BAKER – High school football teams in the Eastern and Western ends of the state are already accustomed to long road trips for games. But when the playoffs begin, those distances and travel times are supercharged.
Just ask the Baker Spartans.
After finishing fourth in the Eastern B, the state playoff bracket dictates that they must travel to face the No. 1 seed out of the Western B division. That team happens to be the Eureka Lions who finished the regular season 8-0.
Eureka also happens to be 667 miles away from Baker in the Northwest corner of Montana, which means the Spartans have by far the longest trip among travelling teams in the first round of the high school football playoffs.
The Spartans face a trip that will take approximately 10 hours, 45 mins one way by car according to Google Maps. Of course, that doesn’t account for pit stops, practice time, road conditions or the usual road trip setbacks.
If one travelled the same distance on the East coast, you could drive from Portland, Maine to Richmond, Virginia and pass through 11 states in the same amount of time.
Point being: Montana is very large, and getting from point A to point B often takes a very long time. Long road trips are nothing new and travelling across the state for a playoff game sure beats staying home during the postseason!
Below is a breakdown of every road trip in the first round of the high school football playoffs separated by Classification.
| CLASS AA | ||
| GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
| Missoula Big Sky at Bozeman | 207 miles | 3 hours, 26 mins |
| Great Falls CMR at Helena High | 91 miles | 1 hour, 36 mins |
| Missoula Hellgate at Billings | 343 miles | 5 hours, 13 mins |
| Billings Skyview at Missoula | 348 miles | 5 hours, 26 mins |
| Kalispell Glacier at Great Falls | 227 miles | 3 hours, 49 mins |
| Belgrade at Helena Capital | 89 miles | 1 hour, 33 mins |
| Kalispell Flathead at Billings | 448 miles | 7 hours, 1 min |
| AVERAGE | 250.4 mi | 3 hours, 45 mins |
| CLASS A | ||
| GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
| Whitefish at Frenchtown | 129 mi | 2 hours, 23 mins |
| Glendive at Billings Central | 222 mi | 3 hours, 16 mins |
| Lewistown at Havre | 177 mi | 2 hours, 49 mins |
| Butte Central at Libby | 308 mi | 5 hours, 3 mins |
| AVERAGE | 209 mi | 3 hours, 23 mins |
| CLASS B | ||
| GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
| Townsend at Fairfield | 118 mi | 1 hour, 54 mins |
| Shepherd at Florence | 381 mi | 5 hours, 55 mins |
| Cut Bank at Manhattan | 269 mi | 4 hours, 6 mins |
| Missoula Loyola at Huntley Project | 365 mi | 5 hours, 26 mins |
| Baker at Eureka | 667 mi | 10 hours, 45 mins |
| Glasgow at Columbus | 321 mi | 4 hours, 59 mins |
| Bigfork at Red Lodge | 435 mi | 6 hours, 53 mins |
| Jefferson at Malta | 319 mi | 5 hours, 5 mins |
| AVERAGE | 359.4 mi | 5 hours, 38 mins |
| 8-MAN | ||
| GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
| Choteau at Fairview | 447 mi | 7 hours, 5 mins |
| Twin Bridges at Thompson Falls | 264 mi | 4 hours, 17 mins |
| Culbertson at Fort Benton | 333 mi | 5 hours, 20 mins |
| St. Ignatius at Park City | 326 mi | 5 hours, 35 mins |
| Shelby at Alberton-Superior | 280 mi | 4 hours, 28 mins |
| Belt at Scobey | 359 mi | 5 hours, 49 mins |
| Flint Creek at W. Yellowstone | 215 mi | 3 hours, 33 mins |
| Ekalaka at Great Falls Central | 430 mi | 6 hours, 44 mins |
| AVERAGE | 331.8 mi | 5 hours, 21 mins |
| 6-MAN | ||
| GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
| Harlowton-Ryegate at Hot Springs | 317 mi | 5 hours, 20 mins |
| Westby-Grenora at Power-Dutton-Brady | 455 mi | 7 hours, 18 mins |
| Geraldine-Highwood at Shields Valley | 184 mi | 3 hours, 11 mins |
| Denton-Geyser-Stanford at Wibaux | 333 mi | 5 hours, 7 mins |
| North Star at Jordan | 292 mi | 4 hours, 27 mins |
| White Sulphur Springs at Bridger | 177 mi | 2 hours, 48 mins |
| Richey-Lambert at Big Sandy | 348 mi | 5 hours, 33 mins |
| Roy-Winifred at Noxon | 448 mi | 7 hours, 32 mins |
| AVERAGE | 319.6 mi | 5 hours, 9 mins |
