^{By Mike Mahoney}

In the third quarter of the Polson Pirate homecoming football game against archrivals Ronan Chiefs, senior Trevor Gunlock came through with a touchdown on a long run to bring up hopes of winning.

Even with the homecoming loss, 15-6, on Oct. 8, Polson played well says Pirate head coach Randy Kelley.

The Pirates excelled in their defense against Ronan, with senior Gunlock and junior Justin Bykari playing a very good game defensively said Kelley. He added that he felt this was the best defensively played game all year.

Although the Pirates had a good game defensively, they had trouble with their offense against Ronan throughout the game. They could only manage to get one touchdown the entire game. "The offense has struggled this year," explained coach Kelley, "The offense is new this year and it just hasn't clicked."

Polson's defense held back Ronan most of the game, except on a few big plays where the Chiefs greatly benefited. Ronan didn't have the speed Polson had, but they managed to get some big plays by Polson's defense giving them a win by 9 points.

Throughout the whole game, Polson Pirate Spirit was high. Many high school students attended the homecoming game to support the football team, even through the cold, rainy weather.

Coach Kelley said he heard quite a few kids behind him, yelling and cheering, and he said they did the job.

During the game's halftime, the Polson High School bands performed on the field in the rain.

Before the second half started, Roland Schmalfuss and Diana Davis were announced as homecoming king and queen.

^{Photo by Sam Grisak}
Sophomore post Corrie Villegas looks to pass as the Pirates beat the Corvallis Blue Devils 44-35 Oct. 9.

^{By Abbie Petersen}

After rebounding from a tight loss to Belgrade early in their season, the Lady Pirates are shaping up to a speedy return to their past glory. "Everyone's just coming together, playing well, and keeping an unselfish attitude," says Mr. Bruce Thomas, girl's varsity basketball coach. With six returning full time players, seniors Diana Davis, Dana Robinson, Cari Fischer, juniors Jackie Johnson, Delphia Moss, and sophomore Corrie Villegas, the team's looking to be extremely strong in time for divisionals. The four players that usually play two quarters JV/Varsity are juniors Ashlee Camel and Kati O'Toole, and sophomores Kinsley Tait and Carly Nelson. The Pirates are ranked second in the conference, only slightly trailing to Libby. "Our best wins, so far, have been over Whitefish and Ronan," remarks Thomas. And after a nice win over Corvallis for Homecoming (44-35), the team will be handed a good chance at play-offs. The only problems the Pirates might face?

"We definitely need to execute a better offense," says Camel. "During the Corvallis game, we started out really rocky. But come the end of the third quarter and the entire fourth, we pulled away from them better and scored more. We also caused a lot of turnovers."

And states O'Toole, "We're working on a new offense, most likely."

The JV team has also been doing well, according to the head coach, Mr. Bob Hislop. "The early part of our season is always rough, because we're kind of the 'punching bag' for the varsity team," says Hislop. "If they wish to work on defense, we're offense, and vice versa. Most of the practices have been pretty much geared for varsity, but we get a lot of playing because of it."

He goes on to say that the team has a lot of good shooting skills in it, and the players are very quick. So be watching for good players in the years to come from this team!

This weekend, they play Ronan, and Kalispell, then head to Stevensville, Oct. 28. Divisionals will be held Nov. 11 - 13.

^{Photo by Becky Owen}
Roland Schmalfus clears the ball up the field in the Pirates 5-1 loss to Big Sky Sept. 11

^{By Abbie Petersen}

Girls' and boys' soccer is well under way and doing better than expected.

"The girls are starting to be more competitive, scoring more than ever before," says Coach Lee Coble. "We have 23 girls out, but there is still room for a lot more, we also have a JV team this year which is a new thing for us."

Team goals for this year for this season include scoring more, which they've already accomplished, and holding a playoff game, which they are well on their way to doing. "We have more girls this year than any other year and lots of new people including Becky Owen, forward, and Ashley Meidinger, goalie. We also have two returning all-conference honorable mentions, Bryn Flager and Rachael Farrel," says Coble. "Next year I'm looking forward to having even more girls come out."

After losing 8 seniors last year, PHS boys' soccer is making a strong comeback. "We are doing better than I expected," says Coach Jim Stephen, "Now that the season is well under way we are finally coming together and playing very well."

"We have a good crew of underclassmen who are working really hard. I expected this year to be tough, but the players are starting understanding their responsibilities on the field," Stephen comments, "We have nine freshmen out this year who are going to be very competitive in the next couple of years. We also have a few sophomores and seniors but the core of the team is the Juniors."

They have a goal this year of hosting a playoff game, which they are close to accomplishing. Moving into a fourth place ranking the boys are surpassing all expectations. Stephen goes on to say "I'm really excited about next year and the years to come. I want to thank the fans for their support. The future of PHS soccer is looking really good."

^{By Kati O'Toole}

PHS cross country team continued it's strong season as runners faired well at the Hamilton Invitational, one of the toughest meets of the year, Oct. 8th.

The boys team captured the Hamilton Invitational title by 32 points over Salmon, Idaho. Leading the boys team with a second place title was senior Dain Engerbretson with a time of 16:56, closely followed by freshman Fritz Friesz in third with a time of 17:01.

"Friez has broken many freshmen meet records this year," coach Mindy Harwood said. Others placing in the top 25 were juniors Kevin O'Brien placing 3rd for the team and seventh overall, Kendall Harwood 11th overall, Nathan Ofstad 17th overall, and Nathan Friesz in 25th.

"The girls are starting to move up and might surprise someone come divisional time...they're definitely gaining on the competition," Harwood commented.

Harwood invites Polson fans to come support the Pirates at the state meet in Helena on Oct. 20th. The boys will be aiming at their 4th consecutive state championship title.

"Dain Engerbretson is challenging for the top spot in the state," Harwood enthusiastically added.

New comers to this year's team include freshman Hilary Mowbray, sophomore Erin Wallace, and junior Jeri Rafter for the girls team. Freshmen Fritz Friesz, Dan Jensen and Geo Ulluoa, and sophomore Brice Smith are the new runners for the boys team.