BUTTE — Five Montana high school football teams are hitting the road for the Class AA, Class A, Class B, 8-Man and 6-Man championships.
One team's road trip will be long enough that players could watch an entire season of their favorite television show while another team's trek is so short they might have just enough time to listen to a few of their favorite songs.
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Drummond-Philipsburg has by far the longest odyssey ahead as the Titans head east to face Scobey in the 8-Man title game. The distance to Scobey from Drummond is about 489 miles while the distance from Philipsburg is roughly 515 miles. The estimated time from Philipsburg is over eight hours.
The second-longest road trip will be taken by Billings West as the Golden Bears head for Legends Stadium to take on Kalispell Glacier in the Class AA championship. That trip will be about 430 miles and a nearly seven-hour drive.
Billings Central is also headed west as the defending Class A champion Rams look to make it consecutive titles as they face a 360-mile, five-hour trip to Frenchtown.
Chester-Joplin-Inverness has a relatively short 200-mile, three-hour drive to Grass Range-Winnett for the 6-Man championship.
By far the shortest trip belongs to Three Forks — which traveled to Florence for the quarterfinals and Glasgow for the semis — as the Wolves have just 12 miles between them and Manhattan where they'll travel for the Class B championship.
Outside of past crosstown championships, it's the shortest distance a Montana high school football team has had to travel for a title game.
"Getting to sleep in our own beds is going to make a huge difference," said Three Forks coach Connor Sullivan. "Just getting that proper sleep, no lag on the road. We're excited to get over there and see what happens."
The Class AA and A championships will be played Friday night and the Class B, 8-Man and 6-Man title games will kick off Saturday afternoon.
