A Miner Story

Miner blood.

I’ve never seen Centerville lose… well, not until this year. In ’99 they defeated Denton at home for all the marbles and then I saw them come from behind against Hysham in the 2004 playoffs (when Hysham was an understaffed, but tough eight-man team). Then I witnessed the Miner’s miracle state-title victory over heavily-favored Wibaux in 2006 followed up by a 2007 regular-season game on the road in Sunburst. There might be another C-ville game I attended, but I can’t be sure.

However, as mentioned above, things are different this year. I witnessed a Miner loss at Power against the Titans a couple of weeks ago and then again, this past weekend in their first-round playoff game against top-seeded Fairview.

In deciding which of the sixteen Class C games (both eight-man and six-man) to attend in Montana this past weekend, it was a tough choice that had nothing to do with seeing a particular team play—it was about the matchups. I knew the number-twos versus the number-threes would provide the most promise of excitement, but I started looking at the number-ones versus the number-fours and reckoned that Centerville would be the best challenge for any number-one seeded team.

Of course, I looked right past the Mustangs of Ennis and their excursion to Superior.

Yet, somewhere in the back of my mind I ascertained that the day would come when I’d see the Miners drop a game, but certainly not two in the same season. Because of this (and other questionable logic), I reckoned that Centerville had a real chance in Fairview based on the above… and three other factors. First, Centerville looked tough at Power even though they were eventually overrun by the speed-prolific Titans. Second, I reckoned that the Warriors of Fairview had only been tested once—against Wibaux, and rumor was that the Longhorns weren’t completely healthy when the two Eastern Conference powerhouses faced off at the end of the regular season. Lastly, Centerville’s skipper is Ted Richards, a seasoned eight-man coach who can take a bunch of average athletes and transform them into state contenders in no-time flat.

Over Centerville.

As it turned out, my logic fell a bit short. Centerville was dominated by Fairview from the get-go, and it probably didn’t help that the Miners started the first quarter working against a stiff Eastern Montana wind. By the time the first quarter was over, the Warriors had already racked up 28 points. (Driving back from Fairview Saturday evening, I found myself wondering how often coaches have instructed their captains to choose the wind direction over kicking, receiving or deferring when the coin toss is won.)

Despite my poor football logic, I feel pretty confident in saying that if Fairview can play their remaining games as they played against Centerville, it will take a monumental effort to defeat them—on their home turf no less. I’m a believer now.

The Future of MiningIn visiting with a few Centerville fans who made the long trip to Fairview, I was saddened to learn about the low student enrollment projections for future classes which means that Centerville might have to consider playing six-man someday. Typically, I don’t find such news too disturbing, but when a team like Centerville—an icon in the eight-man ranks—has to consider this scenario, it hurts a bit. That said, compared to no-man, six-man is always a nice alternative.

As I made my way down I-94 with this on my mind, I considered placing an advertisement in the Great Falls Tribune that attempts to persuade young couples with children living in the sprawling metropolis to consider the nearby “bedroom communities” of Centerville, Sand Coulee, and Stockett as great places to raise a family. This advertisement would also include an invitation to visit Coach Ted Richards about the football program.

Well, the good news for now is that the Miners are a young team. Of the 23 listed on the roster, 10 are sophomores. But, after that I’m told the numbers start dropping fast. Likewise, Fairview has a huge junior class with 13 juniors out of 24 on their roster. So, if the Warriors can’t be stopped this year, they might make next year look even easier.

I don’t like to cheer or favor any one team, but if a gun were held to my head and I had to pick one, Centerville would be way up there on my list. It’s a great location for a game as the gridiron is tucked away in one of the hidden coulees of the area and there are no floodlights, so home games are always on Saturday afternoons. Further, the Miners have always been a scrappy, no-nonsense team much like the Nittany Lions of Penn State.

Title reception against Wibaux.

Every team has their moment in the sun even if some get more exposure. But one thing is for sure, no school is always dominant—not even the (current) best known programs like Drummond, Wibaux, Denton or Centerville. Sure, they might remain competitive in most years, but despite the high-caliber coaches and steady flow of good athletes, none are invincible as we saw in Superior this past week. And like it or not, every school spends some time as a non-contender (even if some spend more time there than others). It’ll happen someday. One season in the future, a team like Shields Valley will win the state title while a perennial power like Wibaux fails to notch a victory. Hasn’t it happened already?

As fans of the game, the loudest cheer should not be for our favorite team, but for the small town football programs like Centerville; that they will always have a school with enough kids to field a competitive team. It’s a wish that goes on and on, and hopefully fulfilled even after we are all gone.

Winning With Gardiner

End zone seats at Gardiner.

It wasn’t in my long-term plan at the beginning of the football season, but I’ve seen the Gardiner Bruins play twice this year. Once in Harlowton, and the other day on their home field against Broadveiw-Lavina. Both times, the Bruins lost. In fact, over the years I’ve seen them play several times either away or at home, and I’m pretty sure, they’ve never won in my presence.

Perhaps for their sake, I’ll stop attending their games just in case I’m the cause. Yet, like all football teams, good and bad seasons come and go. No doubt, Gardiner will be a contender again before long—perhaps even notching another state title in a few short years.

Keep in mind, the Bruins did win it all in 1997 and have seen limited playoff action in recent years. So, it’s not like Gardiner has a bad gene pool when it comes to football players.

Regardless of the team’s win-loss record, Gardiner is one of the great places to watch a game. There are no lights, so almost all home games are played on Saturday afternoon with Electric Peak looming over the gridiron (weather permitting). Rumor has it, even bison from nearby Yellowstone National Park have been known to show up for a game. And after the game, you can get a great bite to eat at Rosie’s Café or wander in the Park for the remaining few hours of daylight… talk about a double feature.

As I get older, I find myself more frequently considering those places in the country where I might retire. Of course, one of my conditions is that it must be a small town and there must be a high school football team in the community. For those two reasons alone, Gardiner might be on my short list when it’s time to make that decision.

A Montana Football Thoroughfare

Looking north on 191 between Big Timber and Harlowton.

The following was written last year, but was never finished and thus never posted. After a recent trek up U.S. Highway 191 recently, I was reminded again of the many drives up and down this stretch of highway—going back to 1999.

September 2010
Even though it was the last official weekend of the summer, a touch of autumn was already in the air. Earlier in the week I had noticed a smattering of yellow leaves here and there within the trees of town and now, as I was making my way through Bridger, Montana on an early Saturday morning, the bank clock told me it was 39 degrees.

Continuing on up the road and approaching Laurel, Montana, I was thinking about the “regularity” of these trips into Montana to attend the football games in the state’s various small and obscure towns. One of those regularities had to do with where I found my second cup of coffee for the morning—lately it has been the City Brew in Laurel, Montana, just before I jump on Interstate 90 and head east or west.

There were some great games that weekend. Scobey at Wibaux, Harlowton at Joliet, Ft. Benton at Chinook—even the Powell Panthers (my town) were undefeated and on the road in Buffalo to face the equally undefeated Bison.

Nevertheless, I choose to attend an off-the-radar game in Moore, Montana where the winless three-school co-op of Hobson-Moore-Judith Gap faced the Refiners of Sunburst who hadn’t notched a win either.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Driving toward Moore that day, I considered another regularity in these Montana junkets—U.S. Highway 191. I started wondering how many times I’d been up and down its asphalt—maybe three or four times a year over the course of some ten years adding up to 30 or 40 roundtrips. Was it possible?

Titanettes at Moore.

For the record, U.S. Highway 191 is the main north-south artery to access many of the places where small town high school football is played in Montana. Starting with Harlowton, other game locations I’ve attended in the 191-vicinity include Moore, Hobson, Stanford, Geraldine, Highwood, Centerville, Geyser, Belt, Fort Benton, and Denton.

For me, U.S. Highway 191 begins in Big Timber, Montana—a place that acquired its name from Lewis and Clark as they gathered timbers to build rafts for their float down the Yellowstone River. From Big Timber, 191 is pretty much a straight north-south run with nothing but the foothills of the scenic (and usually snowcapped) Crazy Mountains and wide-open spaces farther north. There are no other communities that warrant a reduction in the speed limit until Harlowton, approximately 44 miles straight up 191.

Making up for the lack of human activity between Big Timber and Harlowton, any given traveler at any given time is likely to see mule deer somewhere along that 44-mile stretch—most likely just beyond Big Timber. I refer to that section of highway as “Deer Alley.”

Years ago when I was on my way to attend a six-man game in Geraldine, I left Powell on a Friday night with a motel reservation in Stanford. I followed a duel-wheeled pick-up truck out of Big Timber that Friday night, but I didn’t keep up with him. Somewhere in the foothills maybe ten miles up the road, I came across a sight I’d never seen—the fresh, fragmented and scattered remains of what was probably a mule deer that could have doubled as a suicide bomber. I attempted to slow my vehicle down as it started sliding on the animal’s spilled blood frozen to the cold highway. Fortunately I managed to maintain control of my car despite the steaming carnage. I half expected to find a wrecked pick-up somewhere off the road, but there were no signs that it had even passed through nor did I ever see it again. From that point, I easily remained wide-awake, driving through the dark Montana night and on to Stanford.

On any given road trip, the music of Mary Chapin Carpenter is a steady diet for my ears. On this particular day, her song “Alone But Not Lonely” grabbed me like no other time in the past. Its cello stirred me while the singer’s soothing voice ached with a question of who I was in my solitude on Highway 191. On that particular day I could definitely answer that, yes, I was alone, but hardly lonely in these wide-open places of Montana.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

Harlowton (or “Harlo” as some call it) might seem bleak in its first impression, but I have grown more comfortable with each visit to this football enclave. Whether camping in my truck at the rest stop/campgrounds by the rodeo grounds, or getting my morning cup of joe at the Snowy Mountain Coffee Shop, I seldom just drive through this community. Cruise down Main Street to the old Graves Hotel and you might find yourself fantasizing about purchasing and fixing up that historic landmark. Of course, Harlowton has been a terminal destination as well thanks to the Harlowton Engineers eight-man football team, and few football fields in the state are better illuminated than Harlowton.

Judith Gap wind turbines.

As you take the next section of Highway 191 out of Harlow, the Judith Gap Wind Farm awaits you. The highway splits the collection of giant turbines giving the traveler a feeling of smallness. The first electrical power started flowing from Judith Gap in 2005. Some might claim these monstrosities ruin the scenic value of such locations, but given a choice, I’ll take the clean symmetry of a wind farm any day over the chaotic and dirty clutter of equipment associated with a gas or oil field operation.

Past the wind farm and into the tiny town of Judith Gap, a milkshake is in order from the Judith Gap Mercantile if time permits and it’s the right time of day.

For me, something in the landscape… something in the world starts to change as you make your way north from Judith Gap. This is a magical place… a place where the sagebrush begins yielding to the winter wheat… where the light is different because the sun’s angle is lower.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

Five miles off the highway between Judith Gap and Eddie’s Corner is the town of Buffalo with its five residents. If you have the time, have a look around this town that once was. It’s about as close to a ghost town short of actually being one. The old bank building and school are worthy of a visit—if nothing else to only stare and wonder.

Officially Highway 191 picks up again on its northern direction at Lewistown, but for me it ends near the town of Moore where it meets Montana State Route 200. This junction is known as Eddie’s Corner—named after the one business that provides round-the-clock meals, gasoline, a lounge and a handful of windowless motel rooms. Although Moore is not far away, it is out of sight, rendering Eddie’s Corner more like an outpost on the frontier.

Before embarking on my return down 191, I often have a meal at Eddie’s Corner following a Saturday afternoon game in the area and listen to the other customers talking about the various football games they attended that day from all over the state. Thanks to Eddie’s Corner, I usually know about the outcomes of two or three other football games before I ever read about them on the Internet or newspapers.

Two Roads..., a photo by mdt1960 on Flickr.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

—Robert Frost