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George Ferguson Column: Now the real excitement begins

From the Fringe...

The golf clubs are officially put away. The never-ending task of raking leaves has started. Halloween looms. It’s time to start thinking about buying a new snow shovel. The World Series is being played out in Kansas City and San Francisco.

Fall is officially here, even if it hasn’t felt like it.

And with the arrival of the real fall, the chase for supremacy in high school football and volleyball is here, too.

This weekend marks the last weekend of the regular season for Class A, B and C football teams, as well as the end of the regular season for Class B and Class C volleyball teams. Class AA football will be over in another week, as will Class AA and A volleyball.

Put another way, things are about to get very interesting and very exciting.

Yes, there’s nothing quite like playoff football in Montana. And for that matter, there’s really nothing like playoff football on the Hi-Line.

And once again, it’s looking like the Hi-Line will be well-represented come playoff time. The Havre Blue Ponies are in, the Chinook Sugarbeeters are in, the North Star Knights are in, and there’s a chance that the Chester/J-I Hawks and Box Elder Bears can get in, too.

That’s what makes this time of year so great. All along the Hi-Line, we see football players we know, ones we see every day, ones we have watched play the game since they were little, now get their chance to win a state championship.

While it’s true that only one team from each classification can hoist a state championship trophy come Nov. 21, you can’t win one if you don’t make the playoffs, and after this weekend, we’ll see just how many area football teams have that chance.

After this weekend, which features some big, big games, in place like Blue Pony Stadium, Chester and Rudyard, we’ll get to sit back and say, our teams have a chance to win it all.

And in my opinion, we’re about due for another title on the Hi-Line. Chinook won the last one when the Beeters drilled Wibaux for the 200 Class C state championship on a frigid November day in Chinook. Before that, it was the Blue Ponies memorable 2004 state championship win over Billings Central at Blue Pony Stadium.

Yes, all of us are ready for the next state championship trophy to come to the Hi-Line. Will it be this year? That question will be answered soon enough, but after this weekend is over, we’ll at least know the local teams that have that chance, and that’s what makes this time of year so special.

We’re also inching closer to our first state tournament of the high school sports season.

In volleyball, the All-Class state tournament is now a mere three weeks away. And that means it’s time for Hi-Line volleyball teams to get really serious.

This weekend marks the end of the regular season for Class B and C volleyball teams, while Havre High has one more week after this. Then, it’s on to the postseason, and it’s going to be exciting around these parts.

Chester/J-I will play host to the District 6C East tournament, and that tournament should be one of the most competitive district tournaments in all of Class C. One week later, the action moves back down Highway 2, where Chinook will host the Northern C Divisional, arguably the best, and toughest divisional tournament in Class C volleyball.

Two weeks from now, the Havre Blue Ponies will take their shot at postseason glory when they play at the Central A Divisional tournament in Browning, while Harlem and Rocky Boy will do the same in their respective district tournaments.

And for the select few, it will be on to Bozeman.

The Montana High School Association really got it right when the moved all of the volleyball state tournaments together at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman. It’s a great event, and it really is the first major high school sporting event of the new school year.

Here’s to hoping plenty of area teams punch their tickets to Bozeman over the next few weeks.

So there you have it. When all of this started, it was still 90 degrees outside and hot as heck in gymnasiums all up and down the Hi-Line. It was August, it was summer time, and at the time, high school sports for 2014 were just in their infancy.

But now here we are. The days are much shorter, it’s getting colder, at least at night, and going to Fresno on a hot sunny day, or playing 18 relaxing holes of golf is now just a distant memory.

Now it’s about postseason football and postseason volleyball. Now, it’s about the road to glory for high school teams all over the state, and right here on the Hi-Line.

Now is when the real fun begins.

 

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