GREAT FALLS — To cap off the first-ever spring season in the new Great Falls NFL flag football league, the individuals who helped create the league set up the championships to be played at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
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"Let's get the kids in (to Memorial Stadium), see what they're going to eventually play in," league founder George Fontanez said. "Get the parents out here ... have the community out here, get some food trucks out here just to make it a big community event. And especially to have the kids play on the turf for the first time, it's going to be awesome."
Fontanez, alongside Mitchell Morris and Zack Ringler — a current assistant football coach at Great Falls High — grouped together to create this league, and with that the opportunity for kids to play for a championship in a setting they aren't normally accustomed to.
Cody Westbrook is one of the coaches, and he said it gets the kids pumped up to play at Memorial Stadium.
"Because you get a big stadium like this, the kids are thinking they're only getting to play in the back of a baseball field or at a practice field," Westbrook said.
Some kids expressed their positive feelings about Saturday's event, as well.
"Yeah, very excited," Noah Lambers said.
"Pretty awesome," Cooper Willis said.
"It's a lot different and cooler," Colt Popham said.
"It's really cool," Hurley Grant said. "In my tackle football league, we played in this for our championship and won it, so it's really nice to be back here."
Grant also has a nickname on the field.
"Mr. Touchdown," Grant said. "Because my coach says every single game I score the most touchdowns and get MVP most of the time."
Memorial Bowls will be held for every flag football season moving forward, Fontanez said.
"This just shows that the sky's the limit," Fontanez said. "If we can show it here, when we move to Helena and then eventually Butte, get something the same way to where we can all just bring all the cities together and say we did this, the kids, the families, the parents did this together. We all do this together. It wasn't just one person."
Fontanez and Westbrook both have been anticipating this day, too, they said.
"I want to win a championship today with my son," Fontanez said. "My son is 6 years old. I told my wife this morning — and I kind of teared up thinking about it — 6 years old, I said this could be his first championship, and then we're going to look back on it when he's playing in the state championship in high school."
"I get giddy every time," Westbrook said. "I'm pumped up right now. This is kind of my favorite thing to do in life is coach, so this is probably something I'm going to do after I retire from my job and then continue it on. I love it. ... I get pumped up for the kids every time."
