GRENORA, N.D. – The first round of the high school football playoffs saw only one team, Baker, travel over 500 miles for a postseason game.
The second round has four teams eclipsing the 500-mile mark.
Thompson Falls and Westby-Grenora have the longest trips. The Blue Hawks defeated Twin Bridges 55-20 at home in the first round of the 8-Man playoffs, and now head 655 miles east to face top-ranked and undefeated Fairview.
The Westby-Grenora Thunder are already well-traveled this postseason, driving 455 miles in the first round to hand Power-Dutton-Brady a 50-0 loss in the 6-Man playoffs.
Their reward?
A 645-mile one-way trip out west to face undefeated Hot Springs. That’s a combined 1,100 miles of driving in the first two rounds for the Thunder, or 2,200 miles if we’re including the return trip. Minneapolis, Minn. is closer to Westby-Grenora than Hot Springs.
Heck, depending what route the teams travel, the Blue Hawks and Thunder could meet in the middle somewhere along the Hi-Line for lunch and exchange stories from the road.
Across all classes, 20 teams will travel over 6,400 combined one-way miles in the second round of the playoffs. Over that same distance - you could drive from Portland, Ore. to Miami, Fla. -- and back again.
If we include the mileage from the return trips, you could drive from Billings to the Panama Canal, back to Billings and back to the canal.
Class A teams will travel the most miles this weekend, with an average trip length of 435 miles and six hours, 35 minutes of travel time.
Below is a breakdown of every road trip in the second round round of the high school football playoffs separated by Classification. All distances and times calculated by Google Maps.
| CLASS AA | ||
GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
Kalispell Glacier at Butte | 225 mi | 3 hours, 45 mins |
Helena Capital at Billings West | 239 mi | 3 hour, 35 mins |
Billings Senior at Missoula Sentinel | 345 mi | 4 hours, 59 mins |
Helena at Bozeman | 98 mi | 1 hour, 38 mins |
AVERAGE | 227 mi | 3 hours, 29 mins |
| CLASS A | ||
GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
Frenchtown at Miles City | 502 mi | 7 hours, 9 mins |
Billings Central at Hamilton | 389 mi | 5 hours, 52 mins |
Havre at Dillon | 331 mi | 5 hours, 15 mins |
Libby at Laurel | 518 mi | 8 hours, 2 mins |
AVERAGE | 435 mi | 6 hours, 35 mins |
| CLASS B | ||
GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
Florence-Carlton at Fairfield | 164 mi | 2 hours, 46 mins |
Missoula Loyola at Manhattan | 212 mi | 3 hours, 33 mins |
Columbus at Eureka | 474 mi | 7 hours, 22 mins |
Malta at Red Lodge | 270 mi | 4 hours, 18 mins |
AVERAGE | 280 mi | 4 hours, 30 mins |
| 8-MAN | ||
GAME | DISTANCE | TIME |
Thompson Falls at Fairview | 655 mi | 10 hours, 40 mins |
Park City at Fort Benton | 236 mi | 3 hours, 42 mins |
Belt at Alberton-Superior | 245 mi | 4 hours, 2 mins |
Flint Creek at Great Falls Central | 163 mi | 2 hours, 49 mins |
AVERAGE | 325 mi | 5 hours, 18 mins |
| 6-MAN | |||
GAME |
| DISTANCE | TIME |
Westby-Grenora at Hot Springs | 645 mi | 10 hours, 33 mins | |
Wibaux at Shields Valley | 381 mi | 5 hours, 32 mins | |
Bridger at Jordan | 218 mi | 3 hours, 43 mins | |
Roy-Winifred at Big Sandy | 109 mi | 2 hours, 6 mins | |
AVERAGE | 339 mi | 5 hours, 29 mins |
