BILLINGS — Wearing the Billings Senior orange and black and playing on Friday nights at Daylis Stadium is really all Ryder Murdock ever wanted.
"As a kid I always thought this is what I wanted to do. I think that drives me every day," Murdock said. "Every day that I feel like I don't want to do this, I tell myself, 'Man, this is football. This is what little kids dream of doing, and this is what you dreamt of doing forever.'
"My thought process as a kid didn't go past Billings Senior High football. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world."
Murdock was a sponge around the program growing up, spending countless hours with former coaches and players and picking up anything he could to become better.
“We have all these great men in our program that coach, and kids that come through, and he gets to be around all those people and absorb everything," said Ryder's dad and Broncs head coach Chris Murdock. "Just soaking up a lot of the things he sees from the athletes and coaches that we have."
Ryder Murdock has proven to be a ball hawk in the Senior secondary in recent years and is seemingly in on nearly every tackle, though he isn’t the most physically imposing defender the Broncs trot out.
“I'm not the fastest guy in the world, but having the ability to go as hard as I can and making the best effort I can to make a play for my team, my teammates, my coaches and that shoe on my helmet, that's kind of where it comes from," Ryder Murdock said.
"I know he loves his teammates, and that's probably one of the biggest things I'm proud of Ryder for, is I think he treats his teammates really well and other people really well," Chris Murdock said. "I know that there's a love for them that he doesn't want to let them down, and that can provide passion.
"I know he loves the game of football and he knows there's one way to play the game and that's physically."
The two both admit they haven’t had the time to reflect on their journey to this point, especially with preparation for Friday’s playoff game at Missoula Big Sky. But they know it’s been a special ride.
“The week before senior night it kind of hit me. It's always something we've got to fit in the schedule and make work, but as I was building the schedule it was like, 'Oh, shoot. I'll be going out there as a parent this year for senior night.' That definitely hit me from a standpoint that it goes so fast," Chris Murdock said.
“That's my best friend right there. Nothing gets carried from football practice to the dinner table," Ryder Murdock said. "He just does a great job of practice is practice, home is home. That's my best friend."
They’re not ready to end the fairy tale just yet. The Broncs take on the Eagles at 7 p.m. in Missoula on Friday night.
