Come Saturday afternoon all eyes will be on one of the fiercest rivalries in Montana. No, not the one over in Missoula. We’re talking about the one happening in Manhattan.
The Tigers are hosting Three Forks in the state Class B championship game, which is believed to be the first-ever postseason contest between the schools. Both have a rich history on the basketball court and have often battled each other in postseason events.
But Manhattan has dominated on the gridiron of late, winning 16 consecutive games in the series, including a 28-20 conference victory Sept. 19. Manhattan (11-0) went on to complete a perfect regular season, while the Wolves (10-1) finished as the Southern B runnerup.
They were seeded on opposite sides of the bracket and with semifinal victories this past Saturday, a historic matchup has come to fruition.
“I kind of figured that Three Forks was going to win that side of the bracket,” Manhattan head coach Wes Kragt, who has guided his team to a third consecutive championship game, said. “With our injuries, we’re going to go out and give it all we got. We got them the first time, and we had a good game plan, so we’ll see what we can come up with this week with our new guys we have in.”
The Tigers gutted out a 14-12 semifinal win against Eureka, making a late fourth quarter stand and then surviving a 48-yard game-winning field goal that went wide left. Five freshmen competed for Manhattan, which has continued to win despite a slew of injuries.
Three Forks played its own survival game, hanging on to beat previously unbeaten Glasgow, 32-30, after taking a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter. After losing in the quarterfinals in each of the past two seasons, the Wolves are on the doorstep of winning their first-ever state championship with only their rival standing in the way.
“It’s a huge game; it’s a huge rivalry,” Three Forks head coach Connor Sullivan said. “I don’t think anybody else would want nothing more than a Three Forks-Manhattan state championship. It’s going to be fun; we’re excited and ready for the challenge.”
It’s the second time in three years that Manhattan will host the championship game and third time in the past seven years. The Tigers lost to Eureka in 2019 and lost to Florence-Carlton in overtime in 2023.
While Class AA has had several crosstown championship games over the years, Manhattan and Three Forks are separated by just 12 miles making it the closest proximity of any championship matchup in Class A, B or C history.
Administrators from both schools are expecting fans from their towns to show up in droves despite the Cat-Griz game taking place at the same time in the Garden City.
“You can’t ignore the fact that it’s a rivalry game. It’s been a while since we’ve beat them, it’s 10 minutes down the road, that brings a crowd right there,” Three Forks Athletic Director Terry Hauser said. “It’s pretty much a home game. You only have to drive 10 minutes, so that will put extra people (in the stands). What an exciting thing. There could be quite possibly 5,000 people there Saturday. Probably the biggest crowd a lot of these kids will ever play in front of.”
Nate Parseghian, who is in his second year as Manhattan’s athletic director, said he could only speculate on the turnout. But he was sure about one thing:
“I’m confidently saying that it will be the highest attended sporting event that has ever been held on our campus,” Parseghian said. “I think that’s definitely going to be true.”
Manhattan’s Tyson Pavlik carries the ball Sept. 19 in a conference game against Three Forks.
Dan Chesnet
Manhattan has qualified for the postseason in 10 of the past 11 years and has now reached the championship game five times in the past seven. The Tigers beat Fairfield in 2020 for their lone title, capping an unbeaten season. They were unbeaten a year ago before losing to Malta in the championship game, 13-8.
A talented senior class graduated and there were plenty of questions heading into this season. But Manhattan takes an 11-game win streak into Saturday.
“In some ways we thought this would be a step back from where we were a year ago. And I give a lot of credit to Wes on how he’s adapted to put together a team that has some similarities to last year but is very much different,” said Parseghian. “In some sense, it’s a group of overachievers to have back-to-back now undefeated seasons to make it to the state championship game with a chance to win.”
Manhattan junior Brayden Zikmund returns a kick Sept. 19 during a Southern B clash against Three Forks.
Dan Chesnet
Kragt served as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator from 2019-21 under former head coach Chris Grabowska. When the head coaching position became available after the 2021 season, Kragt was selected to take the reins.
Manhattan is 39-7 over the past four years.
“I can’t give enough credit to Wes Kragt. He’s incredibly analytical in the way that he sees football and the way that he watches film and gameplans and preps,” said Parseghian. “Takes what he has as far as the strengths that he has with this team … I just think he has a really incredible way of evaluating the players that he has to put them in a position, and to have a game plan to go with, to be successful with what he has.”
Parseghian, who taught at Belgrade and then became athletic director at Park County High in Livingston before taking the job at Manhattan, noted the continued work the players and coaching staff have put into the program as well as the support from the town.
“I came to Manhattan to be a part of a program like this,” he said. “To be able to have an event like this, to be able to host a state championship, to have a team competitive like this, this is what really made it attractive for me to want to come to Manhattan to be a part of this.”
Before this season, the last time Three Forks hosted a playoff game was in 2001. The Wolves won the Southwest B Conference and then lost a hard-fought first-round game to Big Timber, 8-0.
Hauser, who is a Three Forks graduate and the head boys basketball coach in addition to athletic director, recalled that he was a junior on that team. Since then, the Wolves had just one winning season (2009) prior to Sullivan taking over in 2019.
Three Forks’ Gavin Etchison returns a kickoff Oct. 10 in a conference game against Columbus.
Dan Chesnet
Three Forks did not win a game in Sullivan’s first season and went 1-7 in 2020. But a shift in culture took place in 2021 and over the past three years the Wolves are 24-9 with three postseason appearances and five playoff wins.
“They just got a great staff now,” said Hauser. “It’s pretty cool to see and they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve improved every single year since Sully started coaching the program.”
Hauser added that turning around the football program was a primary goal when he became athletic director. Now that Three Forks is on the cusp of winning a state championship, the success has yet to hit home.
“Obviously, the community’s excited,” he said. “I got probably four texts from just friends that I went to high school with saying they’re going to come down for the game. So who knows how many people that haven’t been to a game in a long time will be here.”
It could be a once in a generation showdown.
“How often will this type of thing happen? Will it happen in my lifetime again, Three Forks-Manhattan,” said Hauser. “Maybe next year, who knows. It doesn’t happen often obviously because it never has.”
Both teams have plenty of playmakers who can change the outcome of a game. The unequivocal leader for Three Forks is Kanon Reichman.
The junior quarterback has accounted for nearly 3,700 yards of offense. Reichman has thrown for 2,268 yards with 28 touchdowns and rushed for 1,422 yards with 17 scores.
“He’s getting recruited Division I, so you put a guy like that in Class B and it’s really tough on any team,” said Kragt.
Three Forks junior Kanon Reichman carries the ball Nov. 1 in a first-round playoff game against Baker.
Dan Chesnet
Reichman threw five touchdown passes against Glasgow to propel the Wolves into the state championship game. His top targets this season have been Marcus Pestel (46 receptions, 900 yards, 11 TD) and Gavin Etchison (48 receptions, 601 yards, 8 TD).
Manhattan has been led by a trio of juniors in quarterback Tyson Pavlik and receivers Brayden Zikmund and Matthew Fenno. Pavlik leads the way with 2,475 total yards — 1,799 passing and 676 rushing — and 30 total touchdowns.
Zikmund has 1,029 yards receiving, averages 26.3 yards per punt return and has scored 20 times this season. He also has an impressive 10 interceptions at defensive back.
Fenno, another receiver/defensive back has 602 yards receiving with nine total touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Three Forks’ offense is averaging 40.1 points per game and has continued to shine in the postseason, outscoring its opponents 120-72. Manhattan has relied on its defense, allowing 41 points in three postseason games and 10.8 over the course of the season.
Temporary bleachers will be available to provide additional seating for fans. Parseghian said the green light was given to Three Forks to set up bleachers on the visitor’s side of the field.
“Whatever they can bring in and fit in there we’re kind of giving them some time on Friday morning to be able to bring those in,” he said. “If there’s any issues, we’ll approach those as they come. We’re happily allowing them to bring in some extra seating on their side.”
There will also be additional seating provided for Manhattan’s fans.
With the game expected to draw a record number of viewers, Parseghian noted it will likely be standing room only by kickoff.
“We can accommodate a huge number of people, but providing a view of the field, that could become limited,” he said. “I can’t even wrap my brain around what 5,000 people all trying to get a view of that field would look like. But it seems to me like with the amount of space we have that we would be able to get everyone in until either law enforcement or the fire department told us to stop.”
There will be three points of entry with the main gate being through the commons area of the high school. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. for the 1 p.m. kickoff and tickets are $10 per adult and $8 for students. Fans can purchase a digit ticket here: https://gofan.co/event/5412661?schoolId=MT15140
Members of law enforcement will be in attendance, but Parseghian hopes fans, players and coaches will practice good sportsmanship on both sides of the field.
“When we played back in September, Terry Hauser and I both after the game noted how well we thought the sportsmanship on the field was,” he said. “(With) how hard the kids played, they were helping each other up, patting each other on the back, and then just lining back up and just going full go.”
Parseghian has one final message for everyone planning to attend the game: “I would like to encourage all the spectators to come out and support their team with passion and model the respect and sportsmanship that these two towns have for each other … We have a great amount of respect for each other, our administrations do, and I know that our student-athletes do. Would like to see our spectators on both sides just bring as much positive spirit as they can on Saturday.”