Hungry Cats host Browning in season opener

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

With memories of the first home playoff game in 31 years last October still in mind, the Wildcats of Columbia Falls aspire to take it at least a step farther during the 2008 season.

The Wildcats, coming off a 4-1 Northwest A Conference mark a year ago, kick off the campaign by hosting Browning on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m. The Indians were blanked by Corvallis 42-0 in their season opener last Friday.

John Thompson, who returns for his sixth year as head coach of the Cats, lost 13 seniors from a team that had a 6-3 overall record in 2007. The Cats lost to Hamilton in the first round of the playoffs.

Lost via graduation were all-staters Michael Hader, Chase Grilley and Chase Fairbank. Josh Wilson, the Cats' leading rusher as a junior, transferred to C.M. Russell.

"We'll miss those guys," Thompson said of the seniors. "We had a real good group of kids who came through. They did a nice job helping stabilize the program. They showed good leadership and were a joy to coach."

However, the groundwork has been laid for continued development of the CFHS program.

"We have kids who are stepping up and doing a real nice job with their work ethic, and on-the-field leadership by example," Thompson said of this year's squad. "We want the kids pushing each other."

What the Cats are lacking going into the season opener, though, is vocal leadership from the captains.

"We want to make sure someone takes that role," the coach said.

Depth a plus for Cats

CFHS has quality depth at just about every position, especially at the skill positions. Senior Mackey Nolan and Mitchell Wassam will share time at quarterback.

"We have two real quality kids there," Thompson said, and the play of Nolan and Wassam will be evaluated early in the season. "Both have done a nice job this fall."

The Cats' offense will run out of the shotgun formation with a single running back, and the scheme lends itself to a variety of players touching the football, according to Thompson.

"There is a lot of competition for that spot," the coach said of the tailback position, with senior Stephen Baumgartner and junior John Woody the front-runners. Sophomore Chris King had a 70-yard touchdown run in Saturday's scrimmage.

Nolan and Wassam are both capable passers, and likely targets include senior Tanner Perry, juniors Kyle Howell, Wayde Martinson and Matt Hollo, and sophomores Kaleb Johnson and Devyn Rocker. Vying for slotback positions are such Cats as senior Quenton Hegel, juniors Dustin VonFeldt and Curtis Wilson, sophomores Nathan Thompson and Cole Jones.

Quality returnees on line

The Cats lost Dustin Knoepfle and Jason Hatch on the line, but returning are seniors Kodie Kenfield and Nathan Woods, and junior Kelly Houle. Competing for the other two starting spots are juniors Justin Livingston, Mike Macijunas and Jason Trueblood, and sophomore Bryce Arneson, among others.

CFHS has all three of its starting linebackers returning — Baumgartner, VonFeldt and Wassam.

"We could use a rotation of players on defense," Thompson said.

Nolan is one of the top punters in the state, in any class.

"He's punting at a level beyond high school," Thompson said, and added that Nolan has improved his distance on kickoffs.

Polson is the top team in the conference, based on returning players, according to Thompson. Quarterback Craig Bagnell led the Pirates to a 31-26 win over Stevensville in the season opener last Friday. Libby is led by senior quarterback Joel Fuller, who was involved in all four Logger touchdowns in a 27-12 win over Timberlake, Idaho, on Saturday.

Havre edged Whitefish 22-19 in their season opener last Saturday in Whitefish. Aaron Tkachyk caught two touchdown passes from Alex Elespuru and returned a kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown for the Bulldogs. Tkachyk hauled in eight passes for 112 yards, and Elespuru was 16-30-1 for 171 yards.

CFHS has only two of its five league games on the home turf — Sept. 26 against Ronan and Oct. 17 vs. Bigfork.

"The kids have their goals set to make it to the post season," Thompson said. "They understand from last year's experience it takes a lot of work to get there. This conference is very, very competitive. These guys aren't afraid to work. They have great work ethic."

Harriers begin year at Libby Invitational

By JOE SOVA

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls High School opens the 2008 cross country season on Friday (Sept. 5) at the Libby Invitational, and Steve Gasche is enthused about the prospects for an excellent year.

It is the silver anniversary for Gasche as head coach of the CFHS program as he celebrates his 25th year. He is again assisted by Richard Meincke.

The Wildcat boys finished second in the conference in 2007 and Gasche sees all his top runners return.

Junior Shawn Whitman was an all-state runner last season, and he placed second in the 5K in the Boogie to the Bank and Whitefish Lake Run this summer.

"He's had a terrific road race season this year," Gasche said.

Returning all-conference runners for the boys are senior Trip Gimbel and junior Patric Jessat. Gasche said that Jessat "has seen some tremendous success." Gimbel is "looking to complete his high school career with doing the same," the coach said.

Other seniors good experience are Michael Kruse and Tim Chopper.

"They should play a real dominant role on our team this year," Gasche said of Whitman, Gimbel, Jessat, Kruse and Chopper.

Other returnees on last year's state team are sophomores Pascal Jessat and Kodiak Gimbel.

Freshman Justin Whitman, younger brother of Shawn, is promising.

"He's easily going to be running at the level Shawn did when he was young," Gasche said. "He just needs race experience."

Overall, it looks like a good year is ahead for the Wildcats.

"We're looking for some potentially big results this year," Gasche said.

Girls team young

Although most of the team that competed in the state meet is returning, the Wildkat girls are "really young and relatively inexperienced," Gasche said.

Leading the way for the Wildkats is sophomore Nikki Moser, who recorded the third fastest time in school history last season, according to Gasche, who keeps tabs on CFHS times in his "Hall of Fame."

Other returning members of the state team are seniors Nikki Elek and Nicole Mickelson, and sophomores Tessa Cowan, Madison Stolte and Alexas Young.

Cowan, Stolte and Young could be running junior varsity early in the season, due to their age and inexperience, Gasche said.

Gasche said Elek has some "big goals set for herself." Mickelson is fighting leg injuries, but the coach hopes she can be a prominent member of the Wildkat team.

New to the team are freshman Jinise Osborne and Leesa Benner. Junior Dannah Turner could also have a good season.

"We have a lot of young talent. I can't really separate them yet," Gasche said. "It's going to be an interesting season for the girls. We have a lot of unknowns. We have a lot of girls who can play an important role on the team."

The Wildkats are going into the season with the idea of contending for conference honors, according to Gasche, but Whitefish has "tremendous depth" in its program. "Having a shot at being top two in the conference this year would be a good goal."

CFHS' girls were fourth at the conference meet last season.

The Libby Invitational on Friday at J. Neils Park begins with the middle school/junior high race at 12:30 p.m. The high school JV girls race starts at 1 p.m., followed by JV boys, varsity girls and varsity boys in approximate 30-minute increments.

The closest meet to home for CFHS is the Flathead Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 13 at the KidSports complex on U.S. Highway 93 in Kalispell. That big meet starts at 11 a.m.