Cole Bland and Abby Schwend are Athletes of the Week presented by Billings Clinic

Billings Central boys soccer's Cole Bland and Bridger-Belfry-Fromberg volleyball's Abby Schwend are the Athletes of the Week presented by Billings Clinic for the week ending Nov. 2.

Bland, a senior midfielder, engineered a two-goal comeback for the Rams in their double-overtime, 3-2 win over Whitefish in Saturday's Class A boys soccer state championship game at Amend Park. The win completed a perfect 15-0-0 season for Central and captured the boys program its first state title since 2009.

The visiting Bulldogs had gotten ahead by a 2-0 margin after two first-half penalty kicks, but Bland got one back for the Rams before halftime by beating Whitefish's goalkeeper low and at his left post just 31 seconds after the Bulldogs scored their second goal.

Bland then scored the equalizer for Central from a penalty in the second half before forward Sawyer Guenthner eventually netted the winner in double OT.

Schwend, a junior setter/outside hitter for the Scouts, led Bridger-Belfry-Fromberg (21-5 overall) on a dominant run to the District 4C tournament title last weekend in Bridger. The Scouts beat Roberts and Custer-Hysham (twice) as they rolled to the championship without losing a set.

Per 406 MT Sports portal entries , Schwend — who was a Class C all-state selection a season ago and also participates in basketball and track and field — stuffed the stat sheet and tallied a total of 28 kills, 16 assists, 47 digs and an ace across her nine sets played at the district tournament. She currently leads the Scouts with 259 kills on the year and is second with 280 digs.

Bridger-Belfry-Fromberg has moved on to the Southern C divisional tournament, which will take place from Thursday-Saturday in Winifred.

The Athletes of the Week presented by Billings Clinic are announced on Fridays in The Billings Gazette. Got a suggestion? Email it to .