The 9C drives into Havre

Crowded, screaming student sections, blowing bands, admonishing coaches and cheering parents, a Hi-Line city riddled with school buses bearing the insignias of C class schools from all over the region - it's four days of 9C tournament time in Havre, and it's all-hands-on-deck time for organizers and volunteers.

For as long as anyone can remember, the District 9C basketball tournament has been going on, and it's always tipped off in Havre - and nobody can pinpoint a time when it officially started.

"In Havre, it's been going on as long as I can recall. I've been here on the Hi-Line for 32 years," Havre High School Activities Director Dennis Murphy said.

"9C has been around forever," Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Office Manager Shari Robinson said.

The Chamber plays a major role in making sure the 9C runs smooth and contributes an economic shot to Havre.

"We help host the 9C tournament," Chamber Executive Director Debbie Vandeberg said. "We help find all the volunteers that work that tournament, as well as sponsors to host the hospitality room for those four days of boys and girls basketball.

"Most of the folks that come into town for that tournament usually shop here. That helps drive the economy because that's at a time of the year when we don't have tourists going through - they eat at the restaurants and they shop in the stores," Vandeberg said.

Murphy talks about the 9C with veneration.

"There's something about the 9C that's special," he said. "People get excited about it. It's all our little towns that come into Havre for four days and they're playing their tales off to try and get to the next level. But usually the tournament is very well-attended by the local community and our surrounding communities."

Bart Hawkins, superintendent of North Star Schools., was clapping and cheering, seated just a few rows from the floor, Wednesday night - the first day of the tournament - as the girls North Star Knights were battling back and forth against the Chester-Joplin-Inverness Hawks.

The game was close, with both teams swapping leads. Across the gym, in the student sections, students hollered support for their schools, hoping to tip them over the edge.

"Go, Hawks, go!" one section of students yelled.

"Go, Knights, go!" a different group of students retorted.

By halftime, North Star was edging out CJI, 21 to 20.

Hawkins stood up to stretch.

"We get real psyched for the tournament. It's always a big time of year for everybody," he said. At North Star, our kids and our community do a real good job - they're definitely one of the best that I've been around, cheering and supporting the kids."

The student lounge of Havre High School serves as the hospitality room when the 9C comes to town. Three large flat-panel televisions showing the games hang from the ceiling, and a couple of tables filled with snacks and food including chili rested along the wall.

Jaron Rogers and Shannen Tarlton, both volunteers, were sitting at a table, eating and talking. They volunteered after receiving notification of the opportunity from their workplaces - they have different employers - which are members of the Chamber.

This was Rogers' first year volunteering, he said. His job was to make sure that only those with balcony tickets sat there.

"I've had to send a few people home," he said.

Rogers, who is from Great Falls, said he liked the job he got.

"I kind of think my job is pretty much the best right now," he said. "I don't have to deal with any of the high school students, don't have to watch for fights - it's pretty much the parents sitting up there."

For Tarlton, this was the second year she's volunteered for the tournament. She said she volunteered for three nights. On Wednesday, she was taking tickets and stamping hands.

"It's fun to be in that setting again, knowing that you're just there to help make everybody's night better," she said.

Tarlton said she signed up to volunteer together with a friend, who's from St. Louis. She thought it would be appropriate to help her friend be part of something that's so big and special in Havre.

Charlie Chvilicek, assistant coach for North Star boys basketball, was also enjoying a snack in the hospitality room. Chvilicek has many memories of the 9C, going back to his time playing in it, from 1978 to 1980, he said.

"I remember playing in the armory over at Northern. The atmosphere was something else over there," he said.

The crowds are still large and they still get raucous, he said, adding that things, however, are a little different.

"I remember standing in line to get tickets when I wasn't playing," he said. "The crowds have stayed pretty steady. The crowds will pick up, I'm sure, when we play in the semis. And in the championship and on the consolation round, this place will be packed."

Chvilicek said he believed the Knights' chances of advancing were pretty good, and he looked forward to continuing in the tournament.

The first night of the girls tournament, Knights staved off the Hawks and won 45-40.

Junior Katelyn Hansen was part of that effort.

"My favorite thing about the tournament is it's a short season. Your record disappears, everything starts over," she said.

For teammate Grace Farines, this was her first year at North Star.

"The atmosphere is really exciting," she said. "It's a good atmosphere."

By the time the 9C finishes in Havre, Saturday, 44 games will have been played.

Next stop, Great Falls for divisionals - for some.