MISSOULA — Many of the headliners in this year's Brawl of the Wild football game hail from the Treasure State.
Bobcats Tommy Mellott (Butte) and Brody Grebe (Melstone) and Grizzlies Junior Bergen (Billings) and Trevin Gradney (Billings) are all Montanans, and when No. 2 Montana State and No. 9 Montana meet Saturday at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, the two programs will feature 96 Montana natives — up from 92 last year — representing 30 communities.
The Griz have 49 Montana natives on their roster, including Gradney and a host of other playmakers on defense. Ryan Tirrell, a Missoula Loyola alum, leads UM with 89 tackles on the season, and Jace Klucewich, a Frenchtown product who graduated from Missoula Sentinel High School, has a team-leading four interceptions.
Forty-seven Bobcats are from Montana, including defensive stalwarts Grebe, McCade O'Reilly and Rylan Ortt. O'Reilly, a Bozeman High graduate, leads MSU with 54 tackles and Ortt, from Missoula Sentinel, is second with 52. Grebe, who grew up on his family ranch outside of Melstone and played high school football at Roundup, leads the Bobcats with six sacks.
Like last year, Bozeman and Missoula will provide the most players in the game. Bozeman has 18 players spread between the two rosters, while Missoula has 17 — including Jaxon Lee, who graduated from Missoula Sentinel but was born in Belgrade and played three years at the Flint Creek co-op of Drummond and Philipsburg.
Sentinel and Bozeman High each have 14 players between the Cats and Griz.
The Griz have nine former Spartans on the roster: Klucewich, Lee, Drew Klumph, Geno Leonard, TJ Rausch, Danny Sirmon, Tate Templeton, Grady Walker and Joe Weida. The Cats have five in Ortt, Zac Crews, JJ Dolan, Adam Jones and Dylan Rollins.
Former Hawks O'Reilly, Everett Carr, Kenneth Eiden IV, Rocky Lencioni, Ryan Lonergan, Jaden Perkins, Jaren Perkins, Justus Perkins, Luke Smith and Hudson Wiens are now with MSU, while Torin Jeske, Brady Lang, Padraig Lang and Ryan Simpson left Bozeman High for UM.
Billings, Montana's largest city with more than 120,000 people, has 13 players between both teams.
Melstone, population 145 in 2023, is still Montana's smallest town represented on the rosters. Brody Grebe is joined on Montana State's roster by younger brother Bryce. While Brody played 11-man football in high school as part of the Roundup-Melstone co-op, Bryce played for the Custer-Hysham-Melstone 6-Man football co-op.
Montana State linebacker Mason Dethman (Froid-Lake) and Montana defensive lineman Sloan McPherson (Savage) also played 6-Man football in high school.
Two players — MSU's Hunter Sharbono (Fairview) and UM's Kade Cutler (Flint Creek) — finished their high school careers playing 8-Man football. Thirteen played their senior seasons at the Class B level, 12 in Class A and 65 in Class AA. Bobcats offensive lineman Cole Sain, a Darby native, played high school football in California.
Below is a list of the Montana natives on the Cats and Griz rosters for the 123nd Brawl of the Wild, which kicks off at noon Saturday and will be broadcast statewide on the Montana Television Network's local CBS affiliates.
Montana State Bobcats from Montana
Paul Brott, DL, Billings West
Thomas Buchanan, QB, Red Lodge
Maclain Burckley, WR, Billings Senior
Everett Carr, OL, Bozeman High
Tom Carter, WR, Helena Capital
Kee Christiansen, WR, Dillon
Zac Crews, DE, Missoula Sentinel
Neil Daily, LB, Billings West (spent two years at Missoula Sentinel before moving to Billings)
Mason Dethman, LB, Brockton (Froid-Medicine Lake co-op)
JJ Dolan, DB, Missoula Sentinel
Caden Dowler, DB, Billings West
Taco Dowler, WR, Billings West
Patrick Duchien, QB, Florence
Kenneth Eiden IV, DE, Bozeman High
Brody Grebe, DE, Melstone (Roundup-Melstone co-op)
Bryce Grebe, LB, Melstone (Custer-Hysham-Melstone co-op)
Adam Jones, RB, Missoula Sentinel
Casey Kautzman, K/P, Butte High
Ryan Krahe, LB, Great Falls High
Case Kruse, DL, Manhattan
Rocky Lencioni, TE, Bozeman High
Ryan Lonergan, TE, Bozeman High
Jonathan Luhmann, OL, Florence
Talon Marsh, DL, Helena Capital
Burke Mastel, OL, Red Lodge
Tommy Mellott, QB, Butte High
Max Murphy, FB, Billings West
Ryan Nansel, DB, Bozeman Gallatin
Tommy Nilson, OL, Missoula Hellgate
Dalton Noble, Clancy (Jefferson High)
McCade O'Reilly, LB, Bozeman High
Rylan Ortt, DB, Missoula Sentinel
Jaden Perkins, OL, Bozeman High
Jaren Perkins, DL, Bozeman High
Justus Perkins, OL, Bozeman High
Colter Petre, DB, Helena High
Dylan Rollins, OL, Missoula Sentinel
Cole Sain, OL, Darby (graduated from St. John Bosco High School in California)
Rylan Schlepp, TE, Bozeman Gallatin
Hunter Sharbono, DL, Fairview
Luke Smith, TE, Bozeman High
Cole Taylor, LB, Great Falls CMR
Jake Vigen, DE, Bozeman Gallatin
Marcus Wehr, OL, Billings Central
Hudson Wiens, DL, Bozeman High
Josh Woodberry, LB, Bozeman Gallatin
Braden Zimmer, OL, Billings West
Montana Grizzlies from Montana
Junior Bergen, WR, Billings Senior
Dillon Botner, OL, Whitefish
Kade Boyd, S, Billings Central
Austin Buehler, OL, Helena Capital
Kade Cutler, S, Philipsburg (Flint Creek co-op)
Beau Dantic, RB, Laurel
Drew Deck, WR, Kalispell Glacier
Kellen Detrick, DL, Havre
Marcus Evans, LB, Helena High
Ian Finch, WR, Missoula Hellgate
Kash Goicoechea, S, Kalispell Glacier
Trevin Gradney, CB, Billings West
Journey Grimsrud, OL, Huntley Project
Cameron Gurnsey, WR, Butte High
Braunson Henriksen, OL, Polson
Tanner Huff, CB, Butte High
Kaden Huot, QB, Helena High
Torin Jeske, OL, Bozeman High
Isaac Keim, TE, Kalispell Glacier
Jace Klucewich, CB, Frenchtown (played three years at Frenchtown, senior year at Missoula Sentinel)
Drew Klumph, WR, Missoula Sentinel
Brady Lang, WR, Bozeman High
Padraig Lang, S, Bozeman High
Jaxon Lee, S, Missoula Sentinel (born in Belgrade, played three years with Flint Creek co-op, senior year at Missoula Sentinel)
Geno Leonard, LB, Missoula Sentinel
Gabe Longin, S, Great Falls High
Chase McGurran, S, Helena
Sloan McPherson, DL, Savage
Ryder Meyer, S, Fairfield
Henry Nuce, DL, Kalispell Glacier
Jake Olson, TE, Butte High
Hayden Opitz, LB, Helena Capital
Clay Oven, DE, Billings Central
TJ Rausch, S, Missoula Sentinel
Owen Reynolds, S, Red Lodge
Talen Reynolds, RB, Missoula Loyola
Tyson Rostad, S, Hamilton
Tommy Running Rabbit, Ath., Browning
Cody Schweikert, Ath., Columbia Falls
Ryan Simpson, WR, Bozeman High
Danny Sirmon, TE, Missoula Sentinel
Gage Sliter, QB, Kalispell Glacier
Dylan Smith, DL, Whitehall
Cy Stevenson, LB, Libby
Tate Templeton, OL, Missoula Sentinel
Ryan Tirrell, LB, Missoula Loyola
Jaxon Tucker, DL, Billings West
Grady Walker, Ath., Missoula Sentinel
Joe Weida, TE, Missoula Sentinel
