West roster has 16 players, 1 coach from Valley at Shrine game
Sixteen Flathead Valley players and one coach will be on the sidelines for the West team tonight at the 73rd annual Montana East-West Shrine all-star football game at Montana Tech in Butte.
The kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Columbia Falls and Flathead both have five football players on the West roster. For Columbia Falls, it’s Drew Morgan, Colton McPhee, Zack Pletcher, Tanner Gove and Gage Karlin. Flathead’s players are Anthony Jones, Jaden MacNeil, Blake Counts, Andrew Siderius and Sebastian Koch.
Whitefish has three — Carver Gilman, Keegan Wold and Dillon Botner, Bigfork two — Anders Epperly and Logan Gillard; and Glacier one — Preston Blain.
Longtime Bigfork head coach Todd Emslie, who retired after the fall season, will be an assistant coach with the West. Mike Cutler of Drummond/Philipsburg is the West head coach.
Les Meyer of Fairfield is the head coach for the East all-stars.
The East won last year’s meeting in Great Falls 24-21 on a 30-yard field goal by Jeremiah Paine of Westby-Grenora with 3:08 remaining.
The East leads the all-time series 40-32 and also won 38-24 in Billings in 2017.
Last year only six players and one coach were on the West team from the Flathead Valley, 22 the year before that. Columbia Falls had seven participants in 2017.
First played in 1947, the Shrine game features players who graduated during the 2018-19 school year from Montana high schools and Canada. It raises for the Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Spokane, Washington.
73rd annual Montana
East-West Shrine Football Game
At Montana Tech (Butte)
Kickoff tonight at 7
West Roster
Flathead Valley Players
Anders Epperly, Bigfork; Anthony Jones, Flathead; Carver Gilman, Whitefish; Jaden MacNeil, Flathead; Drew Morgan, Columbia Falls; Colton McPhee, Columbia Falls; Blake Counts, Flathead; Preston Blain, Glacier; Zack Pletcher, Columbia Falls; Andrew Siderius, Flathead; Logan Gillard, Bigfork; Tanner Gove, Columbia Falls; Sebastian Koch, Flathead; Gage Karlin, Columbia Falls; Keegan Wold, Whitefish; Dillon Botner, Whitefish;
Also
Camron Rothie, Hamilton; Rylan Ortt, Missoula Sentinel; Jace DeWalt, Missoula Sentinel; Ty McGurran, Helena; Clay Fisher, Butte Central; Kale McCarthy, Butte; Landers Smith, Charlo; Zachary Spiroff, Helena.
Kane Hess, Drummond/Philipsburg; Holter Cade, Butte Central; Alex Johnson, Helena; Ryan Tirrell, Missoula Loyola; Brock Cantrell-Field, Missoula Sentinel.
Michael Golden, Hamilton; Kameron Rauser, Townsend; Alaric Greil, Helena Capital; Tyler Walker, Dillon; Nick Schmeiler, St. Francis (Nova Sotia); Christian Unger, Missoula Big Sky; Spencer Jones, Florence-Carlton; Holden Sampson, Helena; Garrett Brown, Corvallis; Cooper Waters, Missoula Loyola; Rylan Waananen, Butte; Mike Graves, Hamilton.
Head coach: Mike Cutler, Drummond/Philipsburg
Assistants: Bryce Carver, Hamilton; Gary Ferris, Dillon; Bryan Arnston, Butte; Bob Sampson, Helena; Todd Emslie, Bigfork.
Trainer: Steve Gross, Helena.
Managers: Lindsey Kambich, Butte; Bailey Netschert, Helena.
Coordinator: Jeff Hartwick, Butte.
Assistant coordinator: Wynn Randall, Helena
East Roster
Players
Ryder Meyer, Fairfield; John Waddell, Livingston; Joe Byorth, Billings Central; Mitchell Norslien, Lewistown; Tucker Greenwell, Great Falls CMR; Cason Taylor, Great Falls CMR; Jack Studer, Billings Central; Kyle Torgerson, Great Falls; Wesley Jameson, Lewistown; Chance Larson, Wibaux.
Riley Dickinson, Great Falls Central; Brody Grebe, Melstone/Roundup; Duncan Kraft, Billings Central; JR Seewald, Cut Bank; Willy Leep, Bozeman; Wyatt Brusven, Shelby; Andrew Lopez, Malta; Derek Simmons, Fairfield; Kade Wilcox, Billings West; Ty Bradley, Colstrip.
Bryce Depping, Great Falls CMR; Ely Kraft, Laurel; Maverick Roberts, Billings Central; Conner Paul, Billings West; JJ Lindsay, Billings Senior; Mason Harrison, Lewistown; Ryan Wyman, Sidney; Kobe Nelson, Billings West; Mavrick McKinlay, Geraldine; Sam Potoczny, Great Falls.
Tariq Essa, Earnest Manning (Alberta); Spencer Warren, Bozeman; Keegan Mires, Glendive; Ryan Simpson, Bozeman; Dawson Allen, Fairfield; Brant Bremmer, Browning; Logan Kennedy, Laurel; Nick Konesky, Great Falls CMR; Walker Heckman, Fairfield.
Head coach: Les Meyer, Fairfield
Assistants: Vic Feller, Lewistown; Derek Lear, Lewistown; RJ Rogers, Fairfield; Paul Schilling, Shelby; Eric Stovrud, Great Falls.
Trainers: Louie Molen, MVPT; Chad Molen, MVPT; Judy Rowe, Great Falls.
Manager: Wes Ross, Great Falls.
Coordinator: Dick Schoonover, Great Falls.