GREAT FALLS — In this year's East-West Shrine Game, the squad from eastern Montana features players from four of the five football teams that captured a state title in the fall of 2024.
Class A champion Billings Central has three suiting up, one of which is offensive tackle Jackson Ritchie.
"I hope I can bring a little bit of leadership to this team as well because I've been in some tough games," Ritchie said at Great Falls Memorial Stadium during Tuesday's afternoon practice. "I've shown that I can help teams win.
"It's a great honor to play in this game, get selected."
WATCH THE VIDEO:
Fairview, the 8-Man champion, is represented by linebacker Deacon Gackle.
"It's a bunch of winners, you know a lot of state champions. A lot of kids that know how to win," Gackle said. "Coming from a small school, there's not a lot of big kids like as big as these AA kids and these A kids. So I think the winning experience will help me a lot come game time."
Wide receiever Tracen Jilot of 6-Man title-winner Box Elder is suiting up too.
"A lot of these guys come from winning cultures and we're just trying to like bring our knowledge together to get a win," Jilot said. "Everybody's so talented and has so much knowledge, so just trying to pick their brains."
Then there's Class B champion Malta, which is sending two players as well as head coach Nick Oxarart — who is leading the charge on the sidelines in the game for the first time.
"It's something you kind of dream of," Oxarart said. "You think maybe someday that could happen, and it did, so it's an honor to be here and it's been a lot of fun so far, and I anticipated that. But yeah, something you dream of as coach."
Also on the east roster are four athletes from Gallatin, one of which is quarterback Grant Vigen who helped lead the Raptors to a 9-0 regular season and a Class AA state semifinal appearance.
"Everyone knows how to win, just to put it plain and short there," Vigen said. "Everyone knows what it takes to be successful, and you know I think combining everybody's seasons — whether it's failures or successes — will help lead to a good outcome this upcoming Saturday."
While the team has only been together since Sunday, Oxarart said the guys have gelled well together already.
"One of your goals as the coach of the Shrine Game is to try and build a team in a week," Oxarart said. "That's kind of hard to do, but that's kind of the focus."
Oxarart also emphasized the importance of the game off the field.
"At the end of the day, we're trying to raise a lot of money for the Shriners Hospital," Oxarart said. "These guys are aware of that. But there's a lot of pride in their community and they know that, and they appreciate that, and they represent their town really well."
The East looks to snap the West's four-game win streak in the annual Shrine Game on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Great Falls. MTN Sports will provide live coverage on your local CBS station.
