MADISON, S.D. -- Former Westby-Grenora 6-Man football standout Jeremiah Paine was named the North Star Athletic Association special teams player of the week on Monday.
Paine, who was a record-setting quarterback for the Thunder from 2015-17, helped Dickinson State to a 37-7 win at Mayville State on Saturday. He converted four of five point-after tries and made a 32-yard field goal in the win. Paine also had three punts for a total of 123 yards, including a 61-yarder. His seven kickoffs totaled 333 yards.
Paine is now a sophomore kicker at DSU, but he excelled in multiple facets at Westby-Grenora. He finished his Thunder career with a 6-Man record 9,687 total yards, 4,120 of which came in his senior season in 2017, a 6-Man single-season record. He did the bulk of his work through the air, passing for 8,057 yards and 153 touchdowns during his career and 3,234 yards and 69 TDs during a sensational season in 2017. All of those marks are also 6-Man records. All records are per the Montana High School Association record books.
The Thunder finished as 6-Man runners-up in 2016 and won the state championship in 2017 with a 68-37 win over Bridger. Paine also kicked 48 extra points for Westby-Grenora in 2017.
For the season at Dickinson State, Paine has made four of seven field goal attempts with a long of 37 yards and is 23 of 27 on point-after tries. He's also had 22 punts for an average of 36.1 per.
Dickinson State improved to 6-0 with Saturday's win over Mayville State. The Blue Hawks are back at home on Oct. 24 for a 1 p.m. kickoff against Waldorf.
