Football Realignment Won’t Impact Wolf Point, Poplar

The most recent high school football conference realignments in Montana won’t change anything for Wolf Point and Poplar.

A football realignment by the Montana High School Association in 2016 was a major game-changer for Wolf Point, Poplar, Glasgow and other Hi-Line teams. Long-standing districts were dissolved with new conferences created. The change resulted in longer travel to away games for Wolf Point and Poplar.

The Wolves played the last two seasons in Class B North conference which includes Glasgow, Malta and Harlem from the former District 2B. The north conference also includes former District 1B teams Choteau, Cut Bank, Fairfield and Shelby.

Wolf Point will remain in the northern conference again this year. The Wolves played the first two seasons after the last realignment in the highly competitive Class B East, which includes Baker, Colstrip, Huntley Project, Red Lodge, Roundup and Shepherd.

“All the same for Poplar,” Indians’ Poplar head coach Joe Hammar said.

He said the MHSA will vote in April on a proposal for Fairview to move from Class C to Class B in two years.

The MHSA announces realignments for 2020-21 football, applies mostly to Class AA, A, 8-Man and 6-Man.

Much of the changes apply to teams in western and southern Montana. Closer to home, the Westby/Grenora [MonDak] co-op will move up from 6-Man to the Eastern 8-Man conference.

A proposed Northern C volleyball realignment was approved, which removes the 6C West, 6C East and 7C into equal nine-team districts of 6C and 7C. 6C includes Simms, Sunburst, Power, Valier, Heart Butte, Cascade, Augusta, Dutton/Brady and Belt. 7C will include Chester/ Joplin/Inverness, North Star, Chinook, Centerville, Box Elder, Hays/Lodgepole, Geraldine/ Highwood, Fort Benton and Big Sandy.

There were also changes to the Western C.