C-Falls opens fall seasons Aug. 28, 29

With Bigfork dropping from Class A to Class B in all sports but soccer, Columbia Falls will have just four conference opponents in football, volleyball, cross country and golf during the 2009-2010 school year.

Remaining in either Northwestern A or Northern A conferences with the Wildcats and Wildkats are Whitefish, Libby, Polson and Ronan.

Under new head coach Bill Coleman, C-Falls has three different football opponents on the nine-game regular season schedule than last year. Hamilton and Dillon from the Southwestern A have been added along with Freeman, Wash., a school south of Spokane. The Wildcats played Butte Central and Bigfork last year; they are not on this year's slate.

With the added game, the Wildcats kick off the season a week earlier than last year, playing Aug. 28 at Stevensville. The home opener is Sept. 4 against Hamilton. Other home games are Sept. 18 against Dillon, Oct. 9 versus Polson and Oct. 23 against Whitefish. Additional road games are Sept. 11 at Browning, Sept. 25 at Ronan, Oct. 2 at Libby and Oct. 16 at Freeman.

C-Falls begins the volleyball season Saturday, Aug. 29 at the Whitefish Starter Tourney under returning head coach Addy Hines, then gets into Northwestern A Conference action Sept. 5 in the home opener against Whitefish. The Wildkats take part in the Tip Off Tournament Sept. 11-12 in Anaconda, an event new to the volleyball schedule.

Through Oct. 24, the Wildkat spikers have only three home dates — hosting Whitefish Sept. 5, Browning Sept. 17 and Ronan Oct. 10. Since Bigfork is now Class B in volleyball, the Wildkats have added Browning to the schedule on home and away dates.

As they did last year, the C-Falls boys and girls soccer teams open the season on the road. But rather than opening against Park (Livingston), the squads play at Bigfork. Those openers are Saturday, Aug. 29. The boys conference game starts at 11 a.m., and the non-conference girls match is set for 1 p.m. Peter Browne returns as the Wildcat boys head coach, and Greg Trenerry is back as the Wildkat girls head coach.

The home openers for the boys and girls is Sept. 4 against Park. Game times are 4 p.m. for the boys and 6 p.m. for the girls. C-Falls hosts Libby on Sept. 12 and Bigfork on Sept. 15. A new opponent for the C-Falls boys is Stillwater Christian; that match is Sept. 22 in Kalispell.

C-Falls is scheduled to open the 2009 golf season a week earlier than last year. The boys and girls teams, under returning head coach Gene Marcille, go up against Browning on Aug. 28 at East Glacier, starting at 9:30 a.m.

The Wildcats and Wildkats have two home-course dates during the regular season. They face Whitefish and Libby on Sept. 8 and go up against Ronan and Polson on Sept. 11, both events at Meadow Lake Resort. C-Falls hosts the Divisional Tournament Oct. 2 and 3 at Meadow Lake. The state tourney is Oct. 8 and 9 at Village Greens in Kalispell.

Richard Menicke is the new cross country head coach after serving as an assistant under Stephen Gasche for a number of years. The C-Falls harriers' season unfolds Sept. 4 at the Libby Invitational. The first race begins at 1 p.m.

C-Falls has eight regular season meets this year rather than six like last season. Invitationals at Eureka and Frenchtown have been added on Sept. 11 and Sept. 15, respectively. As usual, the Wildcats and Wildkats have no home meets; the closest they run to home is in the Flathead Invitational on Sept. 12 at the KidSport Complex in Kalispell. The conference meet is Oct. 16 in Ronan, and Missoula hosts the state meet Oct. 24.