There wasn’t a lot to see on the Hi-Line this past weekend. Not because it’s a quiet time or anything, but because most of our local sports teams were elsewhere.

    But, thanks to a road trip I saw some action, and I also will mention some other things I saw and read this weekend.

    It wasn’t an easy day for the MSU-Northern football or volleyball teams in Helena Saturday.

    But I do want to commend the Northern football coaching staff for getting the Lights ready to play Carroll College at Nelson Stadium. Northern played hard and played with heart, and though it wasn’t enough to upend the Saints, the Northern coaching staff did a great job of stepping up to the plate in head coach Mark Samson’s absence.

    And since this column is titled “what we saw this weekend”, I want to take this moment to wish Mark Samson a continued recovery and hope he’s back, stalking the Lights’ sidelines really soon.

    Also worth noting about Helena was the wind. It was a classic fall day in Last Chance Gulch, but it wreaked havoc with the football game and the State Cross Country Meet. The meet, which is held at Bill Roberts Memorial Golf Course, which is one of the windiest courses in the state anyway, was hampered by a solid and cold 20 MPH wind in the morning, with gust over 30 MPH.

    Those are tough conditions to run in and it obviously affected the Havre Blue Ponies and some of their times. But, the Ponies ran hard in the conditions, just as all competitors did, and we all need to congratulate the three Pony runners, who wrapped up stellar careers Saturday by earning Class A All-State honors.

    And while we didn’t see a lot of action in our area this weekend, fans are going to get more than their share of it in the next six days.

    Here’s what you’ll see over the next week on the Hi-Line. Wednesday and Friday, the MSU-Northern wrestling team will compete at the Armory Gymnasium, Thursday and Friday is the District 6C East volleyball tournament in Chinook, Thursday night the MSU-Northern volleyball team takes on Western, and the Skylights also host senior day against Westminster on Saturday afternoon. Friday night, the MSU-N men’s and women’s basketball teams make their home debut against Lethbridge, while the Havre High volleyball team has home matches against Lewistown on Friday night, and Belgrade and Livingston on Saturday. And finally, there’s playoff football, with Chinook, Chester/J-I and Big Sandy all hosting playoff games this weekend. Big Sandy plays Friday night and Chinook and C/J-I on Saturday afternoon.

    Now that’s a lot of sports. We’re going to try and make it to as much as we can.

    Hopefully, all of you will see it all too.