The road to the State soccer playoffs in the North division is not for the faint of heart.

The division features the reigning girls state champions and the boys side has placed at least one team in the state championship match in each of the last nine years. 

Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Bigfork hope to be a representative to make it 10 straight. 

Starting with the Bulldogs, who fell to Polson in the championship match a season ago, coach Eric Sawtelle returns a group that features kids from each class. 

The captains — and there are four that earned the honors this season — are seniors Quinn Powers, Tristan Erwin, Luka Duffy and Will Dohmen. 

Sawtelle adds that even though they have a smaller group of seniors than in 2025, he sees a lot of talent in the underclassmen. 

"We have a great group of younger players," Sawtelle said. "There is big sophomore class and some talented freshmen who will play varsity right away." 

Sawtelle called out Max Brown and Grayson Rembaugh as players to watch. Brown is healthy after picking up an injury last season. Rembaugh remains a goalscoring threat. 

The Bulldogs squads face a tough task to open the season with games Friday against Laurel and Saturday against Billings Central, both games are in Whitefish. 

"We have a strong tradition in Whitefish soccer, all the players have the motivation to live up to that," Sawtelle said. "The work rate is really high from the start and it helps to play some really tough games right away." 

Down the road in Columbia Falls, O'Brien Byrd and the Wildcats are in what most teams would call a rebuilding season after losing nine seniors. 

Byrd thinks it will be more of a retooling though. 

"We have a handful of experienced veteran stars that are leading a talented influx of youth," Byrd said. 

Just three seniors are on the team, but the Wildcats feature a core through the middle of the field that starts with Talon Bates in goal. Eli Crockett and Logan Ruggerio bring senior leadership to the center back positions. Whit Albrecht will star in center midfield with Brady Bell leading the charge up front. 

Byrd hopes the Wildcats can bring home their fourth conference title in five years to help set up a run at a state championship. 

Next up are the upstart Bigfork Vikings led by Trever Moll in his third season as head coach. 

Moll has a solid group of freshmen joining a team that worked its way into the playoffs in 2025. He singled out Bridger Hare as someone who will put in a big shift with the squad this season in his third year playing. 

Mason Davie is a freshman to watch between the pipes for the Vikings. 

"Our program is getting on a roll," Moll said. "The girls reached the state title game, the boys made the play-in game, we just want to continue the growth and we are really excited."  

Bigfork opens in Whitefish Friday and Saturday, taking on Billings Central and Laurel.  

While the North is good, the defending champions sit in the South with the Polson Pirates and coach Josie Lies (pronounced lease) preparing a run at a repeat. 

"I told the boys at the beginning of the season is the only thing harder that winning a state championship is defending it," she said. 

Defending the championship will be a tall task for the Pirates, who lost a large senior class. 

Jackson Bontadelli is one of the five seniors on the Pirates roster and will be putting in a shift this fall. Lies hopes to see him as one of the state's leading scorers on the pitch while also running cross country for Polson. 

Lies also noted junior captain Roman Sawyer as a player who has grown a lot over the past years, adding that he is super competitive and always pushes the team to be better. 

Overall, Lies feels like 2026 may be a rebuilding year but expects to get everyone's best as the defending champions. 

Jumping over to the girls, the Columbia Falls Wildkats sit in a similar position to Polson after claiming the state championship last fall. 

Thomas Clark's team sees three key returners and captains for the new season in Riley Byrd, Alexa Friske and Onnikka Lawrence. 

June Johnston is another name Clark mentioned; she started every game at center back in 2025 and is expected to move into a midfield role this season. 

Evie Dorr joins Johnston in the midfield and sophomore Medora Dahlstrom will start in goal. 

In addition to winning last fall, the Wildkats seniors have experience in another state championship game three seasons ago and Clark hopes they can get back for a third time. 

"We need to make sure we aren't coming in with complacency," Clark said. "Every year is a new year and we are 0-0 until we play games." 

The Columbia Falls teams open the season Friday with a doubleheader in Stevensville against Hamilton and the host Yellowjackets. 

Finally, the Whitefish girls look to knock Columbia Falls off its pedestal. 

Coach Kelly Ordway noted a strong freshmen contingent had led to record numbers of girls out to play. 

Leading the way are captains Delila Vine, Anna Boysen, both seniors, and junior Sage Ordway. 

Joining the charge once again is Neve Sliman, who led the team in scoring last fall. 

Her sister, Grace Sliman, is also back after missing last season with an ACL injury. Ordway says the junior has a "ferocious work ethic." 

The Bulldogs have a little extra fire in them after watching Columbia Falls celebrate a division title on their home field in 2025. Ordway knows they will be in contention for not just the conference, but a state title as well. 

"It's usually within our reach as we are always a good team," Ordway said. "First step, we would love to win our conference this year. Columbia Falls won that on our field last year, so we would like to take that back this year."