BOX ELDER — Last November saw Box Elder High School wins its first-ever football state championship, as the Bears took down Bridger in the 6-Man title game.
Although, the Bears are now moving on from 6-Man and defending their crown in a different way this coming season by making a jump up to 8-Man.
"We got that work ethic that we had last year, but we know we have to work extra hard for it," junior Santana Wells Jr. said at Box Elder High School following last Wednesday's practice. "We lost some really big guys, but I think we're going to have a lot of guys step up."
WATCH THE VIDEO:
"We already set the standard last year, now I think we're going to ... soar above that standard," senior Timothy Rosette III said. "We have a lot more new teams that we're playing against and new faces we haven't seen, and we're just going to have to work even harder than we did last year."
This group of Bears knows the grind and embraced what it took to win a state championship, although some big key seniors last year that helped get them there moved on.
Wells and Rosette both said the experience of making the run to the title will go a long way, though.
"We got to work twice as hard losing those guys," Wells said. "I think we're going to be twice as ready as we were last year, though."
"Just from our seniors last year being able to push us as hard as we could every practice and push them, I think that's the same mindset we're going to have ... but work 10 times harder," Rosette said. "Because we were 6-Man, now we're 8-Man."
Box Elder has a solid grasp on the differences 8-Man brings about, head coach Thomas Dilworth said.
"I would say anything that we lost in talent, we make up for with work ethic," Dilworth said. "These kids really want to work hard. A lot of these kids got a lot of good playing time in that state championship game. We bring back two all-state players."
Dilworth said the Bears have a chance to do something rather unique.
"We've done a little research and these guys are very aware, I've made it very aware that we have an opportunity to do something that's never been done in ... Montana sports football history, and that's win a state title after moving up a division," Dilworth said. "We want to do something that's never been done."
Box Elder begins its new 8-Man challenge on the road against Simms this coming Friday night, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m.
