BILLINGS — Determination and perseverance are as big a part of Blake Irwin’s journey at Seeley-Swan High School as are the points he’s scored or the passing yards he’s accumulated.
That Irwin even arrived at Seeley Lake in middle school was a result of heartbreak, something that would re-visit his family a few years later.
Through it all, though, Irwin has thrived. So, too, have the Seeley-Swan football and basketball programs the past couple of years, energized by an undersized quarterback — Irwin stands 5-foot-5 — and shooting guard.
Oh, and if you’ve got a chore to do, Irwin will get the job done. He was a constant in the football program’s Rent-A-Hawk fundraiser, where community members can hire a player to do yard work or whatever to raise money for the team.
“I don’t think he missed a job, and we probably did close to 30 of them,” said Jacob Haley, the head football coach and an assistant basketball coach for the Blackhawks. “So that’s 30 opportunities he’s going out and helping the community with odd jobs and things that need to be done. He’s just a salt-of-the-earth type kid. He’s what you want as a coach.”
Irwin arrived in Seeley Lake while in middle school after this father died of brain cancer. Moving from Bonney Lake, Wash., a town of nearly 25,000 people on the southern tip of Puget Sound near Seattle, to join his mother in Montana was, he said, a culture shock.
“At first, I was actually really hesitant,” Irwin admitted. “I did not want to move down here … but I just kind of got used to it, made some friends and started to really enjoy it.”
Things really began to take off for Irwin in athletics. He played some varsity basketball as a freshman and in his sophomore year of school, with no tackle football experience, he found himself sharing time at varsity quarterback as the throw-first part of the tandem for an 8-Man program that was going through a long playoff drought.
Despite the inexperience, he brought the “Irwin Magic,” as Haley calls it, and helped spark a Blackhawks football renaissance. Seeley-Swan made the playoffs in 2024 for the first time since 2007, and it was also the first time since ‘07 that the Blackhawks finished with a record better than .500.
In the middle of that ’24 season, however, a car crash took the life of Irwin’s older sister, Alexis. Irwin took nearly two weeks off, then rejoined the team for its stretch run.
“I found playing was almost a soothing thing,” he said. “It was almost a distraction from everything that was happening.”
This past fall, with Irwin as the full-time quarterback, the Blackhawks reeled off their first 10-win season since 1984 before losing out in the second round of the playoffs.
Basketball brought its own breakthrough. He helped turn Seeley-Swan into a Cinderella of sorts during last year’s postseason, as the Blackhawks went from a No. 5 district seed all the way to the state tournament. It was Seeley-Swan’s first state appearance since the 2007-08 team when the Blackhawks were in Class B.
Using his 5-foot-5 height to his best advantage, Irwin has evolved into a catch-and-shoot guard and playmaker; he made eight 3-pointers against Philipsburg earlier this season and his perimeter game is a good complement to the Blackhawks' inside game, particularly with Derrick Brovold. (Both players average 17 points per game.)
Basketball coach Mike Haines is a scoreboard operator during the football season and saw Irwin's gridiron exploits first-hand. One of the key's to Irwin's success, in football and basketball, Haines said, is that Irwin is aware of his strengths and limitations.
“He just has a good sense of what's going on," Haines said. "You really have to emphasize what you're good at, remember that, and don't dwell on what things you don't have. Like I say, sometimes dynamite comes in small packages."
The team’s goal this season is to win a state-tournament trophy, Irwin said. If the Blackhawks can pull that off, it would cement a legacy for Irwin and his senior class teammates, and the senior class before them.
Irwin, who plans to study broadcasting at the University of Montana, could think of no better ending for his unplanned stop at Seeley Lake.
“God doesn’t put you through something you can’t handle, and I think I’ve really learned that over these past couple of years with the loss of my sister and the loss of my dad,” Irwin said. “Honestly, it makes me more motivated to do even better in sports or in school because I know I have two of them looking down on me.”
