BUTTE — Many in Montana's East-West Shrine Game aren't putting on the pads for the last time as they'll take their talents to various college levels in the fall.
That includes Missoula Sentinel graduate Jaxon Allery, who is taking a route that nationally is popular, but for Montanans is rare.
Allery will compete at the junior college level at Long Beach City College in Southern California, as he takes the next step in football.
"I feel like it was just like a higher power that did it because their head coach had gotten fired three hours prior to meeting the head coach," Allery said. "They hired on a new one and it was the (defensive) coordinator and he came out and told us that he was the new head coach and he wants to recruit me. So it felt pretty good."
Allery is coming off of a track season that saw him take home the Class AA state title in the 100-meter dash, a final boost to propel him to college football. A two-way player for the Spartans, he'll play wide receiver in college.
"It boosted my mentality for the next football season because coming into this last football season, we didn't finish how we wanted and so that kind of pushed me to go for that state (championship)," Allery said. "I feel like getting the state chip in track pushed me to it, and ultimately helped me better myself in football."
Football has been Allery's first love, and having started multiple years for the Spartans, his dream was to make it to the college level.
But the recruiting process was a long one, as he searched for the right opportunity.
"My senior year, I didn't really get any attention that I wanted from certain schools, so I wanted to go down to California for more opportunity," he said. "Me and my dad were driving past the school and he said he liked it and he knew the athletic director and hit him up and we talked with him and talked with the head coach and now I'm going there."
While Montanans don't often go the junior college route, it was an option Allery always had in the back of his mind.
"I grew up three years in Vegas. So I kind of understand football nationally and know what the skill level is and what it takes, and I feel like I know what I have and I feel like I have what it takes to compete down there," he said.
Should he find success, he could springboard into a bigger opportunity from there.
For now, his focus is on the 78th Montana East-West Shrine Game as he represents Sentinel one more time before turning the page to his next chapter.
"I think it's awesome how we can all of us can show that our selflessness to this, to this bigger organization that we're doing this for, and I feel like that just shows our characters and how we carry ourselves as student-athletes," Allery said.
