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Winning District 14C conference games in Charlo has always been a challenge for visiting league teams. Winning there without your best player in the lineup during crunch time at the end of a game would seem like an even more daunting task. The veteran of many such contests as a player and then as a coach for both the Noxon boys and girls at various times, Noxon coach Ryan Weltz was excited by what his boys were able to accomplish in defeating Charlo 47-44 on the Vikings’ floor Saturday. Weltz’s high scoring son Rylan Weltz, one of the most pro...
The math of everyday life can be confusing. Take our current year of existence, 2020, for an example. Is it now Twenty-Twenty, or is it Two-thousand Twenty? Take the way we pronounce numbers for another example. Heard a promo on TV the other day and I had to do a double-take. The announcer, in my mind, said: “Watch the 60-second Grammys award show on CBS.” What was actually said was: “Watch the 62nd Grammys award show on CBS.” Sure, it was only temporary (60 second?) confusion, but it was confusion nonetheless, and now has me wondering about b...
The Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen did not wrestle in the Florence Invitational last Saturday as it was incorrectly printed they would in the Ledger last week. The Savage Horsemen will wrestle in the Florence Invitational this Saturday as it is correctly printed in the Ledger now. Like almost every other Class B-C or A team in this particular corner of the Big Sky Country, coach Jeff Kujala and his Savage Horsemen grapplers were competing in the Ronan Duals Friday and Saturday, and Kujala was happy with how his athletes in singlets did in...
The Keg Bowl lives! Given up for almost-dead last year when only a handful of players showed up, a rejuvenated Keg Bowl, featuring a welcome flock of younger players, many playing in Sanders County's most-famous bowl game for the first time, was played once more, for the 39th time overall, Saturday. Although who wins the game is always important – the Silver Bullets held off the Young Bloods 59-41 in the latest iteration – the camaraderie and goodwill generated by the game are the main ben...
Standout running sisters Josey and Hattie Neesvig competed in the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Madison, Wisconsin Dec. 14. Josey, a junior in Thompson Falls High School, and Hattie, an eighth grader, have both ran, and ran well for the Thompson Falls cross country team the past several years. More than 2,700 runners from across the country competed for national honors at the Yahara Hills Golf Course, as Josey competed in the 15/16 age class and Hattie ran in the 13/14...
Are you seeing 2020 yet? Whether you can see 2020 clearly or not you had best get used to the sight because it is bearing down upon us as we speak. In fact, it is already here. The 2020 portion of the local prep sports schedules kick in this week with a plethora of basketball games and wrestling action in the area. In wrestling, the Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawks will compete in the Ronan Duals Tournament Friday and Saturday, while the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen will hit the mats in the Florence Invitational Saturday. All eight...
I have a bone to pick, a beef with North Dakota State, and how they pronounce their team nickname. If you ask them – even if you don’t ask them – they will tell you that the correct way to say their team name is Bizon. That’s right, Bizon, not Bison like it is spelled, but Bizon like you know that’s how it really should be said, they will say. It is almost as if they have created and christened a novel new way to say their team name, and if you don’t say it that way, why, you should just never say it at all. And being as successful as they have...
by John Hamilton HOT SPRINGS – It's games like these that give gyms their very own place in time and history. In perhaps one of the very best basketball games ever played in the "new" Hot Springs High School gym, the hometown Lady Savage Heat scored a comeback win for the ages, coming back from 12 points down with less than six minutes to play to register an improbable 48-47 win over visiting Seeley-Swan Friday. The Heat were fighting back from behind all night before coming up with a big r...
The Lady Hawks have a winning basketball tempo going and made their sweetest music yet this season in running to a 63-18 win over visiting Libby at TFHS Thursday. Now 3-1 in non-conference play and overall, coach Chadd Laws and his Lady Hawks will likely enjoy a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year in reflecting back on what has happened so far this basketball season. The Hawks' up-tempo attack has their opponents on their heels and has put Thompson Falls fans on their feet. "We are excited,...
by John Hamilton The New Year’s Day Fun Run and Walk turns 21 Jan. 1, and event organizers are looking for another big turnout to celebrate the coming-of-age for the event. With registration beginning at 9 a.m. at the Elks Lodge just east of Thompson Falls, the race is set to begin at 10 a.m. New Year’s Day regardless of what the weather is like. Although the event has now reached legal age, you never had to be of legal age to participate in the long-running run anyway. Runners and/or walkers of all shapes, sizes and ages have always been wel...
It’s Keg Bowl time again, and game organizers want to let prospective players and fans know when and where Sanders County’s only annual football bowl game will be played. Returning once more to the hallowed, although now slightly altered, playing surface at Ainsworth Field, Blue Hawk Scholarship Club president Doug Willhite says the game is forecast to begin Saturday, Dec. 28 at 1 p.m. come hail or high water. Wannabe players are urged to show up at the field by at least 12:30 for the pregame draft of players, and of the keg for which the eve...
The Charlo Lady Vikings defeated the Plains Trotters 48-28 in District 14C conference action at Charlo last Tuesday, Dec. 17. Kylee Altmiller scored 14 points, Kimberly Curry six, Kaylah Standeford three and Lexa Craft two for Plains. Destiny Manuel scored 14 points for Charlo and Connor Fryberger and Carlee Fryberger nine apiece. Now 3-2 overall and 0-1 in 14C play, coach Eddie Fultz and his Trotters are now off until Jan. 3 when they host the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks....
The hometown Blue Hawks kept pace for a while but, in the end, the Class A Libby Loggers were a little too much. Libby defeated Thompson Falls 56-36 in non-conference basketball action in Thompson Falls a week ago last Tuesday. Now 0-4 for the season in non-conference action, coach Jake Mickelson and his Hawks will begin 2020 with a game at Plains Jan. 3 before hosting Troy in District 7B conference play Jan. 4. The Hawks trailed only 10-9 after the first quarter against Libby, but the Loggers...
The Hot Springs boys basketball team knows it is going to be a fight out there every night, and they are okay with that. "We are not very big and pretty inexperienced but these kids won't back off from anyone," Hot Springs coach Scott Fredrickson said. "We know we are going to have to scrap hard every game and we are up for that." The Savage Heat scrapped out a split last week, taking down Two Eagle River 63-54 in Pablo Thursday but falling at home to Seeley-Swan Friday. Fredrickson was impresse...
With senior Rylan Weltz leading the way, the Noxon Red Devil boys won a pair of basketball games last week, defeating Clark Fork, Idaho 62-49 in Clark Fork Tuesday and shooting past Two Eagle River 46-42 in Noxon Friday. Noxon coach Ryan Weltz actually thought Clark Fork was the tougher of the two opponents last week. “We played well against Clark Fork, they are a pretty good looking team,” he said. “But we did not play very well against Two Eagle. I’m not sure if it was nerves, excitement, adrenaline or what it was, but it will be nice to...
The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks did not win the team title in the CM Russell Christmas Classic wrestling tournament in Great Falls last week, in fact they didn't even come close to it. But coach Mike Thilmony and his Hawks left the 2019 Classic a much better team than they were before the tournament started nonetheless. Coach Thilmony's standout son Trae Thilmony, a sophomore, won second place at 120 pounds in the 60-plus team tourney and senior Seth Alarcon battled his way to an eighth place win...
Led by the placing efforts of Conrad Vanderwall (second at 138 pounds), Mason Elliott (third at 120) and Jesse Uski (fourth at 160), the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen scored 70 team points and finished seventh in team scoring at the Buzz Lucey Memorial wrestling tournament in Eureka Saturday. The Savage Horsemen grapplers also participated in a mixer match in Eureka Friday. "It was an encouraging effort from the whole team in Eureka," coach Jeff Kujala said. "The kids are working really...
Talk about that special kind of Christmas gift for the wrestling coach who already has everything grappling he will ever need, the CMR Christmas Classic Tournament – perhaps the biggest regular season tournament of any given prep wrestling season in Montana – is in Mike Thilmony's singlet stocking hung by the chimney with care this year. Thilmony and assistant coach Jase Miller will take their Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawk grapplers partway across our great state this week to participate in...
The Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen are on the learning curve and trending upward. The very young Savage Horsemen wrestling team began the season last week, competing in the Mission Quadrangular (which actually was two dual matches for each of the four teams involved) Thursday, taking part in a mixer match in Superior Friday and finally, grappling in the Bob Kinney Classic in Superior Saturday. Senior Conrad Vanderwall won second place at 138 pounds to pace the Horsemen in Superior Saturday....
Things are going well on the basketball court with the 3-1 Plains Trotters but they could be better, coach Eddie Fultz says. The Trotters moved to 3-1 in non-conference play last week in a pair of home games, sending Valley Christian back to Missoula on the short end of a 48-20 score Friday and then losing to Seeley-Swan 48-16 Saturday. Plains was to have opened District 14C conference play at Charlo Tuesday but results of that contest were not available at press time. The Trotters do not play...
Fast breaks where the ball does not touch the floor are music to a basketball coach’s ears. Making sweet music with several such fast breaks which ended up with the pumpkin stretching the strings of the net for easy shots, the Hot Springs Savage Heat strummed out an easy 68-16 win over Victor in Hot Springs Saturday. Coach Richard Jackson was duly impressed with his 3-0 Savage Heat girls for the way they turned fast break opportunities into easy baskets, with no dribbling in between passes. “Rebound, outlet pass, pass, pass, score…” he said. ...
They build excitement. And they are coming to a town near you real soon. The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks hit the road for a pair of games against Northern B teams last weekend and scored two impressive wins, downing Conrad 67-59 in Conrad Friday and stopping Choteau 59-45 in Choteau Saturday. Now 2-1 in non-conference play and rightfully feeling pretty good about themselves, coach Chadd Laws and his Lady Hawks will open their home schedule Thursday night hosting Class A Libby in another non-con tilt. The Libby game will be Thompson Falls’ f...
The Horsemen are playing with unbridled basketball passion. Seeming to want to go full tilt at all times last week, the sometimes impatient Plains boys split home games, shading Valley Christian 66-41 Friday but falling to Seeley-Swan 47-44 Saturday. Now 3-1 overall, coach Tyrel Allen wants his Horsemen to slow down and smell the roses – or at least slow down and appreciate the opportunities they are given. The Horsemen were set to open District 14C conference play at Charlo Tuesday but results...
Shaking off the cobwebs from one of the longest road trips of the season, the cold-shooting Thompson Falls boys dropped games to Conrad 66-48 Friday and Choteau 60-56 Saturday. “We came out flat against Conrad and dug ourselves a deep hole we couldn’t get out of,” coach Jake Mickelson said. “The boys responded well Saturday though, and nearly knocked off a very good Choteau squad.” Falling behind 19-10 after one quarter against Conrad, the Hawks lost contact with the Cowboys after the home boys rode out to a 22-7 win of the second quarter, maki...
New players showed up and the improvement continued for the Hot Springs Savage Heat boys last week as the Heat concluded the proceedings with a 51-21 win over Victor in Hot Springs Saturday. Now 2-1 on the season, the Heat will wrap up play for 2019 hosting Seeley-Swan Friday in another non-conference game. In his first season at the helm, coach Scott Fredrickson is happy with what his team – which picked up three new players last week – is giving him. “The kids are playing hard, we made some progress last week,” he said. “Our defensive...
