Friday Night Lights Feature: Small Towns, Big Games

The Northern C has undergone plenty of changes in recent seasons, with the conference expanding from nine teams a few years ago to 12. Yet, with all the new teams and all the changes, the one thing that doesn't seem to stop is the winning.

The Northern C has been one of the toughest conferences in 8-Man football for years and with the addition of Choteau, Rocky Boy and Box Elder, it has the potential to be even better.

With 12 teams and two sub-divisions, the conference is not only deeper, it also has a new, exciting format to determine its top-seeded teams and playoff participants. But beyond that, another great thing about the new Northern C will be the rivalries, such as Box Elder and Rocky Boy. The two schools, who play every year to open the basketball season, will now take their rivalry to the football field, starting this Saturday in Box Elder. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

"I think that's one of the best parts of the Northern C," Box Elder head coach Neal Rosette Jr. said. "We get to start some new rivalries. It will be fun for us to play our brothers from Rocky Boy and to also play some other teams that we are used to playing in basketball."

While the Bears may need some time to effectively transition from Six-Man football to 8-Man, Box Elder has enough to play Saturday and, according to Rosette, the numbers will only get better. Yet Box Elder shouldn't expect to be playing for the state championship as it was just two seasons ago in Six-Man.

Box Elder moved up to 8-Man football, but Choteau and Rocky Boy both moved down from Class B. The two schools combined to win just two games, but dropping down could help both become more competitive.

"It will be interesting to see what Choteau has," Chinook head coach Christian Lehnert said. "I don't think they won that many games last year, but that doesn't mean anything to us. Dropping down from Class B, it's hard to know how good they will be."

Following the expansion of the Northern C to 12 teams, the conference decided to split the teams into two separate sub divisions, the Northern C A and the Northern C B. The A sub-division features Box Elder, Chester-Joplin-Inverness, Choteau, Great Falls Central and Hays-Lodge Pole. The B sub-division is made up of Cascade, Centerville, Chinook, Fort Benton, Rocky Boy and Simms.

"It will be interesting to see how it plays out with the sub-divisions," Fort Benton head coach Jory Thompson said. "It's a little bit different because now we have non-conference games. We are playing CJI the first week and it's hard to think of that like a non-conference game, because it sure feels like it's a conference game."

With the new sub-divisions, came a new way of choosing playoff teams. Each team will play eight games, two non-conference games to start the season against teams from the opposite sub-division. Then, teams will play five conference games. The top-seeded team from each sub-division will then meet in the final week for the top overall seed in the league, with the loser getting the Northern C's No. 2 seed. The second place team from each sub-division will then play the No. 3 team from the opposite division, with the winners advancing to the playoffs.

"I like it," Lehnert said. "I am a competitor, so I am looking forward to it, I think it will add some excitement."

With new teams and a slew of new head coaches, it's hard to know what to expect from the Northern C in 2017. But it's a safe bet to say 2016 conference champion Belt will be among the contenders, along with Great Falls Central and Cascade. Beyond that, the league should be wide open.

"I think that there is a lot of youth in the conference," Thompson said. "But I think the conference is going to be good and I think it will continue to represent us well.'

The one team that left the Northern C is Power-Dutton-Brady, which will now compete in the North Division of Six-Man football. But with the departure of Box Elder, the league still has eight teams. Valier, the defending champion, Geraldine-Highwood and Sunburst should be among the teams contending for one of the conferences four playoff sports. The North Star Knights, who earned the fourth and final playoff spot with a 5-4 record, should also be in contention, along with Big Sandy, which finished fifth in 2016.

The conference will still use a round-robin schedule with the four teams with the best records advancing the Six-Man playoffs.

"I think that we should be right there fighting for a playoff spot," North Star head coach Tyler Han said. "But It's going to be tough. Those teams at the top are all really solid and Big Sandy should have a good team again too."

Most teams in the Northern C and the Six-Man North will play their first games this weekend, either Friday night or Saturday afternoon.