'Brawl of the Wild' listed as one of 50 best

The Montana-Montana State football rivalry will be featured in the new issue of Sporting News Magazine, which hits newsstands later this week, as one of the 50 best intrastate in sports.

The Sporting News picked one per state.

The magazine enlisted the help of former Montana State quarterback Dennis Erickson, who wrote a guest column about the rivalry.

"It's probably more intense than Arizona State-Arizona or Washington-Washington State or Florida State-Miami because of the size of the state, the population," wrote Erickson, now the head coach at Arizona State. "You're either a Bobcat or a Grizzly; there are no 'tweeners. It's more friendly than most rivalries because it's a different way of life in Montana."

Bently wins at bodybuilding competitions

Bill Bentley of Helena recently competed in two bodybuilding meets in Idaho. On April 18, Bentley competed in the 2009 Grand Teton Invitational All Natural Bodybuilding Championships held in Idaho Falls.

Bentley took first place in the Master Division (40 and over) and placed third in the open middleweight class. On May 2, Bentley took first place in the Masters Over 40 Division and fifth place in the open middleweight class at the NGA Northwest Natural Bodybuilding Championships in Boise.

Both competitions were drug tested and drew competitors from Montana ,Washington, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho.

Arsenal U-14 boys split on the road

The Arsenal U-14 boys had a good day in Kalispell this past Saturday, playing well against an older Polson team but eventually losing 5-0, and avenging an earlier loss against Kalispell with a 2-1 win.

The first match pitted Helena against the U-16 Tsunami. While Helena managed to get off a number of good shots, they were denied.

In their late afternoon game, Arsenal took on the Flathead Force White U-14 team. A spirited defensive effort by Sam Tintinger, Casey Jacobson, Ty Gerth, and Logan Monday stymied the Force offense while Keeper Connor Fitzpatrick had eight saves. Early in the first half, Nathan Patterson followed up on his shot and sent the next one into the goal.

Braden Wall, Travis Glenn, Tanner Staley, Jesse Bostrom, Chase Juneau, Hans Harris, and Sam Rowe kept the ball in the offensive end most of the match. Helena had some other interesting chances to score, but it was Cameron Betancourt's nice pass to Carlos O'Leary and his quick shot that resulted in the second Arsenal goal.

The U-14 boys host Stevensville and Livingston at Siebel fields next Saturday.

Arsenal U-12 boy lose three in Magic City

The Helena Arsenal U-12 Blue boys (Renegades) soccer team participated in the Magic City Classic Soccer Tournament in Billings over last weekend.

Playing in a tough bracket, the Arsenal Boys lost three physical matches to teams from Riverton and Buffalo, Wyoming, and to the eventual tournament U-12 champion Bozeman Blitzz. Despite coming up short on the scoreboard, the Arsenal boys showed great character and competitiveness, battling for the full 60 minutes of each game.

Goals for Arsenal Blue were scored by Lucas Kreamer, on an assist from Aidan Cormier, and by Will Hunthausen. Goalkeeping duties for Helena were shared by Dillon Monday, Connor Whyte, Logan Davis, Jeremy Reynolds, and Eli Walker. Andrew Dowling and Drew Vaughan anchored the Arsenal defense, and Cole Peterson and Denis Karasev provided midfield support to the forward players. The Renegades travel to Great Falls next Saturday to take on Electric City and Belgrade.