nick Lawyer and the boys by Michael Scharfe. Katrina Nygaard was the assistant coach for the Hawks girls and Cody Pallister assistant coached for the boys this past season.

In football, the St. Regis Tigers and Superior Bobcats both qualified for the 8-Man playoffs and the Noxon Red Devils won their ways into the 6-Man playoffs, to highlight teams’ efforts in this area.

Coach Jesse Allan guided the Tigers through one of St. Regis’ finest seasons on the gridiron ever. The Tigers concluded season play two weeks ago with a 66-24 loss to Scobey in the 8-Man quarterfinal round, and St. Regis finishes with an 8-3 record.

The last of those great eight wins was a 28-0 conquest of Sheridan in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 1, believed to be St. Regis’ first-ever Montana playoff game win.

Superior, after finishing tied for second in final standings, ended up seeded as the No. 4 team from the west due to the tiebreaker and were forced to take on unbeaten Flint Creek in Drummond in the first round, a game the Bobcats lost to the Titans. Coach Jeff Schultz’s Bobcats finished the season with a 7-3 record.

Noxon also had a tough draw into the 6-Man playoffs, being forced on to the road and a game at undefeated Grass Range-Winnett. Coach Lucas MacArthur’s Red Devils lost that game to the powerful Rangers to finish play with a 5-4 record.

Coach Jim Lawson’s Hot Springs Savage Heat, after battling low participation numbers all season were forced to cancel their final game, but were a factor in the Montana 6-Man conversation right up to the minute they were finally forced to step down.

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks didn’t make the 11-Man playoffs after having done so the prior two years running, but the Hawks did win two games and were nobody’s pushovers at any point.

The Plains Horsemen played only three games of their nine-game schedule, all in Plains, also due to perilously low participation numbers. Coach Mike Tatum’s Horsemen

scored a homecoming win over visiting Troy in Plains’ homecoming in October to salvage the season.

On the local volleyball scene, the Hot Springs Savage Heat won second place, both in the regular season and in the District 14C tournament, and went on to represent the conference at the Western C divisional tournament.

Superior also played at the Western C after winning third in the 14C tourney. St. Regis, Noxon and Alberton all completed play in the 14C tournament in Charlo.

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks wound up winning fourth in the Western B divisional tournament for District 7B’s best showing, winning two of four matches at the tourney in Mission, defeating Plains and regular season champion Eureka there.

Playing catch-up with all the action in Montana last week, the State All-Class volleyball tournament was played in Bozeman, and semifinal football games played out in various locales across the state.

Of the most interest to local fans, Shepherd won the State B volleyball title, Townsend took second and Jefferson County third, and Circle claimed the State C crown with Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine placing second and Belt third.

For the record, Billings Central won the State A championship, Havre took second and Frenchtown third, and Bozeman Gallatin claimed the State AA title, with CM Russell placing second and Bozeman third.

The football playoffs went through the semifinal round last week and all the championship games are now set for this week.

In the 6-Man playoffs, Chester-Joplin-Inverness defeated Lincoln 60-22 and Grass Range-Winnett topped Power-Dutton-Brady 72-20. CJI now travels to Grass Range for the championship.

In the 8-Man playoffs, Scobey toppled previously unbeaten Fort Benton 46-14 and Flint Creek cam back to defeat Circle 36-32. Scobey will host Flint Creek this week.

In the Class B 11-Man semifinals, Manhattan held off Eureka 14-12 and Three Forks withstood a furious Scottie comeback to top Glasgow 32-30. Three Forks and Manhattan will meet in Manhattan in the championship Saturday.

In Class A, Frenchtown defeated Whitefish 23-20 and Billings Central downed East Helena 42-7 to set up a Frenchtown-Billing Central championship game in Billings Friday.

In Class AA, Kalispell Glacier continued its dominating season with a 35-0 win over Bozeman Gallatin and Billings West edged Missoula Big Sky 20-17 in the other semifinal. Billings West will travel to Kalispell for the AA championship game, also on Friday.

    THOMPSON FALLS SENIOR Solveig Nygaard controls the ball during soccer match action against Whitefish at Previs Field in Thompson Falls October 9. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)