Somehow, Montana’s recent changes to its football makeup slipped past me, and I only recently found out that the Montana six-man league is going back to “just” a Montana league.
If you remember, the Montana league was the home for Wyoming squads Meeteetse and Ten Sleep for several years before those two programs came back to the Equality State when the WHSAA formed the state’s new six-man division that started play last year.
However, the Montana league also included a pair of Idaho teams — Clark County and Leadore — in its league in recent years. But with the Wyoming teams heading out, and with an eight-man option available in Idaho, the Montana High School Association didn’t include the Idaho schools in its recent reclassification work.
Neither Leadore nor Clark County had programs as of 2006, so both programs were relying on a long-term stay in Montana to survive. As it is, both programs are going to be forced to transition to eight-man… or find another place to play.
For now, both squads will be playing in Idaho’s eight-man Sawtooth Conference. You can read about Leadore and Clark County getting boot from Montana league, or more on the Sawtooth Conference reformation.
For those of you thinking Wyoming might open its arms to the two Idaho schools, think again. Travel concerns will likely squash those ideas right away. Consider this: It’s about 300 miles from Guernsey to Meeteetse… but another 250 from Meeteetse to Clark County (in Dubois, Idaho) and about 340 from Meeteetse “through the Park” to Leadore. Oof.
One other quick note comes from Montana, where the Big Sky staters made changes to their mercy rules. …
–patrick
Clark County played 8-man football in Idaho before joining the Montana 6-man league in 2006. It actually has more students than the current Idaho 1A Division II (the class it will play in) champ. Leadore did not have football for 19 years until it restarted in 2007. Just a clarification.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the clarification. Back in 2004 when I was in Idaho, there was no six-man; 1A-DII was all eight-man. I thought that was still the case, but clearly I didn’t keep up with it all that well! Sorry about that.
–patrick