Last night in Lake County Sports

I changed things up and went to the Mission Valley Christian Academy soccer game last night. It was their final home game of the season and they defeated Summit 3-2. Here are some photos from that game.

Polson girls soccer lost to Columbia Falls last night in a shooting gallery, 7-4. The loss dropped them to 1-4 in league play.

Volleyball Roundup

Class A


Polson defeats Columbia Falls 3-0
25-17-25-21-25-19

Breanne Kelley had 18 kills in the game and you should have seen her in the third and match-clinching game. Holy cow. She's an absolute monster on the court. I would hate to be on the receiving end of one of her hits.

Here are some photos from last night's game...

Class B

Mission defeats Darby 3-0

25-18, 25-20, 25-10

It was a good bounce-back game for the Lady Bulldogs, who lost to Bigfork on Tuesday. Homecoming queen Odessa Durglo was royal with six kills and six aces.

Class C


Arlee defeats Hot Springs 3-1
25-11, 25-19, 24-26, 25-11

Becca Nelson continues to be a hitting force. She had 10 kills and a stunning 30 digs in the matchup. Arlee as a team had 130 digs.

Mission-Bigfork Volleyball photos

Here are some photos by Jordan Dawson of the Bigfork Eagle of Mission's match against Bigfork last Tuesday.

Mission Homecoming 2010 Video

The quality is a little bit low, I had to downsize it because the internet today seems to be funky not only in our office but everywhere in town. Somebody needs to get rid of those Internet gnomes...

A look at the football statistics for Northwestern A

Lets take a look at this weeks Northwestern A football statistics shall we?

Team rushing
1. Col. Falls (182 attempts, 1191 yards, 6.54 average, 238.20 yards per game, 8 touchdowns)
2. Ronan (226, 1107, 4.90, 221.40, 10)
3. Polson (150, 854, 5.69, 213.50, 9)
3. Libby (145, 718, 4.95, 143.60, 8)
5. Whitefish (94, 491, 5.22, 98.20, 6)

Ronan and Columbia Falls like to run the ball, Polson is a little behind because they balance things out nicely with their passing offense.

Team passing
1. Whitefish (158 attempts, 94 completions, 59.49% percentage, 1132 yards, 4 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 226.40 per game)
2. Polson (81, 47, 58.02%, 736, 4, 6, 184.00)
3. Libby (110, 53, 48.18%, 658, 7, 9, 131.60)
4. Ronan (60, 36, 60.00%, 498, 7, 5, 99.60)
5. Col. Falls (73, 25, 34.25%, 467, 7, 6, 93.40)

So while Whitefish does lead the league in passing, they are also tied for more interceptions and fewest touchdown passes. What does that mean? An inefficient passing game.

Team passing defense
1. Polson (81 attempts, 41 completions, 50.62% percentage, 496 yards, 12.10 yards per completion, 124.00 yards per game)
2. Col. Falls (129, 65, 50.39%, 639, 9.83, 127.80)
3. Whitefish (88, 47, 53.41%, 848, 18.04, 169.60)
4. Libby (117, 58, 49.57%, 880, 15.17, 176.00)
5. Ronan (142, 75, 52.82%, 1248, 16.64, 249.60)

People have trouble passing against Polson with all their talented defensive backs. It's kind of surprising they're no. 1 because they usually seem to be leading by a large margin so you would think their opponents would be throwing downfield a lot.

Team rushing defense
1. Polson (127 attempts, 377 yards, 2.97 yards per carry, 94.25 yards per game)
2. Ronan (151, 477, 3.16, 95.40)
3. Col. Falls (183, 821, 4.49, 164.20)
4. Libby (164, 1115, 6.80, 223.00)
5. Whitefish (175, 1277, 7.30, 255.40)

You don't rush in Lake County. Period.

An epic night in Lake County sports

Okay so they don't actually play high school squash in Montana but this photo is too funny. If you want to read about the story behind this photo, click here. Now, lets move on to the sports in Lake County.

(Photo by Jordan Dawson/Bigfork Eagle)

Good news from the pitch, Polson avenged an early season loss to Stillwater Christian last night with a 2-1 victory. The Pirates were down 1-0 at the half but goals from Trevor Moll (above) and James Larsen in the second half gave the Bucs another comeback win (they got this down to a science).

However, the bigger news might be Whitefish's 7-0 victory over Bigfork,  which means the Pirates are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Bigfork simply can't catch the other three teams in the standings. Now it's a battle for seeding.

VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP

Class A

Polson defeats Frenchtown 3-0
25-15, 25-19, 25-13

Kendyall Rochin had eight aces as Polson continues to dominate the competition in volleyball.

Ronan defeats Columbia Falls 3-0
27-25, 25-12, 25-18

I remember Ronan head coach Naomi Mock telling me that the Maidens will be chasing the Lady Pirates. It's hard to ignore how much she's turned this program around. (The Maidens were also on the cover of the DIL sports section today)

Class B 

Bigfork defeats Mission, 3-1
25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20

This was a close matchup and Bigfork had the advantage since it was played on their floor. It was a test for the Lady Bulldogs but this conference race isn't over yet.

Class C


Arlee defeats Charlo, 3-2
23-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-21, 15-8

Huge matchup for these two teams, and as you can see it was an epic battle too. Arlee has comeback from two games down before although that had to be especially tough against a good Charlo team.

Fastest pitch in major league baseball...

Ever recorded on radar in a major league baseball game. That is. Although judging from black and white photos of overweight pitchers in the early 1900s and also factoring in that there were really no relief pitchers until the past 30 years - guys had to pace themselves - (That's a guess so if you're really a baseball nerd and want to correct me about the first closer in 1949... just go back to your mom's basement and spare us all the embarrassment) I'm gonna say that this guy has thrown the most heat in a major league baseball game. Ever.

SAN DIEGO – Aroldis Chapman(notes) was summoned from the bullpen one batter too late to make a difference in the game. No matter. The 22-year-old Cincinnati Reds left-hander made do by making history Friday night, throwing the fastest pitch recorded in a major league game, a 105-mph fastball.

That's pretty insane, to put it all in perspective, that's a whole ten miles faster than the average Canadian driving through the state of Montana in their RV. Wow! 

Although I think that perhaps Chapman might have some competition...

I believe that Chapman's pitch is also 90 m.p.h. faster than Jamie Moyer's fastball.

Football scores from around Lake County this Friday

Ronan 50, Whitefish 26
St. Ignatius 40, Thompson Falls 13
Charlo 55, Victor 12

Arlee and Polson were both on a bye week this weekend.

Mission 40, Thompson Falls 13

Mission is for real. They improved to 3-1 on the season and 1-1 in conference after a 40-13 victory over Thompson Falls last night in St. Ignatius. Their bruising rushing attack and stout defense was on full display. Their crowd was excited for Homecoming. Their sideline was bursting with excited kids. In other words... wow. More to come this week in the Leader, for now here's some photos I took from the game...

Sports roundup from last night - September 23

(Photo by Brandon Hansen)

Dawn Blevins is pretty freakin' awesome at the game of volleyball. Watching Charlo dispose of St. Regis 3-0 last night, it was apparent that she was a leader and an instigator of greatness on the court. Her serves in the second game sealed things up for the Vikings and she played pretty well all around, leading the team with 20 assists.

Class C

Charlo defeats St. Regis, 3-0
25-18, 25-2, 25-4

Kinley Pope was also excellent, leading the team in aces with 10 and kills with nine. She's humble too, she told me after the game that Blevins is the best server on the team. Charlo improves to 4-0 in league and 7-0 overall.

(Photo by Heidi Hanse)

Ronan won a huge conference matchup last night against the Libby Logger, a team that qualified for state last year. Are the Maidens rising in the Northwestern A conference this year? They'll have a big test against Polson on Saturday night.

Class A
Ronan defeats Libby, 3-1
26-24, 25-16, 21-25, 25-16
This was some of the most entertaining volleyball I've seen all year. Tailyr Irvine led Ronan with 10 kills and Marissa McCrea had 17 digs. The Maidens improved to 2-1 in conference and 2-2 overall.

Class B

St. Ignatius defeats Deer Lodge, 3-0
25-10, 25-22, 25-15

The Lady Bulldogs are on a roll, improving to 7-1. Adessa Durglo led Mission with 10 kills and Mackenzie Trudeau had 19 digs. Loren Erickson continues to be a fantastic setter for the Lady Bulldogs, collecting 26 assists.

SOCCER ROUNDUP

Polson Boys 6, Bigfork 0
Remember when we were talking about "trouble scoring goals" and "this team just needs to score a goal to win" stuff? Yeah well they blew that away with six against Bigfork. The Pirates have apparently been working on finishing and putting the ball in frame. They're also sitting pretty 2-0-1 in the conference and 2-3-1 overall.

Polson Girls 5, Bigfork 1
After a tough time last week, the Polson girls pick up their first conference win of the season. I say good for them, they also deserved to win that Libby game last week.

Sports photos of the week

Here are some of the photos I liked that were taken this week in Lake County...

Frenchtown Invitational Cross Country Results

King Ranch Invitational at Frenchtown

GIRLS
Team scores
Anaconda - 38
Deer Lodge - 72
Hamilton - 73
Frenchtown - 75
Loyola Sacred Heart - 105
Ronan - 123

Individual Results
8. Ashley Granchamp, Ronan - 21:09
13. Jade Gray, Ronan - 22:29

BOYS
Team scores
Anaconda - 58
Ronan - 65
Hamilton - 86
Loyola Sacred Heart - 98
Darby - 104
Frenchtown - 123
Deer Lodge - 246
Arlee - 304

Individual Results
5. Kevin Wroblewski, Ronan - 16:50
7. Justin Dustybull, Ronan - 16:58
11. Cody Johnson, Ronan - 17:11
17. Danny Romero, Ronan - 17:35

Results from Mountain West Cross Country Invitational

Here are the results from last Saturday's Mountain West Invitational in Missoula, MT. It's considered one of the premier cross country meets in the Northwest and has enough nationally ranked cross country teams to back it up.

Football Stats for Week 4

So the NFL is going on but who cares when you have Week 4 football stats from the Northwestern A conference?

Team Rushing

1. Col. Falls (141 attempts, 907 yards, 6.43 yards per carry, 226.75 yards per game, 5 touchdowns)
2. Polson (150, 854, 5.69, 213.50, 9)
3. Ronan (177, 797, 4.50, 199.25, 7)
3. Libby (125, 611, 4.89, 152.75, 7)
5. Whitefish (70, 354, 5.06, 88.50, 3)

I think that this goes to show you how many excellent running backs we have in the Mission Valley right now. When Polson and Ronan are both picking up 200 yards on the ground you know both teams have some horses to run and some hogs to open up the holes ahead of them.

Team Passing

1. Whitefish (118 attempts, 67 completions, 56.78% passing percentage, 870 yards, 3 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, 217.50 yards per game)
2. Polson (81, 47, 58.02%, 736, 4, 6, 184.00)
3. Libby (80, 38, 47.50%, 528, 7, 6, 132.00)
4. Col. Falls (60, 18, 30.00%, 288, 4, 6, 72.00)
5. Ronan (54, 31, 57.41%, 385, 4, 4, 96.25)

Ronan passed for 155 yards last week and I'm kind of interested to see if they do a little more passing since they have so many quick players. Polson is second and but I think that's just because Whitefish passes all the time.

Team Rushing Defense

1. Ronan (127 attempts, 340 yards, 2.68 yards per average, 85.00)
2. Polson (127, 377, 2.97, 94.25)
3. Col. Falls (158, 714, 4.52, 178.50)
4. Libby (123, 831, 6.76, 207.75)
5. Whitefish (127, 971, 7.65, 242.75)

Ronan's front defensive line is awesome. That's all I have to say. Polson's defense isn't too shabby either.

Team Passing Defense

1. Polson (81 attempts, 41 pass completions, 50.62% percentage, 496 yards, 12.10 yards per pass, 124.00 yards per game)
2. Col. Falls (99, 50, 50.51%, 509, 10.18, 127.25)
3. Libby (104, 51, 49.04%, 701, 13.75, 175.25)
4. Whitefish (82, 42, 51.22%, 735, 17.50, 183.75)
5. Ronan (102, 51, 50.00%, 986, 19.33, 246.50)

When you can't move the ball on the ground or through the air, what the heck are you supposed to do against Polson?

Prep Volleyball Update

There was one Lake County volleyball matchup last night. There won't be any games tonight, but there should be a full slate of action on Thursday with Mission, Ronan and Charlo all playing at home.

Class C

Arlee defeats Two Eagle, 3-0
25-5, 25-7, 25-11
Whitney Mallatare and Melissa Ivanoff led Arlee with two kills apiece. Why not as many kills? Because Arlee had 35 aces from the stride. Maria Pablo led the team with 21 aces.