Prep games postponed as threats close Valley schools

All athletic events in the Flathead Valley were canceled or postponed Thursday due to unspecified threats made toward area schools.

Decisions on Friday’s events, which include home football games for Flathead, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Bigfork, will be made by 10 a.m. tomorrow.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office has identified and is conducting interviews with persons of interest regarding a series of threats made via text message and email that led to the closure of schools throughout the valley on Thursday.

Because of the unspecified nature of the threats, school administrators are playing it safe with athletics, avoiding any instance that could put a large group of students, coaches or spectators in harms way. The school systems are waiting for the threat to be cleared before resuming activities.

Thursday’s crosstown soccer matches between Flathead and Glacier were called off and Legends Stadium, where they were scheduled to take place, was closed with the gates locked. The second day of the Kalispell Invitational golf meet was also called off. Glacier activities director Mark Dennehy said the school was working on makeup dates.

Bigfork called off its planned volleyball trip to St. Ignatius and Whitefish’s home volleyball match against Columbia Falls was called off on Thursday. It was set to be the start of Whitefish’s homecoming weekend. The football team is scheduled to play Corvallis on Friday and soccer is scheduled to host Bigfork on Saturday.

While Friday’s school day has been called, the schools are waiting until the last minute to reschedule Friday’s football games. Those include Flathead’s home opener against Missoula Sentinel, Whitefish’s homecoming game and the highly anticipated game between Class B title favorites in Bigfork, pitting the Vikings against Eureka. Columbia Falls has an extra day to let the authorities resolve the situation, with a home game scheduled on Saturday against Stevensville.

Glacier football is on the road at Helena High and the Flathead and Glacier volleyball teams have a weekend road trip in Helena planned. There are cross country meets scheduled in Cut Bank and Missoula.

The only home activities scheduled on Saturday are a pair of soccer matchups, with Polson at Columbia Falls and Bigfork at Whitefish, and Columbia Falls’ football game against Stevensville. All of the scheduled volleyball matches, cross country and golf meets are out of town. Glacier soccer is at Sentinel.

This story will be updated as more information is made available.