At long last Fairfield and Lodge Grass will meet on the basketball floor.
The two Class B boys defending co-champions were slated to play in the 2020 State B boys title game before the coronavirus pandemic put that to a halt. With open spots in the schedule, Fairfield athletic director Mike Schmidt and Lodge Grass athletic director Dee Pretty On Top put something together, and now Fairfield and Lodge Grass are slated to play a boys and girls basketball doubleheader at First Interstate Arena at MetraPark in Billings on Saturday, Feb. 13.
"It's been in the works for about a week," Pretty On Top told MTN Sports. "Fairfield contacted us when they had a hole pop up in their schedule. I initially thought it was going to be somewhere between Fairfield and Lodge Grass. That didn't work out, but then the Metra came up as an option."
Lodge Grass has been one of the favorites for the Class B boys title once again, not having lost on the floor to a Class B team this season. The Indians fell to Class A rival Hardin earlier this year and have also retroactively forfeited a game against Colstrip. Fairfield is 6-2 and is coming off a 20-point win on Thursday night.
Though both teams have been able to get a good chunk of their schedules in, both sides have been affected by the uncertainty this season has brought.
"This year, everything has been day-to-day," Pretty On Top said. "We were supposed to play Lame Deer earlier this year. We got there and (Lame Deer athletic director Tiger Scalpane) came out and told us, 'Don't get off the bus. We've had a girl test positive.' So that's a game we still need to make up."
The games are slated to be a doubleheader, with the girls tipping off at 5 p.m. and the boys to follow at 6:30 p.m. There are no JV games.
The Metra is allowing around 3,000 people into the event.
