Sentinel and Billings Skyview finished the season with identical 5-5 records, but without a head-to-head contest during the year, the eighth and final Class AA playoff spot went to a tiebreaker.
It was by the slightest of margins - five points, Sentinel coach Pete Joseph says - that the Falcons kept their season alive.
“Our kids understand where we were,” says Joseph, who just completed his fourth season at Sentinel. “They understand what happened.”
Using point differential against common opponents for its tiebreaker, Sentinel lost out after getting outscored by nine points. Skyview was outscored by just four points against the same eight teams.
Of particular harm to the Spartans was a 35-19 defeat to Great Falls High in Missoula on Oct. 17.
“Not seizing that opportunity hurt,” Joseph says. “We told (the players) that this is a playoff game; we have got to win this game to make the playoffs. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”
Sentinel, which had its best season since a 5-5 campaign in 2000, just missed making the postseason for the first time since 1989.
The Spartans were attempting to give Missoula two teams in the AA playoffs for the first time since 1994, when Big Sky and Hellgate played for the title.
Big Sky (6-4) made it this fall, too, and will head to Great Falls Russell on Friday.
“It's a little frustrating because we were city champs and we made such a strong statement there,” Joseph says, “but we didn't get in. Big Sky did, and they earned it, but it's frustrating nonetheless just looking at that.”
By the way, the last time Hellgate had a winless football season was 1986. That group went 0-10 as well.
Valley peaks
The Valley Christian volleyball team won its first match of the season this past Saturday, sweeping Darby at home on the last day of the regular season.
“That was not a typo,” said third-year coach Karen LaBrie. “It was our last home game and the girls really got it together.”
It couldn't have come at a better time for the Eagles, who begin play at the District 6-B tournament on Thursday in Deer Lodge.
Valley Christain (1-15) opens against Seeley-Swan. The Eagles returned just one senior, and are mostly made up of sophomores.
“We are an extremely young team in the midst of a rebuilding season,” LaBrie said. “The girls are trying to catch up.”
Double teamed
Last month's state cross country meet saw a rare sweep in the Class AA boys' and girls' team titles by Bozeman, but it was not the 12th time it had happened in Montana prep history, as reported.
The number of double winners listed on the Montana High School Association's Web site is one dozen for Class AA, but the correct number of 11 sweeps was found by a true expert.
Longtime Bozeman coach Mary Murphy caught the error and notified the MHSA. She in fact was coach the last time the Hawks won both the boys' and girls' AA titles back in 1983. Murphy retired three years ago, but recently watched several runners she had as freshmen.
Murphy was in attendance at the University of Montana Golf Course two weeks ago - celebrating, if you will, the 25th anniversary of Bozeman's first double-dip with some of her former runners, she said - and was impressed with the 2008 group.
The trip to Missoula was much better than Murphy's last coaching venture here in 2005, when her Bozeman girls fell to Billings Senior for the AA title by just a single point (65-64) at UM's golf course. It was her last meet before retiring.
For Murphy, here's the complete list of Class AA's double-winners:
1974 - Helena Capital
1975 - Great Falls High
1978 - Great Falls CMR
1983 - Bozeman
1986 - Flathead
1994 - Flathead
1995 - Great Falls CMR
2001 - Flathead
2002 - Flathead
2004 - Flathead
2008 - Bozeman
Air miles
Kalispell Flathead senior quarterback Brock Osweiler could reach new heights this season with two more above-average games.
Osweiler passed for 224 yards in the Braves' regular season-ending loss to Helena Capital last week. That gave Osweiler 2,490 yards for the season and 8,475 for his high school career.
Osweiler actually cracked the 8,000-yard mark two weeks ago in a victory over Hellgate in Missoula. He's the second quarterback in the Class AA ranks to ever reach the 8,000-yard plateau.
Mark Desin of Billings Senior passed for 9,005 yards between 2003-05. Desin is the backup QB at Montana State this fall.
Osweiler, who averages 249.0 yards per game, could actually eclipse Desin with two big games this postseason, and would almost certainly do it if Flathead makes the title tilt.
The Braves hit the road to face Billings West on Friday. The Bears have Class AA's third-ranked pass defense.
Respect your Senior
Billings Senior, the three-time defending state champ for Class AA, won its 59th straight volleyball match last Friday in Butte.
The Broncs swept the Bulldogs to improve to 10-0 in Eastern AA play, 25-0 overall this year.
Senior hasn't lost a regulation match since the 2006 season. The Broncs won the East's No. 1 seed and an automatic berth to the state tournament Nov. 20-22 at Bozeman.
Watch Nick Lockridge's weekly Prep Notes.
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