MILES CITY — Imagine you’re a member of the Miles City football team.
Congratulations! You’ve qualified for the State A playoffs as the fifth seed out of the East.
Your reward?
A 529-mile one way trip to Columbia Falls for a first round matchup with the Wildcats. A journey that Google Maps estimates will take approximately eight hours and 20 minutes. Bus travel can be considerably slower and that’s before you factor in pit stops, practice time, unpredictable weather and whatever other obstacles a long Montana road trip can throw at you.
This is the reality of playoff road trips on Montana, a massive state. Here are some shorter road trips by comparison.
- Miles City to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: 463 miles
- Miles City to Denver, Colorado: 511 miles
- Miles City to Moorhead, Minnesota: 466 miles
Though Miles City faces the longest distance, fellow Class A team Libby is not far behind. The Loggers are bound for Laurel, 520 miles away. At the 6-Man level, the Circle Wildcats also top the 500 mile barrier with a 508 mile trip to St. Ignatius.
There are no trips that will take less than two hours, with White Sulphur Springs having the shortest trip at 154 miles to face the Roy-Winifred Outlaws.
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 | HOURS |
Senior at Glacier | 447 miles | 7 hours, 11 mins |
CMR at Sentinel | 168 miles | 2 hours, 52 mins |
Butte at GFH | 165 miles | 2 hours, 51 mins |
Big Sky at Gallatin | 207 miles | 3 hours, 21 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 246.75 miles | AVG: 4 hours, 4 mins |
CLASS A
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | HOURS |
Miles City at Columbia Falls | 529 miles | 8 hours, 20 mins |
Libby at Laurel | 520 miles | 8 hours, 23 mins |
Havre at Whitefish | 256 miles | 4 hours, 32 mins |
Frenchtown at Dillon | 187 miles | 2 hours, 50 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 373 miles | AVG: 6 hours, 1 min |
CLASS B
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | HOURS |
Missoula Loyola at Townsend | 149 miles | 2 hours, 33 mins |
Fairfield at Shepherd | 261 miles | 4 hours, 18 mins |
Manhattan at Bigfork | 348 miles | 4 hours, 57 mins |
Baker at Glasgow | 223 miles | 3 hours, 35 mins |
Cut Bank at Huntley Project | 340 miles | 5 hours, 30 mins |
Whitehall at Florence | 168 miles | 2 hours, 47 miles |
Red Lodge at Malta | 280 miles | 4 hours, 40 mins |
Eureka at Jefferson | 298 miles | 5 hours, 4 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 258 miles | AVG: 4 hours, 11 min |
8-MAN
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | HOURS |
Park City at Drummond-Philipsburg | 287 miles | 4 hours, 45 mins |
Charlo at Belt | 233 miles | 3 hours, 49 mins |
Forsyth at Superior | 450 miles | 7 hours, 28 mins |
Lone Peak at Culbertson | 496 miles | 7 hours, 41 mins |
Cascade at Joliet | 254 miles | 4 hours, 14 mins |
Fort Benton at Fairview | 345 miles | 5 hours, 37 mins |
Chinook at Ennis | 328 miles | 5 hours, 20 mins |
Circle at St. Ignatius | 508 miles | 8 hours, 20 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 363 miles | AVG: 5 hours, 56 min |
6-MAN
MATCHUP | MILEAGE | HOURS |
White Sulphur Springs at Roy-Winifred | 154 miles | 2 hours, 29 mins |
North Star at Broadview-Lavina | 254 miles | 4 hours, 51 mins |
Noxon at Valier | 287 miles | 4 hours, 53 mins |
DGSG at Medicine Lake-Froid | 384 miles | 6 hours, 5 mins |
CJI at Hot Springs | 267 miles | 4 hours, 32 mins |
Bridger at Richey-Lambert | 310 miles | 4 hours, 37 mins |
Custer-Hysham-Melstone at Highwood | 285 miles | 4 hours, 36 mins |
Savage at Big Sandy | 354 miles | 5 hours, 58 mins |
TOTALS | AVG: 287 miles | AVG: 4 hours, 45 mins |
