Baumgartner leads Cats to 42-0 blitzing of Browning

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

COLUMBIA FALLS — Stephen Baumgartner scored four first-half touchdowns, two on long runs, leading Columbia Falls to a 42-0 blitzing of Browning in the Wildcats' season opener on a cool, windy Friday night.

On the Wildcats' first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff, Baumgartner — a speedy 180-pound senior — came in motion to the left and took a handoff from quarterback Mackey Nolan. He turned the corner, getting a key block from lineman Nathan Woods, and raced 62 yards to the end zone.

Browning, which had been shut out by Corvallis by the same 42-0 score in the opener week, gave the ball right back when Dustin VonFeldt intercepted a Bill Blackman pass on the Indians' first offensive play. After an exchange of possessions, John Woody rambled 32 yards to give the Wildcats a first down at the Browning 28-yard-line. On third-and-15, Nolan connected with Kyle Howell for 23 yards and a first down at the 8. On the next play, Nolan scored on a keeper. VonFeldt's two-point conversion run gave Columbia Falls a 14-0 lead midway through the opening period.

A face mask penalty on the Indians kept a Wildcat drive alive after a Browning punt. Mitchell Wassam, who shared quarterback duties with Nolan, went 14 yards on a keeper — setting up a 40-yard touchdown jaunt by Baumgartner. His first two scores came on Columbia Falls' bread-and-butter play, the 37 power.

It went from bad to worse for the Indians as Mike Macijunas stormed in and blocked a Browning punt on its next possession. Baumgartner scooped up the ball in stride and ran 37 yards for his third touchdown of the contest with 31 seconds left in the first period. Nolan's kick made it 28-0.

Browning's best chance to score came in the second quarter as the Indians drove to the Wildcat 14-yard-line. But a procedure penalty and bad shotgun snap helped keep the Indians out of the end zone.

Later in the period, Tanner Perry picked off a Blackman aerial at the Columbia Falls 45. A 27-yard pass from Wassam to Quenton Hegel set up Baumgartner's fourth touchdown, a five-yard run.

"I wanted to have a good game," Baumgartner smiled after the Wildcat win, "but I didn't think it would be this good."

Baumgartner, who had 131 yards rushing, credited his teammates for their blocking in enabling him to score three touchdowns.

"I couldn't have done it without blocking," he said.

Hegel intercepted another long Blackman pass with 24 seconds left before halftime. Nolan, back at quarterback, found a seam up the middle and scooted 89 yards downfield, breaking a tackle at the Browning 10-yard-line. Tony Sinclair made a touchdown-saving tackle and Columbia Falls' lead remained 35-0 at halftime.

VonFeldt scored the Wildcats' sixth touchdown on a 37-yard zigzag to the end zone midway through the third period.

CFHS finished with 370 total yards — 334 rushing and 59 passing. Browning had 46 yards rushing and 86 passing for a 132 total.

"It was a great start to the season," CFHS head coach John Thompson said. "A lot of kids got on the field. We executed pretty well. We didn't have any turnovers. We saw some kids in a competitive setting.

"The Browning kids played hard. They brought a ton of defensive pressure," the coach said. "It's nice to see the kids adjust to that pressure."

Scores of other games for Northwest A teams last weekend: Whitefish 16, Butte Central 6; Frenchtown 34, Libby 32; Hamilton 59, Bigfork 15; Dillon 42, Polson 12; and Corvallis 30, Ronan 20.

CFHS plays next Saturday, Sept. 13 at Butte Central.

Browning 0 0 0 0 — 0

Columbia Falls 28 7 7 0 — 42

CF — Stephen Baumgartner 62 run (pass failed)

CF — Mackey Nolan 8 run (Dustin VonFeldt run)

CF — Baumgartner 40 run (Nolan kick)

CF — Baumgartner 37 return blocked punt (Nolan kick)

CF — Baumgartner 5 run (Nolan kick)

CF — VonFeldt 37 run (Nolan kick)

Soccer teams fall to Park, Belgrade

By JOE SOVA

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls came up short in a pair of road games to open the 2008 boys soccer season, but the Wildcats showed improvement from the first match through the end of the weekend.

Park High School of Livingston posted a 3-1 win over the Cats on Friday. CFHS led 2-0 over Belgrade on Saturday, but the Panthers scored three unanswered goals to post a 3-2 victory.

The Cats got on the scoreboard first against Park, scoring in the 24th minute. Chase Jackson took a nice crossing pass from Edgar Salcido and found the net from the mouth of the goal.

Park tied the game on a goal by Calvin Anderson five minutes later on a breakaway. It was 1-1 at halftime.

The Rangers took the lead on a Cameron McAllister goal just two minutes into the second half. They added insurance with a goal by Cody Windorski midway through the second half.

"It was our first game of the season. We have a lot of new kids," CFHS coach Peter Browne said. "We got a little complacent at times. Overall it was not our best effort."

The Cats were outplayed in the first 20 minutes of the second half.

"They beat us to the ball," Browne said. "We learned a little bit from it, how not to compete."

Browne said the Cats had several good opportunities to score, but failed to finish.

Park had 11 shots on goal and CFHS finished with nine. Cats goalkeeper George Kimerly had eight saves.

CFHS' offense got going early in the game against Belgrade. Browne said Travis Pete had a "great heads-up goal" in the seventh minute. "He saw the goalkeeper was off his line." Pete's shot from 20 yards out found the net.

In the 18th minute, Jackson scored on a breakaway goal.

"He casually put it in the corner," Browne said of the shot. "It was a good finish."

Three minutes later, Belgrade got on the board on a goal by Nathan Hickey to trim the Cats lead to 2-1 at halftime.

Hickey scored again in the 66th minute to tie the match, and what proved to be the game winner came on a shot by Jordan Cameron just a minute later.

"We had breakdowns in the middle of the field and it cost us two goals," Browne said. "Hopefully we can learn from that."

However, Browne said the Cats played much better against Belgrade than in the match a day earlier against Park.

"I thought we outplayed them. We should have come home with a win," Browne said. "We controlled the game offensively. We missed some open-goal opportunities. We can't let teams back in.

"We broke down in the middle a little bit. We have to have better positional play," the coach added. "We need to get our positional responsibilities shored up and we'll be fine."

Browne was pleased with the play he saw from the Cats freshmen.

Kimerly had eight saves in goal for CFHS.

The Cats open Northern A Conference play Friday, hosting Libby. The Loggers (2-1 overall) split last weekend, blanking Belgrade 3-0 and losing to Park, 4-1.

"Libby always has a scrappy team," Browne said. "They're tenacious on the ball. They like to play long and tackle hard."

Match time Friday is 5:30 p.m.

A young team learns by its mistakes, and the Columbia Falls girls soccer squad did just that in a pair of road losses to kick off the 2008 season last weekend.

The Wildkats were edged by Livingston (Park High) on Friday and Belgrade on Saturday, both match scores 3-2.

"It was the same story in both of them," CFHS coach Greg Trenerry said of the matches. "Both of those teams were good."

CFHS outshot Livingston 23-12, but came up a goal short.

The Wildkats got on the board first against Livingston as McKenzie Reeve, a junior transfer from Bigfork, found the net five minutes into the match. Cedar Jordt had the assist.

Livingston tied the game in the sixth minute for a 1-1 halftime tie on a goal by Kelsey VanHorn. Four minutes into the second half, Rachel Silverstone scored for the Rangers, and Miriam Glierloos made it 3-1 in the 51st minute.

The Kats got within a goal when Reeve scored in the 55th minute, assisted by Julia Burgi.

"It's the first time they've played together," Trenerry said of his team. "They stayed with those guys and didn't give up."

In her first game as a starting goalkeeper, Niesha Thompson had nine saves. Katie Polsak had 20 saves for the Rangers.

As in Friday's game, the Kats' offense got rolling early as they took a 1-0 lead against Belgrade, the defending Class A state champion. Reeve scored in the 12th minute. The Panthers answered with two goals, by Kelsey Caracciolo at 20 minutes and Sierra Monger at 39 minutes for a 2-1 halftime advantage.

CFHS tied the match when Reeve scored in the 53rd minute, assisted by Shay Grilley. But Belgrade netted the game-winner two minutes later when Shelby Erdahl scored.

"They had four real strong players," Trenerry said of Belgrade. "Their center mid (Jamie Greany), we needed to contain her a little better."

Trenerry was very pleased with the play of Thompson in the net.

"She kept us in that second game against Belgrade," the coach said.

He credited Ashli Fairbank with a good job at sweeper as well as Stephanie Raymond at stopper.

High school soccer is sometimes a numbers game, and the Kats have more depth than last year.

"We could use quite a few subs," Trenerry said. "We didn't see a huge difference when we put them in."

Trenerry said the Kats have a lot of work to do, specifically in clearing the ball and changing the point of attack.

The Kats entertain Libby in the home and Northern A Conference opener Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Loggers shut out Livingston 1-0 and lost to Belgrade 3-1 last weekend.

"They're a good team. They have a couple of players we have to watch," Trenerry said.