WORDEN — The Huntley Project football team has raced out to a 4-0 record and is No. 2 in the most recent MontanaSports.com Class B power rankings.
The key to the Red Devils' success? The team is jam-packed with wrestlers from the five-time reigning state champions.
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"We have nine out of 11 of our guys are wrestlers, and I think seven of them are individual state champs, so that helps a lot," Huntley Project coach Kevin Avison said. "They know how to tackle, they know how to work and they know how to play big games. They've been through that. They've been the favorite for four, five years, so they know how to handle themselves."
"I would say (wrestling) helps a lot. It really instills hard work and coming out every day even if you don't want to and giving 110%," senior Tucker Kaczmarek said.
Relentless work ethic and tremendous tackling stand out as just a few of the translatable traits, as Project is one of the more physical teams in Class B.
They're able to maintain that physicality despite a slight switch in philosophy, though there are still remnants of the old Wing-T offense.
"We know we can pass the ball. We know we can get open, so we're working on a real young offensive line. Coach (Mark) Wandle, he was coaching in the day with the Wing-T, so we're still doing the same scheme," Avison said. "We have some similar plays but being able to throw some play action and some passes off that really evens it out for us."
Spearheading the Red Devil attack is junior Blake Ramaeker, who along with Kaczmarek is a state champion wrestler and has been starting since his freshman season. The payoff from those experience-building seasons has been substantial.
"That brings a lot. This is my third year here and I think the systems are starting to fall into place and everybody is realizing what the expectations are," Avison said. "And I have a great group of guys, a great group of athletes to make it even better."
The Red Devils will be on the road this Friday night at Red Lodge as they look to keep that perfect record intact.
