BILLINGS — Billings Central was utterly dominant on the gridiron in 2024 en route to the Class A state tile.
The Rams lost just a handful of pieces from that team and have a roster loaded up with 18 seniors that have set a high bar for the standards and expectations within the program.
"We've all been playing together since Little Guy football, fourth grade, I think," said Central senior quarterback Howie Martin. "We've been pretty successful as a team over the years and we're really close brothers. I think that's what's made us really successful is how close we are."
"Setting a culture here — a winning culture of how things are done around here. (Coach Jim) Stanton has been around for a long time and he's set a great culture for this program, so we just want to carry that on and add to that legacy," said senior Kellan Reas.
Leading the charge for Central is Martin at the quarterback position. While he isn't necessarily the most vocal guy, he certainly leads by example and is a fiery competitor.
"We know Howie is the best in the state. We'll be out here throwing routes in the summer and we'll be like, 'Gosh, that's a ball,'" Reas said. "He just brings it every day. Every day he's on us to pick it up. He always knows on the field what everyone has, where to go, and he holds us to a high standard. We know that we can hold him to that standard, too."
Martin and Reas are part of a crew that's spent the majority of their childhoods competing together. Now they're ready to stamp their football careers with consecutive state championships.
"We're the hunters this year. We've got to go get what's ours," Martin said. "It's going to be tough to do it. We're not the same team as last year and we have a lot of work to put in, but we're confident in ourselves."
"It's been something we've all talked about since we were in grade school. All these guys we're playing with we've played with since Yellowstone Youth Football and up," Reas said.
"Every Central game on Friday nights would be like our Super Bowl, going to play on the side. We'd talk about how we'd be playing there one day, and it came a lot faster than we thought it would. All those guys, it's a lot of depth and experience and it helps a lot, and it helps that we're all friends."
The Rams open up the season with a perennial power from out west when they visit Dillon on Aug. 29.
