MSU's last game in a stadium whose primary function was high school football came in 1972, when MSU played its home games at Van Winkle Stadium
BOBCAT GAME DAY NOTEBOOK #4: MSU Makes First Visit to Hillsboro Stadium to Face Vikings Saturday
9/22/2018 2:05:00 PM | Football
A pair of key defensive pieces return for the PSU contest
In the last quarter-century Montana State has played football games in legendary college football venues and multi-purpose domes. The Cats have visited brand new stadiums and those nearly a century old. They've played on fields lined with tracks, they've played on a site that was once a horse race track, and they've played in a major league baseball and NFL stadium.
But you have to go back a ways to find the last time Montana State played football in a stadium whose primary use is for high school football. That will be the case on Saturday, when the Cats play Portland State at Hillsboro Stadium in suburban Portland.
Long-time Bobcat fans certainly remember the 1972 season, when Reno H. Sales Stadium was under construction south of campus and the Bobcats played their home schedule at Bozeman High's Van Winkle Stadium. MSU opened that 1972 season with a 48-28 loss at North Dakota, then beat North Dakota State in Great Falls before heading west to absorb a 34-7 defeat at the hands of Cal Poly. But things turned for the better quickly. The Cats whipped Idaho and NAU at Van Winkle, won a hard-fought 9-3 nail-biter at Weber State, and beat Boise State 37-10 in the Homecoming game. A home loss to Idaho State closed the home portion of the schedule, but the Cats pounded Montana 21-3 in Dornblaser Stadium ton clinch the Big Sky Conference Championship. MSU finished the season by winning at Simon Fraser and Fresno State.
Go back further and you'll find a less happy episode involving the Bobcat football program and a high school stadium. For many years in the 1940s and '50s, the Bobcats and Grizzlies met at Butte High School's Naranche Stadium.
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A couple of key pieces are primed to return to the Bobcats defense today.
Linebacker Chad Kanow, a sophomore, suffered an injury in the preseason and has been idled through the team's non-conference schedule, is scheduled to make his 2018 debut in the starting lineup at Will linebacker this afternoon. Safety Jahque Alleyne is also expected to start at free safety after a leg injury kept him out of the last two games.
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Some of the all-time Bobcats hail from the Portland area. Elvis Akpla, who attended Lincoln High School in downtown Portland, set MSU's receiving yards record (since broken) as a three-year star for the Cats from 2009-11. Ryan Force, nicknamed "Thorpe" by head coach Mike Kramer because of his all-around athleticism, was a star safety for the Cats in the mid-2000s from Lake Oswego. And of course Travis Lulay, one of the Big Sky's all-time great quarterbacks who led the school's football renaissance by helping the Cats to Big Sky titles in 2002, '03 and '05, and his brother Tyler, an MSU receiver, are from Ausmville. And of course Mitch Herbert, who finished a brilliant career as a Bobcat receiver last fall, is from Eugene.
Linebacker Daniel Hardy (Beaverton) and defensive lineman Kyle Rygg (Eugene) are the current Bobcats that hail from western Oregon.
But you have to go back a ways to find the last time Montana State played football in a stadium whose primary use is for high school football. That will be the case on Saturday, when the Cats play Portland State at Hillsboro Stadium in suburban Portland.
Long-time Bobcat fans certainly remember the 1972 season, when Reno H. Sales Stadium was under construction south of campus and the Bobcats played their home schedule at Bozeman High's Van Winkle Stadium. MSU opened that 1972 season with a 48-28 loss at North Dakota, then beat North Dakota State in Great Falls before heading west to absorb a 34-7 defeat at the hands of Cal Poly. But things turned for the better quickly. The Cats whipped Idaho and NAU at Van Winkle, won a hard-fought 9-3 nail-biter at Weber State, and beat Boise State 37-10 in the Homecoming game. A home loss to Idaho State closed the home portion of the schedule, but the Cats pounded Montana 21-3 in Dornblaser Stadium ton clinch the Big Sky Conference Championship. MSU finished the season by winning at Simon Fraser and Fresno State.
Go back further and you'll find a less happy episode involving the Bobcat football program and a high school stadium. For many years in the 1940s and '50s, the Bobcats and Grizzlies met at Butte High School's Naranche Stadium.
* * * * *
A couple of key pieces are primed to return to the Bobcats defense today.
Linebacker Chad Kanow, a sophomore, suffered an injury in the preseason and has been idled through the team's non-conference schedule, is scheduled to make his 2018 debut in the starting lineup at Will linebacker this afternoon. Safety Jahque Alleyne is also expected to start at free safety after a leg injury kept him out of the last two games.
* * * * *
Some of the all-time Bobcats hail from the Portland area. Elvis Akpla, who attended Lincoln High School in downtown Portland, set MSU's receiving yards record (since broken) as a three-year star for the Cats from 2009-11. Ryan Force, nicknamed "Thorpe" by head coach Mike Kramer because of his all-around athleticism, was a star safety for the Cats in the mid-2000s from Lake Oswego. And of course Travis Lulay, one of the Big Sky's all-time great quarterbacks who led the school's football renaissance by helping the Cats to Big Sky titles in 2002, '03 and '05, and his brother Tyler, an MSU receiver, are from Ausmville. And of course Mitch Herbert, who finished a brilliant career as a Bobcat receiver last fall, is from Eugene.
Linebacker Daniel Hardy (Beaverton) and defensive lineman Kyle Rygg (Eugene) are the current Bobcats that hail from western Oregon.
Players Mentioned
Thursday, July 31
Monday, May 19
Wednesday, May 03
Wednesday, May 03
