COLUMBIA FALLS — The Columbia Falls Wildcats entered the Class A playoffs as the No. 4 seed from the West, but after upsetting Billings Central, the top seed from the East, they find themselves one win away from playing for a state championship.
"We're feeling good, just kind of want to keep it rolling," said senior wide receiver Jace Hill. "Just keep doing what we've been doing, just keep it pushing, keep winning I guess."
Hill delivered the dagger in the Wildcats' 21-16 win over Central last week with a 59-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter, and he knows the team wouldn’t be in the position it's in without the roadblocks it faced earlier in the season.
"Those first two losses kind of rattled us a little bit," said Hill, whose team dropped games to Dillon and Whitefish. "I don't know if it was bad, I'd say it was probably good for us, kind of we realized you know anyone can beat us, anything can happen. We kind of bounced back with a big win (after) Whitefish, and just kind of hoping to keep it going."
The Wildcats' two losses came back-to-back in September, but they haven’t looked back since, riding their self-made hype train with one motto.
"It’s just we get so excited when something goes a long ways, it’s just, ‘Are you freaking kidding me? Let's go,'" said senior quarterback Cody Schweikert. "Just trying to get everyone fired up, just keeping the big train rolling."
As for what it means to be enjoying their deep playoff run and sitting only one game away from thee fourth state championship appearance in program history?
"All my teammates I just know these are going to be the guys that are going to be right there with me as we go all the way," said Schweikert. "That’s just what it's been since I was little. I never thought of anything past that, just to have it happening right now, our team hitting our stride, it's incredible."
The Wildcats will play on the road against Corvallis Saturday in the Class A semifinals.
