Hooray! For Eight-Man (& Six-Man)

[maroon]

Greg Hardy
Clay Pierson

 

[IdaGriz01]

Greg Hardy
Clay Pierson

These guy are recent enough for me to find:

Hardy: Fairview, Griz 2009-2012.
Pierson: Twin Bridges, Griz 2009-2014 (1 redshirt year).

Far as I can tell, both got minor looks from the NFL, but never caught on.

 

[maroon]

Rory Zikmund and Seth Breding from Harlowton. Late 90s to 2002 for Zikmund. Breding left the program after year or two.

 

[garizzalies]

Last year’s 8man chipper was a total blast. Titans (Granite co) beat Forsyth (the “dogies” pronounced “dough-gees”). I learned a “dogie” is a type of cow. Like in that old-timey song, “hi-ho silver get along little dogies...”
The go-ahead TD for the Titans was called “dogie style” and was a tackle-eligible pass to a lineman (actually I think he was a guard; 8man, ya know). He wore #99, and his old man works at the local watering hole so drinks were only 99cents. Pburg is a fun town anytime but that night was something special.
Titans think they can repeat and I believe it because their coaching staff is downright awesome (even tho they’re cat people). They lose a few but there is still some talent returning. I think both programs are only 4 years old (in 8man) or something like that. Could be a cool rivalry brewing.

 

[GRZFTBL]

... just to note.......that Chase Reynolds played 8 man for Drummond, MT in high school.

Pretty sure he was not the only Griz who played 8-man. One reason I started the thread was to dredge up some of those memories from people who are more familiar with Montana HS football.

Dan Beaudin - Noxen

Spencer Fredrick, Scobey Spartans > Montana Grizzlies > New Orleans Saints (spent year on IR after blowing out a knee in pre-season)

 

[MTCowpoke]

... just to note.......that Chase Reynolds played 8 man for Drummond, MT in high school.

Pretty sure he was not the only Griz who played 8-man. One reason I started the thread was to dredge up some of those memories from people who are more familiar with Montana HS football.

Dan Beaudin - Noxen

Spencer Fredrick, Scobey Spartans > Montana Grizzlies > New Orleans Saints (spent year on IR after blowing out a knee in pre-season)

Either blew it out again, or the other knee the following year in the first primetime preseason game of the year. Used to hone his tackling skills on me and the other freshmen in practice during his one year of hs football at Scobey.

 

[grizatwork]

Pat Foster. Savage I believe.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Pat Foster. Savage I believe.

Griz 1983-1987, drafted (9th round) as a "project" by the LA Rams in 1988. Bios agree that he played 8-man football in HS, but do not say where. Does not appear to have played any NFL games. FYI: Selling insurance in Spokane (per LinkedIn).

 

[maroon]

Terry Falcon from Culbertson. Played for Griz in mid-70s and 3-4 years in the NFL.

He was one big dude.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Finally found an archive of Griz rosters going back to 2000. Here's some background on three 8/6 HS players who have already been listed:
Rory Zikmund, Harlowtown, 2000-2002 Griz WR, part of the 2001 championship team and even caught a pass in the NC game.
Curt Colter, Hysham, 2000-2001 Griz DT, also part of the championship team. (Died of a heart attack at aged 33 .)
Dan Beaudin, Noxon, Griz 2007-2009 TE.

Found several more:
Loren Utterback, Fort Benton, 2004-2007 Griz LB. One article that said he got to wear #37.
Jackson Ledgerwood, Fort Benton, 2007 Griz DT.
Alex Verlanic, Drummond, 2006-2010 Griz C.

 

['68griz]

Don't think Fort Benton plays 8-man ball. Anyway, I know they didn't in the fairly recent past.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Don't think Fort Benton plays 8-man ball. Anyway, I know they didn't in the fairly recent past.

Well, you could be right that they weren't playing 8-man back when Utterback played there ... but they do now.
http://www.montanasports.com/2018/01/17/shelby-to-drop-to-8-man-football-this-fall/

Key quote:

Beckman said Shelby will begin playing 8-Man football this fall in the North Division, which will expand to 13 teams. The divisions break down as follows for the 2018 season:
… North (13): Belt, Box Elder, Cascade, Centerville, Chester-Joplin-Inverness, Chinook, Choteau, Fort Benton, Great Falls Central, Hays-Lodgepole, Rocky Boy, Shelby, Simms.

 

['68griz]

Thanks for the update, Ida.

 

[catsack]

Three 8 man kids started together on offense for the griz for a year two Chase , Alex Verlanic and Dan Beaudin!

 

[CV Griz Fan]

Jack Pardee? Know you’re sayin’ something...

 

[grizatwork]

Fort Benton was 11 man class B when the Utterbacks and Ledgerwood came through, but they were 8 man class C when Kelseyville Liipert played for the griz.

Shelby is an interesting story. Played in both the basketball and football state championship games in class B this year and then down to class C the following year.

 

[kemajic]

Don't think Fort Benton plays 8-man ball. Anyway, I know they didn't in the fairly recent past.

There is a lot of flux between B and C; Forsyth just recently went down to C (8-man) in football, not Bball. Also within C from 8 to 6. Bridger recently moved from 8 to 6.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Fort Benton was 11 man class B when the Utterbacks and Ledgerwood came through, but they were 8 man class C when Kelseyville Liipert played for the griz.

Shelby is an interesting story. Played in both the basketball and football state championship games in class B this year and then down to class C the following year.

The article I linked above from MontanaSports.com was mainly about Shelby moving down to 8-man. It just happened to list the current (as of the article) 8-man divisions.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Don't think Fort Benton plays 8-man ball. Anyway, I know they didn't in the fairly recent past.

There is a lot of flux between B and C; Forsyth just recently went down to C (8-man) in football, not Bball. Also within C from 8 to 6. Bridger recently moved from 8 to 6.

Yep, I found that out the hard way. Hard to find reliable information (on the web) about what level some of the smaller schools played at in any given year.

Example: I dug up another old roster (1999) and found three players from Plentywood on it (Jeff Nikolaisen, Travis Walker, and Nick Walker). Plentywood is now at 8-man, but I found an article that told me it was probably 11-man back then. Sigh.
That roster also had Josh Hoehne, Phillipsburg, DB, so I assume that was okay.

Also dug up the 1995 (championship) roster, which had two "candidates":
Blain McElmurry, Troy, FS. Three seasons in the pros with Green Bay and Jacksonville.
Scott Curry, Valier (6-man), OT. Drafted by the Packers in the 6th round and played 5 games for them in 1999. Did not play in 2000 and “retired” after that. (Grizrule16 posted him earlier, but I found a bit more info on his pro career.)

 

[catsack]

Don't think Fort Benton plays 8-man ball. Anyway, I know they didn't in the fairly recent past.

There is a lot of flux between B and C; Forsyth just recently went down to C (8-man) in football, not Bball. Also within C from 8 to 6. Bridger recently moved from 8 to 6.

Yep, I found that out the hard way. Hard to find reliable information (on the web) about what level some of the smaller schools played at in any given year.

Example: I dug up another old roster (1999) and found three players from Plentywood on it (Jeff Nikolaisen, Travis Walker, and Nick Walker). Plentywood is now at 8-man, but I found an article that told me it was probably 11-man back then. Sigh.
That roster also had Josh Hoehne, Phillipsburg, DB, so I assume that was okay.

Also dug up the 1995 (championship) roster, which had two "candidates":
Blain McElmurry, Troy, FS. Three seasons in the pros with Green Bay and Jacksonville.
Scott Curry, Valiet (6-man), OT. Drafted by the Packers in the 6th round and played 5 games for them in 1999. Did not play in 2000 and “retired” after that. (Grizrule16 posted him earlier, but I found a bit more info on his pro career.)

McElmurry was 11 man