By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
This coming Saturday in Bozeman the MSU Bobcats face the Portland State Vikings in football. With a Bobcat win Rob Ash will have 48 wins as MSU coach making him the winningest coach in school’s history. Ash is currently tied with Bobcat Legend Sonny Holland who won 47 games from 1971-77. Ironically Holland got his first win over Portland State and coached his last game with the Bobcats at Portland.
Junior forward Jordan Sullivan grimaces in expectation of contact just before she heads to the rim. Sullivan helped her team beat Minot State by adding 11 points, three rebounds, and four assists. Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Mont., November 5th, 2012. Photo by Austin Smith
For the tenth consecutive season the Montana Grizzlies will enter their Rivalry game with MSU sports with at least a 2-game winning streak, with wins the past two weekends over Idaho State and Weber state. The Griz have won their game prior to the Bobcat game for the past 10 years and 16 of the last 18 years.
For the third time in the 5 years the Montana Grizzly basketball team opens that regular season against Colorado State. Five years ago Friday night the Griz hosted CSU in what was Tim Miles first game as coach of the Rams. Miles is off to Nebraska and new coach Larry Eustachy is a face in this region having spent 3 seasons at Idaho and five at Utah State. In his years with the Vandals Eustachy posted just a 3-5 record against Montana including 0-2 in the Big Sky tournament.
The Montana Lady Griz makes their first ever trip to Philadelphia as they face the Temple Owls Friday night. Of the five schools that are considered Philadelphia’s big 5 (LaSalle, Villanova, Temple University of Pennsylvania and St. Joseph’s) the Lady Griz have played LaSalle twice both in the Lady Griz Classic over 20 years ago. Montana could face another Philly in two weeks while in the UNLV tournament.
Brent Musberger really should b doing the TV broadcast of Saturday UNLV-Colorado state. Both Rebels coach Bobby Huack and Rams coach Jim McElwain are sons of former Big Timber Sheepherders teams, Big Timber is Musberger’s home town.
For the first time in over 25 years the fans in Kalispell will have a Class AA Semi-final on their field. Glacier hosts Bozeman for the Wolf pack’s first home semi-final game in the school’s brief history. A win would Bring the AA title game back to Kalispell for the first time since 1980.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.