Bigger Than Me

The Pirate football team implemented a new motto this year, “Bigger Than Me” or BTM, to encourage athletes to think outside themselves. It encourages players to “Being good students and being good people,” said head coach Carson Oakland. Students can become bigger than themselves by helping a teammate in practice, picking up trash in the student section at games and just being good people in general. It’s easy to get caught up in the negative but BTM focuses on “Getting caught up in the positive and being recognized for something bigger than yourself,” said Oakland. 

     Despite the Pirates starting the 2024 season with a loss against Bigfork on August 30, they got their first win shortly after on September 6 against Libby. The game ended 38-8 with the Pirates taking a 30 point lead for the win. Soon after on September 13, the Pirates took on the Butte Central Maroons and secured another win with a seven point lead, ending the game at 21-14. Continuing their winning streak, the Pirates battled their rivals, the Ronan Chiefs, on September 20. The team made it to halftime with a strong 28 point lead. Junior quarterback Holden Emerson rushed a total of 181 yards and scored four touchdowns.     The Pirates won the game 37-14 and took home the famous paddle which has been a long standing tradition between the two rival schools. The winning team takes home the decorated paddle which keeps their rivalry alive. Senior offensive and defensive lineman Jerium Rushing said that battling their rival team always “brings more energy, and not just me, to the team and everything.”

     On September 27, the Pirates played the Columbia Falls Wildcats during their senior night. The team celebrated ten seniors: Astin Brown, Landon DesJarlais, Cason Graham, Landon Pablo, Colin Pauly, Jerium Rushing, Lucian Sawyer, Keaven Stinger, Jesse Vail, and Garret Wilmar. The game ended in a loss of 0-42. It hit the team hard. According to Rushing, “After they scored the first or second touchdown on us, our team died down on some energy,” 

     They took a hit as a team, but one of the best ways that they found to recover was to focus on the positives and talk to each other to regroup. “Some of the older leaders talk to the kids that need a little bit of bringing up which helps them,” said Emerson.

Many of these older leaders are “Scholarballers,” which are upperclassmen who help guide the underclassmen and talk to the coaches about ways to improve the team. Holden Emerson, Cody Haggard, Shaedon Perry, Astin Brown and Bryce Allred held these positions this year.

     As the quarterback, Emerson said,“I feel like a lot of the kids look up to me more because I’m the one directing all the calls.” The quarterback  holds more responsibility because he needs to memorize all of the play calls. Outside of the quarterback, most of the other leaders on the team are seniors. Rushing found that becoming a starting senior made him more of a leader on the team and the underclassmen look up to him more. “You have to think about how you handle situations, because kids are looking to you,” said Rushing.

     At their next game, homecoming, the Pirates defeated the Stevensville Yellow Jackets on October 4. Not only did the team battle the Jackets, but they also battled the weather. There were high winds the whole night with many trees falling down around town. Regardless of the weather, the Pirates took home the win with an ending score of 60-14. After the win the Pirates moved on to play the Whitefish Bulldogs on October 18, which ended in a loss of  10-38. 

     The Pirate football team ended their season in Hamilton on October 25. The game ended at 23-45 with the Pirates taking the loss. During the game, Senior Cason Graham picked up 112 receiving yards and a touchdown during the game. This game finished off the Pirates 2024 football season. 

     Even though they didn’t meet their expectation for the season which was making the playoffs, the team kept their 4-4-0 win, loss, tie record from the previous year.