ST. REGIS – St. Regis wants to make sure its athletes have a place to play football next year, so the Tigers are putting together a co-op with Mullan, Idaho.
St. Regis athletic director and football coach Jesse Allan expects the plan to go through, but it still needs final approval from both the Montana High School Association and the Idaho High School Activities Association. Allan said they should hear from both by the end of the month.
The two schools would combine to make an 8-Man team and play in an Idaho conference.
St. Regis has struggled with low numbers for years and had to forfeit its final five games this past season due to a lack of players. Allan said it was hard to tell the kids the season was over. Since he only expects four or five kids to play next year, it made sense to combine with Mullan, which also had trouble fielding enough players for an 8-Man squad.
St. Regis has played 6-Man football in Montana for the past several years. The Tigers originally looked for a co-op partner in Montana, but could not find a fit. The MHSA tries to avoid three-school co-ops, which limited the chances to join Alberton-Superior, and other schools like Plains and Hot Springs balked, because adding St. Regis’ enrollment numbers would push the Horsemen and Savage Heat up a class.
St. Regis’ enrollment added to Mullan’s would still stay below 100, the cutoff between Division 1 and Division 2 8-Man football in the state. At this time, the co-op is only for football, and no discussions have taken place for other sports.
Ironically, both teams are the Tigers, so they won’t need a new nickname.
