COLUMN: Winter sports heat up

This is why some folks put up the outdoor Christmas lights years ago and never took them down.

Time flies when you are having fun.

So it goes with the current high school sports season. Seems like the refs just tossed up the first jump ball and now it's already time to think about playoffs.

The first wrestlers locked up in competition just yesterday.

Yup, just like the holidays, these sports season speed on by faster every year, or so it seems to those of us who never get asked to show an ID to prove we are more than 21.

Less than two months ago, December 2-3 to be precise, “Tip-off” tournaments involving the Western 7B and Western 14C teams in Sanders and Mineral Counties were underway in Hamilton and Anaconda. The first mats were unrolled in Superior, Thompson Falls and Plains.

Last year’s popcorn kernels had just been scraped from the poppers and most gyms had a new coat of wax.

The old gum stuck to the underside of the gym benches was hardened and the new stuff was still being chewed.

Now, it’s time for final jostling for playoff seeding in the 7B and 14C to get more intense as the final three weeks of the regular season, beginning this weekend, signal the coming of the end.

The season’s last Invitational wrestling tournament will be held this weekend.

For roundballers and wrestlers, it will be time to see who rises to the top of the butter churn and who sinks to the bottom. For some it will be time to polish up the routines and for others it will be time to start thinking about track, golf, tennis and softball, and for a few maybe even baseball this year.

The saving grace for hard core fans is that there are still three weeks to play and then there are the playoffs.

Let the dreams of a state championship appearance begin.

Locally, there are some interesting races underway and at least one or two that have realistically already been settled. Sure, anything can happen at playoff time, that’s what keeps it interesting.

It’s the same way of thinking that keeps folks feeding five dollar bills into the gambling machines, the odds were against a big payout but it happened once and why not to me?

For both local conferences, the top two seeds have pretty much been penciled in for the upcoming Districts tournaments, which run the weekend of February 16-18.

The Western 7B girls will once again, barring a big upset along the way, belong to Bigfork and Thompson Falls. The Lady Valkyries are a favorite among local fans and coaches to qualify for the State Championships. Bigfork is unbeaten on the season and sits alone atop the conference.

Second place at this time belongs to Thompson Falls’ Lady Hawks, whose only loss of the year to date was at the hands of Bigfork. The two teams clash again February 8, in Thompson Falls in the 7B showdown for the second year in a row.

The Bigfork boys, meanwhile, are also sitting atop the pile in the “other” half of the conference, having gone through the year so far with only two losses while staying unbeaten in the 7B standings.

St. Ignatius is currently second in the league with a single conference loss.

The 14C conference races are also basically down to two teams in both the boys and girls competition.

The Superior Lady Bobcats are in control of first place and would earn the 14C top seed in District play if the current standings hold. The Cats are unbeaten in conference play and inflicted the only 14C loss of the year on second-place Charlo.

Those two teams meet again February 4, in Superior, to settle the matter. Noxon’s Lady Red Devils have the best outside chance at one of the top two seeds, as they have only two conference losses at this point.

On the boys side, Charlo eased into first place with its win over previously unbeaten St. Regis two weekends ago. The Vikings are unbeaten in the 14C race and will host St Regis’ Tigers February 3 to likely finalize the matter.

Surprising Two Eagle River’s boys crew is within striking distance of the second seed with just two conference losses, having lost to both league leaders earlier in the season.

St. Regis plays Two Eagle River in St. Regis this Saturday.

Districts for Thompson Falls and Plains begin February 16 in Eureka, with Divisionals in Anaconda the following weekend.

The 14C District matches will be in Ronan, with the Divisional tournament set for Butte the February 23-25.

This year’s Class C state tournament will be in Billings and the B championships take place in Bozeman.

Area wrestlers, who each have at least one state champion prospect on their rosters, have also had a strong and seemingly quick season.

Superior and Plains/Hot Springs have both made strong showings at the season’s top invitational tournaments, which conclude with this weekend’s Mission Invitational.

Divisional tournaments for Superior and Plains get underway the weekend of February 2-3, while Thompson Falls and Plains/Hot Springs will look to advance from the B Divisional tournament that same weekend in Pablo.

All local wrestlers will vie for the right to advance to the State Mat Classic, held yearly in Billings. This year’s state tourney is scheduled for February 10-11 in the Magic City.

And while they can’t do it for practical reasons, like next year’s volleyball players would trip over the mats, it’s probably tempting to leave the mats out and replace the basketball nets now.

Next season is almost here.