Numbers drive the world, nowhere more than in sports.

The number of points, of wins, of losses. The numbers worn on jerseys, the lit-up electronic digits displayed on scoreboards, the numbers are always there, and a big part of it, no matter what the sport is. Numbers are the lifeblood of any game or contest.

But some numbers are undeniably more important than others, the numbers that decide who competes against who in Montana high school sports perhaps being the most consequential of all for local schools.

With that in mind, a deeper dive into some of the most important numbers to area teams and their fans is in order.

To begin, let’s look at those crucial enrollment numbers for local schools, as listed on the Montana High School Association’s website for the 2025-2026 school year - Thompson Falls 164, Plains 112, Superior 87, St. Regis 54, Hot Springs 50, Alberton 41, and Noxon 38.

Currently, Thompson Falls and Plains are designated as Class B for all MHSA sports except football, and all the other schools listed are Class C. In football, Thompson Falls is assigned to Class B 11-Man, Plains, Superior and St. Regis compete in 8-Man football and Hot Springs, Alberton and Noxon in 6-Man.

For argument’s sake, here are some more enrollment figures to consider: Florence 252; Eureka 250; Anaconda 323; Three Forks 240; and Manhattan 254. And Mission (129) and Troy (127) belong in this discussion as well.

Evidently severely outmanned to begin with in view of the significantly larger enrollments of most of their 11-Man opponents, consider the fact Thompson Falls enrollment numbers are skewed by the number of students who live in what are called program schools in the Thompson Falls area.

These students are enrolled in the Thompson Falls school system as part of their curriculum, but rarely participate in sports, although there have been a few exceptions in this regard.

The bottom line is students from these private programs represent up to an estimated 25% of Thompson Falls’ current enrollment numbers and these students rarely participate in athletic programs. If you took that 25% off the top, representing 41 students, Thompson Falls would be left at a more real-world number of 123.

In light of that adjusted number, participation in the 11-Man game has been a challenge for Thompson Falls, not only on the field where they are often outmanned, but also on the travel front, where the team is forced into long road trips for all away games.

Sadly, what’s more, the Blue Hawk football team has lost its traditional rivalries with Plains, Mission and Troy, and is forced to deal with Eureka, Missoula Loyola and Florence as its closest rivals now. The Hawk team bus goes through Plains for almost every road trip but doesn’t stop there for games with their longtime rival Horsemen anymore.

This should be considered a loss for all involved, the loss of the local rivalries and the shorter road trips, not only to the players and fans but to the taxpayers as well it would seem.

Consider the contrasting number of miles involved. Fifty miles there and back for Plains, 150 for Mission and 160 for Troy, as opposed to 330 for Eureka, 210 for Missoula and 250 for Florence.

Currently, if the Blue Hawks play any non-conference football games, that means somewhere like Whitehall (500 miles), Three Forks (550) or Manhattan (570).

If the Hawks were aligned with Plains, Mission and the rest in 8-Man football, those treks would be to more reasonable destinations like Charlo (140 miles), St. Regis (110) and Superior (130), for example.

Hurting Thompson Falls is the perception that the Hawks have a significant numbers advantage when it comes to 8-Man based on the artificially inflated enrollment. Also hurting the Hawks was their own success when they were designated 8-Man several years ago.

The Hawks, with some great players and the community rallying behind them, were a force in the Montana 8-Man game, even sweeping to the State championship in 2021. Thompson Falls was realigned back into 11-Man the very next year and have been fighting the good fight ever since, but without a lot of success in the form of wins.

The question is, should today’s Blue Hawk players suffer because their predecessors were so good?

And, at the end of the day, does this mean more misplaced rivalries and insufferably long road trips?

Although this topic has been kicked around by local pundits for years, the Blue Hawks will be forced to continue to play this cruel numbers game at least through 2026.

IN A SIMILAR numbers crunch as Thompson Falls, Deer Lodge, with 160 students is being moved back into 11-Man football this season, although an early report suggests that the school will not have a football program at all in 2026.

Ironically, with an enrollment almost identical to Thompson Falls, the Wardens struggled mightily to even field a team for 8-Man the past several years, let alone 11-Man. The forced move to 11-Man will likely leave Deer Lodge without a football team to cheer for this fall.

ANOTHER FOOTNOTE, Loyola and Valley Christian will be entering their second season as a cooperative football program this fall. Loyola was listed with 134 students last fall and Valley with 96, giving the two private schools a 230 total to draw football players from.

IN AN ATTEMPT to level the playing field in Montana football, Class B athletic directors recently met and devised a possible blueprint for more appropriate classification, a plan of attack for solving this problem.

This plan would create six classifications for more equal competition.

Schools with 59 students and under would be 6-Man Small, schools with 61-90 students would be 6-Man Big, 91-200 would be 9-Man, 201-300 would be the smallest 11-Man classification, and two more conferences would be formed from the state’s largest Class A and AA schools.

This sounds like a reasonable football solution for schools like Thompson Falls but only time will tell if it comes to pass.

DISCOVERED SOME INTERESTING TIDBITS while perusing the Montana enrollment numbers.

The largest school in the state is Class AA Billings West with 2,192 students, Browning is the largest A school with 669, Boulder is biggest in B with 330 and Park City with 108 has the largest enrollment of any C school.

Belgrade is the smallest AA school at 962 students, Butte Central is lowest in A with only 130, Fairview represents Class B’s lowest enrollment with 85, and Judith Gap was officially the lowest in Class C and overall in Montana with only two students listed last fall.

Opheim, with only three students, gave Judith Gap a good run for its money in the Montana lowball numbers game.