SUPERIOR — In Round 1 of the high school football playoffs, three teams topped the 500-mile one-way road trip mark. In Round 2, only one team hits that threshold.
But in a big way.
The Superior Bobcats (9-1) handled their business with a 52-6 home win over Forsyth in the first round. And now the bracket dictates that they must travel to Culbertson (8-1) for a date with the Cowboys.
The shortest distance between the two schools is 600 miles if traveling on state highways. But MTN Sports spoke to Superior principal Logan Lappe on Thursday who said the team will travel via interstate for safety purposes.
The distance?
A whopping 711 miles. Google maps estimates the trip will take 10 hours and 21 minutes.
According to Lappe, the team will leave Superior on Thursday afternoon and stay in Livingston overnight. The next day they will travel to Sidney where hotels are scarce due to a divisional volleyball tournament in town. The team will finish the trip to Culbertson on Saturday morning.
To put that trip in perspective, you could travel from Maine to North Carolina on the Eastern Seaboard and pass through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia in less distance (705 miles).
That trip would pass through 12 states.
While Superior’s trip is an outlier, there are a lot of other long trips in the second round. Of the 25 road teams this weekend, 12 of them will travel more than 300 miles one-way.
The shortest trip of the weekend belongs to the Butte Bulldogs, who will make the 76-mile jaunt north up I-15 to face undefeated Helena Capital.
Check out the tables below for complete distances and travel times for Montana High School Association football playoff games as calculated by Google Maps.
CLASS AA
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | TIME |
Glacier at Bozeman | 312 miles | 5 hours, 2 mins |
Gallatin at Helena | 98 miles | 1 hour, 40 mins |
Butte at Helena Capital | 76 miles | 1 hours, 25 mins |
Sentinel at West | 345 miles | 5 hours, 8 minutes |
TOTALS | AVG: 208 miles | AVG: 3 hours, 19 mins |
CLASS A
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | TIME |
Whitefish at Hamilton | 177 miles | 3 hours, 31 mins |
Dillon at Billings Central | 255 miles | 3 hours, 48 mins |
Columbia Falls at Lewistown | 317 miles | 5 hours, 21 mins |
Laurel at Polson | 397 miles | 5 hours, 54 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 287 miles | AVG: 4 hours, 39 mins |
CLASS B
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | TIME |
Loyola at Shepherd | 363 miles | 5 hours, 18 mins |
Glasgow at Bigfork | 435 miles | 6 hours, 58 mins |
Florence-Carlton at Huntley Project | 384 miles | 5 hours, 47 mins |
Jefferson at Malta | 319 miles | 4 hours, 59 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 375 miles | AVG: 5 hours, 46 min |
8-MAN
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | TIME |
Belt at Drummond-Philipsburg | 181 miles | 3 hours, 14 mins |
Superior at Culbertson | 711 miles | 10 hours, 21 mins |
Fairfield at Joliet | 330 miles | 4 hours, 48 mins |
Ennis at St. Ignatius | 234 miles | 3 hours, 38 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 364 miles | AVG: 5 hours, 30 min |
6-MAN
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | HOURS |
Broadview-Lavina at Roy-Winifred | 156 miles | 2 hours, 25 mins |
Valier at Medicine Lake-Froid | 418 miles | 6 hours, 32 mins |
Bridger at CJI | 316 miles | 5 hours, 1 min |
Custer-Hysham at Big Sandy | 246 miles | 4 hours, 26 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 284 miles | AVG: 4 hours, 36 mins |
