CHUCK BANDEL
Valley Press
Recent Stories
Mission team wins Passing League title
The eighth edition of the Superior Passing League football experience came to a head last week with the five-on-five passing group from Mission High claiming the championship in Superior.
Recipe for success: Hot Springs hires new basketball coach
Ingredients and the blend. Those, according to new Hot Springs High School boys basketball coach Jim Benson, are the keys to success.
Bargain hunters peruse Yard Sale stops
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.
COLUMN: Olympic marketing
Speaking of France... We weren’t? Is anyone, especially when it comes to the 2024 Summer Olympic games?
Hoop fest draws hundreds of ballers to Plains
If you are an ardent basketball fan who wandered up Montana 200 near the Plains Airport, you most likely did a double-take or pinched yourself to make sure the site wasn’t a dream.
COLUMN: Welcome to Crazyville
Sometimes, more often than I care to admit, sports drive me crazy.
Four-day hoops camp held in Thompson Falls
It was hard to tell who was having a better time and liking basketball more at the Thompson Falls Basketball Camp this past week, the more than 100 kids or the staff of former Blue Hawks players.
'Passing league' gets kids on football field during summer
Several years ago, eight years by his reckoning, Superior High football coach Jeff Schultz was looking for a way to keep football players active in the sport during the off season.
COLUMN: First fish
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Local hoopers take advantage of summer ball
If you have a favorite sport, one you can’t get enough of, local high school basketball teams have your back.
Fun run supports Plains Public Library
For many folks there is nothing like keeping a cold morning at bay with a good book and a warm place to read.
Homesteader Days marks 75 years with rodeo action
The rain stayed mainly above the plains surrounding Hot Springs this past weekend, and that was a good thing.
Thompson Falls' Hanks headed to Boise State
For the vast majority of senior student athletes who participated in high school sports this spring, graduation means the end of their organized sports career.
COLUMN: Bobcat lacrosse champs
Griz fans, Velcro down. Preferably with your favorite adult beverages clutched in your hand.
Softball and track championships in the books
The crowns have been installed and the 2024 Montana high school spring sports season is in the books.
Locals shine in 8-man football all-star game
Superior High’s Jaxson Green, who recently signed to play to football this coming fall at Montana Tech in Butte, made a few Orediggers’ coaches feel pretty good about their new recruit.
Lady Hawks land two on All-State roster
Successful seasons are generally the product of teams playing as one unit. Everyone on the same page.
COLUMN: Sports and politics
It is happening, already in a major way in some cases.
COLUMN: Braving the elements
So, it appears I learned a big lesson this spring sports season.
Lady Hawks end softball season at state
Purists of the sport will tell you that good pitching beats good offense every time.
Demming wins state discus title
The efforts of one junior was for the most part enough to carry the Plains women to fourth place in the team title pursuit at the Montana State Class B track and field championship this past weekend in Laurel.
Bobcats claim division championship
Quietly and overwhelmingly the Superior girls high school tennis team has put themselves in line for a State B-C team title.
State qualifiers at Western Division B-C
On a weekend when intermittent rain and sunshine, wind and cold played a factor in athletic performance, Twin Bridges’ girls and the Manhattan Christian boys found a path to victory in the Western Division B-C track and field meet in Missoula.
Plains softball wraps up season
For half an inning, it looked like the streak was over.
Lady Hawks softball earn No. 2 seed
This was what makes softball the great sport it is.
Connolly leads Tigers at golf championship
St. Regis high school golfer Jack Connolly fired a two-day total score of 171, good for tenth place individually at the State Class C championship in Hamilton last week.
Superior girls third at divisional meet
One thing was not so surprising from the Class B ranks of the Western Divisional track and field championship this past weekend in Missoula.
COLUMN: End of the season
I can hardly believe it.
Thompson Falls golfers battled wind, tough course at Anaconda
How windy was it in Anaconda this past week?
Christensen leads Hot Springs to second at 14C meet
On a clear, blue sky Montana day, the stars were out in force over Missoula County Public Stadium this past weekend.
Lady Bobcats take on top tennis teams
Versatility and depth are part of the arsenal for this year’s Superior Bobcats tennis team, the only high school tennis team in Mineral or Sanders County.
Locals post strong results at 7B District meet
How important is depth in team sports?
Lady Hawks softball eyes postseason run
For the better parts of three months, they have been running, catching, hitting and working on the many parts of the game of fastpitch softball.
St. Regis sends two golfers to state
St. Regis golfers continued to enjoy success this year, with two going to the state championships following a strong showing at the Class C Divisional meet in Great Falls this past weekend.
COLUMN: In the field
There has always been an almost mythical attraction about the “field” part of track and field, particularly the events associated with the big and powerful among us.
Noxon-Thompson Falls baseball gets win over Browning
If the way the first season of Noxon-Thompson Falls varsity baseball ended is any indication, good things may be on the horizon for the Red Devils.
Lady Hawks score 13-3 win over rival Plains
If you look purely at the score, you would think the Sanders County rivalry softball game between Plains and Thompson Falls was a rout.
Local stars put on show at Archie Roe
When one of our own small town stars shines above the rest, it is a special thing.
COLUMN: A thank you
When describing a sporting event, it is often nearly impossible to put pen to paper without the use of terms like “battling,” “fight to the last minute,” "comeback," etc.
Lady Hawks stay hot in three wins
If you picked the trifecta for Thompson Falls’ Lady Hawks softball games last week you would be a winner.
Superior moving back to Class C in some sports
Scorecard, scorecard, can’t tell the players (or conference?) without a scorecard.
Red Devils co-op baseball heads to state tourney
All the planning, all the hoping, all the work...and now the first season of high school varsity baseball is almost done for the Noxon-Thompson Falls co-op team in their first year of existence.
Alberton's Fredette flies to second at Anaconda meet
They are few in number, but the few are having a productive track and field season.
Tracksters tune up at Kim L Haines meet
That was, in basic terms, a clean-up, rest-up and tune-up weekend for area Class B-C track and field teams as post season playoffs get underway this week.
Copperheads take one from Trotters
The unofficial score: Anaconda 1, Plains 0, Mother Nature, 1-1.
Plains’ Alexis Demming competes at 'Top 10'
It is billed annually as the “Top 10” track and field meet, a measuring stick event featuring the top 10 performers from throughout Western Montana in track and field events.
Baseball co-op Red Devils fall to Ronan, Frenchtown
It was an overcast, chilly day in the Northwest corner of Montana...perfect weather for baseball?
St. Regis star John Pruitt signs with Rocky
One of the greatest challenges facing small town athletes who aspire to move on and continue their sports careers in college is that the small number of students at many B and C schools do not typically produce college-level competitors.
COLUMN: Choosing sides
Life, they say, is all about choices.
Plains girls finish 3rd at ARM track meet
Host Whitefish swept the men’s and women’s team titles at last weekend’s ARM track meet, while the Plains women continued their impressive run in the women’s title chase.