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The Pioneer volleyball lineup that took the court a week prior to Saturday's regular season finale at home didn't look much like the one from a week prior. It probably won't look much like the one they put out to open the District 7C tournament Thursday at their home gym either. Big Sandy pieced together a squad without three crucial players, leading hitter Amiya Griffith, versatile Tavie Wortman and Wortman's anticipated substitute, Malaysia Baumann, all out due to injuries or quarantining....
Big Sandy is set to host play in the first two rounds of the District 7C volleyball tournament Oct. 29 and 30. "That's huge," Pioneers coach Brittany McKenney said. "We've never hosted tournaments here." The bottom half of the bracket, featuring the second-seed facing off against the seventh and the third-seed against the sixth, would begin Oct. 29 with subsequent semifinal and consolation matches featuring those teams in the Big Sandy gym. In the final rounds, the remaining teams would join...
SAND COULEE — The Big Sandy Pioneers are seeing improvement as their regular season on the volleyball court nears completion. Big Sandy 3, Centerville 0 The Pioneers went down to Sand Coulee and swept Centerville on Tuesday, Oct. 7 for their second consecutive win in thrilling 25-20, 25-23, 25-21 fashion. “I definitely think we’re going up,” junior Tavie Wortman said in an interview after the match in which she led her team with 9 digs. “Winning two games in a row is really going to send us up and give us some encouragement, I think.” T...
The football season at Big Sandy is playing out like a great drama. In Act I, the Pioneers were matched with bit players and the action lacked suspense as they rolled to 3-0. After a three-week long intermission, Big Sandy met opposites with whom they could have some give-and-take. And the second act climaxed Friday with a second consecutive North Division title for the Pioneers, won 46-29 on their home field against Power/Dutton-Brady. Finally, the Big Sandy starters were challenged to play...
It just took a bit of time to soak in oil country before Big Sandy could be free of the rust of three weeks without football and claim a 74-34 win Friday night in Sunburst. A mistake-filled end to the second quarter left the Pioneers only a touchdown ahead of the host Refiners at the break. Seniors Parker Proulx and Kade Strutz returned to their usual form and helped their team pull away with 20 unanswered points in the first 3 minutes, 7 seconds of the third quarter. "I took a lot of it...
A little home cookin’ got the Big Sandy spikers back on a winning track Saturday. Coming off three straight away matches, the Pioneers took advantage of a homecourt edge at last and beat Dutton/Brady, 25-18, 25-15, 25-6. “It was an exciting night both individually and as a team. The girls brought a lot of energy and fun to the court,” said Big Sandy coach Brittany McKenney. “It felt good to win. We still have a lot of areas to improve on but I am proud of the progress we are making.” Individual team records for a match fell in the dominant...
As Yogi Berra said, "It's like deja vu all over again." For the first time in 2020, Big Sandy matched up on the volleyball court Saturday against an opponent they had seen earlier in the season. This time on the road, they ended up with a remarkably similar result against the North Star Knights. That's good and bad. On the plus side, again the District 7C foes played a marathon set for the ages after a fairly close one, while another went disastrously for the Pioneers in a 3-0 sweep. They just...
The Big Sandy Pioneers’ varsity volleyball squad collected its first victory on the road in District 7C play Friday in Hays before dropping a hard-fought match Saturday at Chester. The Pioneers won their second match of the season much as they did their first: convincingly. Big Sandy swept away the host Thunderbirds of Hays-Lodge Pole 25-17, 25-18, 25-23. The Pioneers’ previous win had been in straight sets on their home floor against Box Elder. Big Sandy got another strong performance from Alicia Bjornestad, the team leader with 10 ass...
Two weeks after it started, the Big Sandy Pioneers football regular season is halfway done. In yet another 2020 oddity, the home slate is two-thirds complete following Friday’s 68-13 romp over Bear Paw country rival Box Elder. Fourteen days after the season kicked off, Big Sandy improved to 3-0 and faces two of its last three scheduled contests on the road before a likely fourth consecutive trip to the state playoffs. The Pioneers’ dominance against their guests from just 10 miles north became evident from the opening drive. Brady Ple...
There’s no night like Parent Night to pick up a win. Upon recognizing the support of their folks, the Big Sandy varsity and junior varsity volleyball squads each swept visiting Box Elder Thursday night. The victory is the first on the season for the varsity girls after a harrowing start against the division’s top contenders. Senior Amiya Griffith led the Pioneers with 7 kills and underclassmen Caydence Pleninger and Malaysia Baumann each served up 4 aces in a 25-19, 25-9, 25-17 varsity victory. “That was pretty exciting for Malaysia becau...
The new kids on the block might just be the toughest kids on the block. The Fort Benton Longhorns left no uncertainty on the floor Friday night that they will challenge for a district crown, as they swept away visiting Big Sandy, 25-3, 25-5, 25-12. The Pioneers fell to 0-3 in league play and could salvage little more optimism for the ride home than that at least it made for a short trip. “It was just disappointing because, obviously, last week we didn’t win but we showed up to play,” said Pioneers head coach Brittany McKenney. “To turn around...
The rumpled appearance of new wrinkles in the Big Sandy offense ironed out smooth in the second half of a 47-6 win against visiting Valier in Friday's football season opener. "It was very sloppy," said Pioneers head coach Larry Jappe. "I was not happy in the first half." Three consecutive seasons of state playoff appearances and a combined 26-7 record during that run can make for a 29-0 halftime lead that isn't up to snuff. "We kind of figured out what was working against them," Jappe said, in...
An opening week against upper-tier league foes Chinook and North Star sent Big Sandy volleyball to the school of hard knocks. The defending league champion Sugarbeeters swept the host Pioneers, 25-15, 25-17, 25-22 Thursday to begin the 2020 season. Big Sandy grew in confidence and competitiveness throughout the match despite the sweep. "I told the girls right away I don't think we have anything to hang our heads about," Pioneers head coach Brittany McKenney said. "Chinook is a strong team. It's...
The more things change, the more they stay the same for the powerhouse Pioneer pigskin program. Big Sandy left unfinished business on the field after a 10-1 2019 season ended with a semifinal loss to eventual state champion Jordan in the Montana 6-man semifinal. The Mustangs' lone blemish for the year wound up being a season-opening 44-28 loss to Big Sandy. In 2020, it's a whole new ballgame. The Pioneers replace more than half their starting lineup. But so does Jordan. So do many teams in the...
Before a single set is played, chalk one up in the "win" column for Big Sandy volleyball. With all the chaos and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the squad is well aware every match, every practice, every spike, every drill, every day they can suit up in purple and gold is a privilege. "We are grateful just to be playing," said senior Alicia Bjornestad."Because it can be taken away at any time. I hope we can cherish this time together as a team." The Pioneers are guided by second-year...
Preparations for a Big Sandy Pioneers fall sports season are geared toward maintaining as regular a program as the COVID-19 pandemic will allow, according to state and local authorities. At press time, Big Sandy Schools Athletic Director Melanie Schwarzbach told the Mountaineer the Montana High School Association, the statewide governing body for interscholastic activities, is developing a tiered system for conducting athletic play. The five tiers are roughly akin to the three phases of re-opening outlined by Gov. Steve Bullock’s office. ...
GREAT FALLS — All good things must come to an end. And make no mistake. Big Sandy had a good run in postseason boys basketball. Great even. Yet it ended March 3 in Great Falls against the Belt Huskies, who by virtue of a 58-39 win in the Northern C divisional tournament’s final game, snagged the last ticket to state in Missoula. The Pioneers finished the season with a 16-11 record and hoisted hardware for their third-place finish. “There are only 12 teams taking home a trophy out of the (81) teams in the (Class) C … and we’re one of them,” Bi...
Big Sandy beat the odds. And then did it again. And again. The last entry from District 9C to the Northern C Divisional boys basketball tournament won three thrilling games there to force an unlikely championship game. Though the magic did not carry the Pioneers to lift a trophy Saturday, it did allow them a second chance at a state tournament berth Monday in a challenge game against the District 8C champion Belt Huskies. Big Sandy (16-10) needed rallies from double-digit deficits in the Feb....
HAVRE - For the first time in seven years, Big Sandy is sending a boys basketball team to the Northern C divisional tournament at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. To give some perspective, that is more than half a lifetime ago for the youngest members of the team. Pioneers head coach Thomas Dilworth had seen a Big Sandy program fallen on hard times from afar while assisting with the Fort Benton program. "Watching Ryan Roth starting as an eighth grader, I saw this fearless kid who was about...
HAVRE - Two teams with championship pedigrees escorted the Big Sandy girls out of the 9C district basketball tournament. Fort Benton successfully defended its district championship, opening with a 61-9 Thursday rout of the Lady Pioneers. Senior Amanda Cline chipped in 5 of those Big Sandy points and added a team-high 6 rebounds. Freshmen Mia Dilworth and Kylee Sternberg each added a bucket. Three Longhorns finished in double figures: McKenzie Clark (13), Aspen Giese (12) and McKenna Hanford...
One point and mere seconds were all that prevented Big Sandy from entering the District 9C boys basketball tournament on a four-game winning streak. The Pioneers followed a 56-38 win at winless Turner Friday with an upset 52-51 loss to Chester-Joplin-Inverness to close the regular season on their home floor. Though final bracket pairings were unavailable at press time, Big Sandy coach Thomas Dilworth anticipated a rematch with the Hi-Line Hawks Wednesday to open the tourney in Havre....
A more ideal opportunity could not have been presented for the regular season finale for Big Sandy girl's basketball. The Lady Pioneers, who avenged a close loss on the road against Chinook at home to snap a two-year long streak of league losses, faced Chester-Joplin-Inverness Saturday after an even closer overtime game in the first meeting. Home-court advantage did not make a difference this time, though, in a 47-23 loss. In fact, it seemed as if somebody put a lid on the bucket as nearly nothi...
In just his second year of wrestling, Big Sandy junior Bayley Genereux extended his season a week longer than last year by qualifying for the state tournament. Next year as a senior, the challenge will be to push it just one more day. Genereux finished with a 22-21 record for the season. He began with a first-round loss Friday at the Class B-C state wrestling tournament at First Interstate Arena at MetraPark in Billings to the eventual state champion in the 138-pound division. Nathan Schmidt,...
Big Sandy junior Bayley Genereux earned a spot at the Montana state wrestling tournament Friday at First Interstate Arena at MetraPark in Billings. Genereux, in the 138-pound division, won his first two matches to reach the Northern B/C divisional bracket's semifinal, including a second-round pin in the quarterfinal match against a Choteau grappler he had never seen at previous events, according to coach Tucker Taylor. In the tournament Saturday at Conrad, that put Genereux up against Mathew...
The Big Sandy boys have not reached their full potential on the hardwood this season. Yet. Battling the injury bug, the Pioneers were no match for league-leading Fort Benton at home Monday, Feb. 3 and lost 66-36. With junior Parker Proulx making his season debut Friday, however, the Pioneers succeeded in grinding out a pivotal 60-51 home win to get an inside track on the No. 3 seed to the District 9C tournament. They showed no letdown a night later at North Star, prevailing 57-37. The Longhorns limited the Pioneers’ leading scorer for the s...
