End is here, beginning is near

The end is near, but the beginning is coming soon.

As the fall sports seasons become history, the winter sports prepare to take center stage.

Although wrestling seasons have traditionally begun before the boys and girls basketball seasons, that has changed this year as all winter sports will officially begin practice Thursday for Sanders County high schools.

The Thompson Falls wrestling team will begin the season competing in the Polson Invitational Dec. 1-2, while the Hawk and Lady Hawk hoop teams will open season play with a boy-girl doubleheader at Libby Dec. 2.

The Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen will begin the grappling season hosting a quadrangular meet, also featuring Thompson Falls, Eureka and Arlee, on Dec. 7.

The Plains, Noxon and Hot Springs girls and boys basketball teams will begin 2017-2018 season play at the Tip-Off Tournament in Frenchtown Dec. 1-2.

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The uncomfortable decision on who will coach the Plains-Hot Springs wrestling program has been made.

Forced into selecting a new coach right before the season begins by the untimely passing of Kenny Marjerrison several weeks ago, the Plains High School administration has selected Jeff Kujala to be the interim head coach. Kenneth Beech will remain on staff as the assistant coach, with former Plains wrestlers Rocky Wagoner and Jake Lile serving as volunteer assistant coaches, Plains superintendent of schools Thom Chisholm told the Ledger Tuesday.

Chisholm said that Marjerrison will still be listed on all programs this season as head coach "in memoriam" in order to honor the man who meant so much to so many people.

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Elsewhere around Sanders County, the coaching staffs remain largely the same, with a few new assistants popping into the mix.

In Thompson Falls that means that Ian Taylor is back as the head coach for Blue Hawk wrestling, and Ryan Ostwald returns as assistant.

On the basketball front, TFHS athletic director Jake Mickelson returns as the boys basketball coach and Doree Thilmony is back to guide the Lady Hawks.

Mickelson's lead assistant coach will be Michael Benson and Scott Pardee has been enlisted to coach the Hawks' C team. Sandra Kazmierczak returns as the sole assistant coach for Lady Hawks. Benson was the Hawk boys assistant coach and Lady Hawk head coach in the past, and returns to Thompson Falls for another coaching go-around this winter.

In Plains, PHS athletic director Mike Cole will again coach the boys team while Jesica Nagy returns to coach the Trotters. Tyrell Allen and Kyle Cole return as assistant coaches for the boys and girls.

Fresh off guiding the Red Devil football team into the playoffs for the first time in 18 years, double duty Bart Haflich returns to coach both Noxon basketball teams. New to the Noxon program, Scott Marshall will be Haflich's assistant coach with the boys while Tamra Weltz is back to assist with

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the Lady Red Devils.

In Hot Springs, Ricky DePoe and Richard Jackson will again be the head coaches the Savage Heat boys and girls, with DePoe also serving as the assistant coach for the girls. A kindergarten teacher in Hot Springs, Cameron Barber is DePoe's new assistant coach for the boys.

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The Montana state champions have been crowned in volleyball, the top prep football teams in the Big Sky Country will be decided this week.

The 2017 state volleyball champs were determined at the Montana All-Class tournament at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman Saturday.

In the Class C ranks, Western C champion Ennis fought through the field of teams to win the title, Belt took second place and Gardiner third.

In the Class B portion of the all-class tourney, perennial power Huntley Project won another State B championship, Western B champion Florence fought back to take second and Joliet was third.

Billings Central won the State A crown, Belgrade finished second and Corvallis third and in Class AA, Missoula Sentinel repeated as champions, Billings Senior took second and Helena Capital third.

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As the weather turns colder, the championship action on the gridiron continues to heat up in Montana high school football. All five MHSA classifications played through the semifinal round in various locales across Montana last week.

In Class C, the 6-Man and 8-Man finalists were determined.

Westby-Grenora, the team that Hot Springs defeated for the 2016 6-Man championship last fall, defeated Valier 59-19 in Valier while Bridger was running past White Sulphur Springs 64-36 in White Sulphur Saturday. Bridger will host Westby-Grenora, which also goes by the name of the Mon-Dak Thunder, in the 6-Man title game Saturday. That game will be a rematch between the two 6-Man powers from earlier this season, a game the Thunder won 48-47 in overtime.

In the 8-Man game Flint Creek (a cooperative between Philipsburg and Drummond) will host Forsyth in P-burg Saturday in the state championship game.

Flint Creek defeated Circle 46-14 in Drummond and Forsyth got by Ennis 50-38 in Forsyth last week. Saturday's 8-Man title game will be the first ever for the Flint Creek co-op, although Drummond won five titles from 2003 through 2009 as a stand-alone program.

In Eureka, the Eureka Lions took another step towards repeating as State B champions, blasting Fairfield 31-6, while Shelby edged Missoula Loyola 28-27 in a semifinal thriller in Shelby. Both of those games were played Saturday and Shelby will travel to Eureka this Saturday for the Class B championship game.

The Lions, who play in the same district as Thompson Falls, defeated Loyola on the strength of a last-second touchdown pass in the State B championship game last year. Also of interest, Eureka has not lost a game since falling to these same Shelby Coyotes early on in the 2016 regular season.

Two western Montana teams will square off for the State A championship as Columbia Falls will host Hamilton, also on Saturday. The two Western A schools got this far as Hamilton held off Billings Central 35-28 in Hamilton and Columbia Falls shut out Sidney 17-0 in Sidney last week.

The Columbia Falls Wildcats will be looking for a measure of revenge after having lost the State A title game to Dillon last fall. Hamilton defeated Dillon in Dillon two weeks ago to deny the Beavers, the perennial power in A football, the Western A championship. Billings Central then ousted Dillon from the playoffs in the first round two weeks ago.

The Class AA championship game between Billings Senior and Helena will be the only title game played Friday as the Bengals will host the Broncs at 7 p.m. that night.

Senior reached the big game by trouncing Missoula Sentinel 49-7 in Billings and Helena defeated cross-town rival Helena Capital 30-7 to punch their tickets.