BILLINGS — This weekend’s Class B all-star football game features high school rivals that have come together for a common goal. Some of those guys are moving on to Montana’s five Frontier Conference schools where they’ll be rivals for the next four to five years.
“We’re obviously all enemies in the regular season in high school and now we come together for the same goal to beat the other team," said Eureka's Johnny Fehr, who will play at Montana Tech. "It’s really fun, actually, to be with the best of the best.”
“It’s pretty fun to play with them because I’ve never been able to play with these guys. We’ve always been competitors," Huntley Project's Stran Selman, an MSU-Northern commit, said. "It’s nice to get to play with them one time before we go to college and then we’re going to be rivals again.”
With high school and college rivalries abound, you’d think there’d have been some trash talk, right?
“Not really. I’ve had a couple guys I’ve trash talked with, but we’re kind of all rooting for each other," Townsend grad and Montana Western commit Trey Hoveland said.
The North holds the all-time series advantage 17-15 and has won the last two meetings. The North also has several members of state champion Florence on its roster and coaching staff, so you can expect the South to be hungry.
“It’s a little bit (of motivation) just knowing you’re going against the best in Class B. And they beat us earlier in the year by seven, so I kind of want to get a little payback, too," said Hoveland.
“It’s important, but what I think is most important is it’s a brotherhood. We’re all out here playing football, and for some of us it’s our last time," said Malta's Cash Salsbery, a Montana Western commit.
Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. on Saturday at Lockwood High School.
