#PlantTheFlag FRIDAY: With No Games of Their Own, Seven Bobcat Players Coached Middle School Football This Fall
10/16/2020 10:00:00 AM | Football
With no football games of their own, seven Bobcat football players turned to coaching this fall
While the Bobcat football program idled this fall, seven Montana State players coached middle school football in Bozeman. Starting down that path in college has led many into the coaching profession, including MSU head coach Jeff Choate. Casey Bauman, Isaiah Ifanse, Jaharie Martin and Amandre Williams coached at Bozeman's Sacajawea Middle School, while Callahan O'Reilly – who once played at SMS – joined Mark Estes and Kyle Rygg across town at Chief Joseph Middle School. In the words of some of those men, this is how 2020 middle school football season went in Bozeman…
GETTING THE BALL ROLLING
Montana State Head Coach Jeff Choate: "I definitely remember talking to the players about looking for opportunities to stay in the game, maybe coach little guy football, give back to the community, do things that you wouldn't normally do because of how unusual this fall is. There's a guy named Ryan Haught who played here, was in the military, his son is at Sac(ajawea Middle School). Ryan connected with us, and that spurned it on."
Former Bobcat Ryan Haught, now co-head coach at Sacajawea Middle School: "I was just thinking, those guys aren't doing anything this fall and with the Covid stuff everything's weird, so I thought we could make some lemonade out of lemons. I called Phil (Kornachuk) and asked if he'd ask around to see if any of the guys wanted to coach, and Jeff reached out and said, 'Yeah, there's some guys.'
Bobcat running back Jaharie Martin: "Coach BJ (Robertson) and Coach (Byron) Hout presented to the team one day that, since we don't have a season, they told us there was a middle school that needed help with coaches and if we were free and that's something we wanted to do to let them know. One of the coaches from Sacajawea Middle School, Ryan Haught, helped us with the 406 Experience (leadership and team-building program) that we're doing this fall, and that's how I got connected (to SMS)."
Ryan Haught: "We found out CJ hadn't hired any coaches, so we got guys over there first so they could have a season. We got Callahan O'Reilly, Mark Estes and Kyle Rygg over there, and got (Casey Bauman, Jaharie Martin, Isaiah Ifanse and Amandre Williams) here (at SMS). The kids were impressive. They were super engaged."
Bobcat linebacker Callahan O'Reilly: "They said that they might not have a season (at Chief Joseph), and I was thinking about how when I was in eighth grade I would have been pretty bummed out if we couldn't have a season. I imagined how I would have felt so I thought it was something either I needed to do or someone else needed to do, and I thought it would be a great experience and for me to help and give back to the community."
Bobcat running back Isaiah Ifanse: "I'd say getting the opportunity to work with the kids and give back to the community (sparked the decision to coach). This was my first time coaching and I took the approach of coaching (the middle school players) how our coaches coach us. It's obviously more advanced for us but I tried to break it down and find ways to make it easier for them to play fast and not focus on what I said."
BREAKING THE ICE
Teaching and coaching don't come naturally to everyone. Each of the Bobcat players who coached this fall said that the first few practices took and adjustment. Coaching responsibilities ranged from co-coaching position groups to calling offensive and defensive plays as coordinators.
Bobcat Quarterback Casey Bauman: "I have three little brothers, and my littlest brother is in eighth grade. I thought since we're not playing it would be a fun thing to do, the kids would enjoy it, and a lot of people gave back to me when I was playing middle school ball, a lot of older athletes, so I think it's important to give back to the community. I felt like I have some knowledge that I could give the kids that they can take with them to high school. And a couple of them actually do remind me of my brothers. It's pretty cool."
Isaiah Ifanse: "One thing that stood out to me the most is how close the kids were. It was all about having fun, and bringing effort to have fun whether we were winning or losing."
Jeff Choate: "You never really know something, you never really understand it, until you have to teach it. Clearly you always get more from giving than receiving, so seeing a smile on a kid's face, seeing him improve, watching him compete, being there for him when things don't go well and celebrating when they do, you encounter all of the emotions when you coach. Some kids are scared to hit, some kids are super confident but it might be the first time they've done something they're not good at, there are kids that are going to be nervous, kids that will get angry, kids that will be apprehensive. There are all these different emotions, and you probably learn more about yourself by coaching other people, especially (coaching) people whose skill levels aren't on par with yours. You learn some patience, you learn that it's helpful to understand the big picture, you learn different steps in the instruction process, to be detailed, to be positive. I think there are tons and tons of lessons you learn from coaching."
Ryan Haught: "It's like having celebrities at your practices, and (the MSU players) were super engaged. It was awesome. I was really appreciative it all came together."
Callahan O'Reilly: "It was difficult but it was also kind of cool. At first you assume they know stuff about football but when you take a step back you think about this being the first time they're really playing tackle football, you have to teach them how to how to get into a stance, all that stuff. You start to think back to when you were there, and I didn't know anything then either. You kind of assume they're going to know more than they do and you try to jump too far ahead at the start."
Ryan Haught: "Those guys are gentlemen. Coach Choate is recruiting a very high caliber of person, and I was really impressed with the overall leadership. Casey Bauman called all the offensive plays and Jaharie Martin called all the defensive plays (for the SMS team), and we let them run the stuff on game day. They just seem very grown up to me. They came to every practice, never missed a practice."
TRANSITIONING FROM PLAYER TO COACH
The Bobcats that coached in Bozeman's middle schools this fall all talked about a necessary adjustment from playing to coaching, but each said it was eased by the forming a bond with the players. Filtering the information each of the Bobcat players receive daily from their coaches into something that the eighth graders could process was an important part of the learning process.
Jeff Choate: "I think the first coaching gig I had, I ended up coaching my now-brother-in-law's Little League baseball team in Dillon, Montana. RJ Fitzgerald's grandfather was the commissioner of the baseball league, and they were looking for guys who had played some baseball and wanted to coach a little bit. I ended up coaching Mick Dennehy's youngest son Mark, my brother-in-law Brett Jones, a Walker kid, I can remember some of these kids. I had a really good baseball coach in high school, I played a lot of Legion ball, and I felt like I had a lot of knowledge, but learning what was going to be too much is what really helped those kids. Providing discipline, structure, consistency, fundamentals, those were the things that were important. When you're young and you have all these ideas you want to put X's and O's or scheme or the fun stuff ahead of what really helps people succeed, which is the basics. So that's what I learned, stick to the basics."
Jaharie Martin: "It was fun being around the different personalities. You have some kids that are outgoing, you have some natural athletes with a niche for the game, who know what they're doing, and then you have some you have to bring out of their shell. This one kid named Jack was a real quiet, reserved kid. The first couple practices I was there I tried to talk to him, but he didn't really look at me or make eye contact. But by the end of the season he was starting the conversation with me, asking me how I was doing, so that was cool, but being around them was just so fun."
Casey Bauman: "Playing and coaching are very different. It's one thing to go out there and do it, but to break it down and explain it, especially to younger kids, is more challenging. There were a couple times I had to think of the right way to explain something to make sure they'd understand it because obviously what we do is a little more complex than eighth grade football. I had to try to break it down and simplify it as much as I could for the kids."
Jaharie Martin: "I feel like as a coach I was just as nervous as I was (playing football). I was calling (defensive) plays this season, so if there was a drive and the other team went down and scored that's going to fall back on the D-coordinator who's calling plays and putting the kids in those situations. So that's where my nerves were at."
Callahan O'Reilly: "Once I started coaching them I felt they were teaching me more than I was teaching them about having a good attitude and all that stuff. I had a great time doing it."
Jaharie Martin: "The first day of practice I was sitting back, trying to get a feel for (the players), introducing myself to them. My second or third day of practice, getting into coaching the fundamentals, it was a learning experience for me. The way I learn stuff, other people won't learn the same way, so I had to learn to differentiate the kind of learners I had on the team and communicate to them what I wanted to learn in a way that they could learn. It was a learning experience."
Callahan O'Reilly: "It was interesting trying to teach them based on what I've learned in college and they're only in middle school so I definitely had to find the balance between stuff I'm learning now and the things I learned in middle school."
Ryan Haught: "I think the college players had a lot of fun. On the sideline during the last game Casey and Isaiah were jumping up and bumping shoulders like they had shoulder pads on. They were very dialed in."
Jaharie Martin: "It was a little bit difficult because it was my first time ever doing this, and people learn differently. But once I figured out how their learning styles the practices went a lot smoother. Sometimes I had to go back and repeat things because kids will tell you they understand but they really don't so you have to go back and repeat those concepts, repeat what you want to do in certain situations. It was pretty tough at first, then at the season went on they gained more understanding and it got easier."
THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Both Sacajawea Middle School and Chief Joseph Middle School played games against other schools from around the Gallatin Valley, as well as playing each other twice. The final of those two games was at Van Winkle Stadium, where this year's middle school players hope to play home games for either Bozeman High of Gallatin High.
Isaiah Ifanse: "It was super weird. The very first game we had was kind of a two-quarter thing, and when it was out turn to coach the eighth graders I was getting super anxious and kind of worried. I don't know why. It was a different feeling, I've never felt like that before."
Jeff Choate: "My nephew plays for Manhattan and one of the first games was Manhattan vs. Sacajawea, so that was Casey, Amandre, Isaiah and Jaharie working there. It was fun to watch them. I think that was their very first game and you could tell they were nervous, probably as nervous and anxious as if they were playing a game themselves. I remember after the game Casey told me, 'They were well-coached.' Manhattan ran a little Wing T and did their thing, so it was interesting watching their approach."
Casey Bauman: "It's really important to sometimes take a step back and look at the big picture. Our middle school team lost a couple of games at the beginning of the season and our guys were kind of feeling down, but I think it's important to step back and have fun at the end of the day. We wanted to make it as fun as possible. Sometimes at the level we play at it's hard to step back and see that we're playing a game for a living and that should be fun. So at the end of the day you want to have as much fun as possible, I think that's what I got from this experience."
Jeff Choate: "Football is not easy for kids. It's not go out and grab a basketball and shoot it at a hoop, or try to hit a baseball with a bat. There's this element that is not necessarily innate for kids to have to invade each other's personal space or have contact, either at the line of scrimmage or tackling somebody. There's a conditioning element in football that's different from other youth sports, and that builds a toughness."
Casey Bauman: "I did call plays, and I thought it was good. I'd never been in that position before. It's obviously harder that getting to play and do it on your own. You have to be aware of the game situation, down and distance, and it was a really good experience for me, especially at that level, taking the games we played and learning from it and trying to get better every week."
Jaharie Martin: "I was happy to see them play, to see them out there having fun, because when you're in the upper level of high school, when you get into recruitment, and then especially in college, this game becomes more like a business every single day. Being around those kids and see them genuinely have fun, that was great."
COACHING IN FRONT OF YOUR COACH ND COMPETING AGAINST YOUR TEAMMATES
As Jeff Choate indicated, several of the Bobcats who coached in the middle schools this fall had the opportunity to coach in front of him, and Callahan O'Reilly actually coached his CJ squad against Andrew Bush, a long-time Bozeman youth football coach who was co-head coach with Haught at SMS. Since each of Bozeman's two eighth grade teams featured current Bobcat football players, the team's fall practice sessions included friendly wagers and, of course, competition and trash talk.
Callahan O'Reilly: "Coach Bush was my coach in middle school. It was fun seeing him out there."
Isaiah Ifanse: "(Coach Choate) gave us some tips at the end (of the SMS-Manhattan game that he attended) on coaching, the do's and don'ts and stuff like that. It was good to have him out there to see us coaching. He talked to us about the energy, about the body language and being positive on the sidelines."
Casey Bauman: "It was fun. We went up against Callahan and Kyle Ryggs' team, and we had a wager in practice that if we lost we had to push-ups. We played them twice, and the first game we lost 12 to 14, and that was during our 'fall camp,' so I was the one doing push-ups during that week. But we just played them on Monday and we won 54-14, so we made our adjustments and came back and finished strong and we're pretty proud about that."
SEASONS END, BUT FRIENDSHIPS DON'T HAVE TO
By all accounts none of the players or coaches involved were ready for the 2020 Bozeman Middle School football season to end.
Jeff Choate: "When you talk to football players, they have a bond because they've been through shared hardship, they've been through struggle, they've been through difficulty just in getting the chance to go play. In my personal experience, outside of wrestling that doesn't exist in most other sports. There's a lot of discipline and time that goes into being a baseball player or a basketball player, but from a physical standpoint you don't go through the same level of pain as even youth football players."
Isaiah Ifanse: "There's a handful of guys I feel like I formed good relationships with, and it made us harder after our last game to end the season. I feel like I got a lot closer to them from when we started."
Jaharie Martin: "A couple of them followed me on Instagram so I guess they liked me."
Casey Bauman: "I always think of them as little kids, but you have to realize they're in eighth grade, they're actually getting ready for high school and growing up and they know stuff. They were joking around with me, a lot of them wanted to play video games after practice and hang out with me and that kind of thing. They're really sharp kids and it was a lot of fun teaching them."
Callahan O'Reilly: "Making the connection with the kids was the most fun. They were real awesome kids, and I'm looking forward to having them come to our games, and of course going to their games in high school will be awesome, getting to see them grow from eighth grade through high school. A lot of those kids will be going to Gallatin and I was a Bozeman Hawk, but it'll be fun."
Ryan Haught: "I don't know if I can emphasize enough the character of the guys that coached. They always had great input to give, they always had something great to say to pump kids up. It was nice to see all of them talk about, 'This is your last game as an eighth grader, go out there and lay it on the line.' And the kids listened. There was no standing in the corner, they all wanted to be there and they all did a great job."
CONTINUING TO COACH?
Ryan Haught: "If we're able to make it work I'd definitely love to have those kids back next year."
Jaharie Martin: "My major is actually is actually physical education with a minor in coaching, so that's why I hopped on the opportunity. You hear a lot in the athletic world that it's one thing to play a sport but it's another to teach it and coach it, so I used this as a test and trial to see if I can actually teach someone else. I liked it way more than I thought I would, the bond you make with those kids and the impact you have on those lives, even if it's off the field. You can't replace that."
Isaiah Ifanse: "I've thought about coaching, and I feel like doing this made my interest in coaching go up. I wasn't sure how I'd do as a coach or if I'd like coaching much, but I feel like this was a good experience to me. The thoughts that stick with me are always bring good energy, and out of everything else just make sure to have fun."
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GETTING THE BALL ROLLING
Montana State Head Coach Jeff Choate: "I definitely remember talking to the players about looking for opportunities to stay in the game, maybe coach little guy football, give back to the community, do things that you wouldn't normally do because of how unusual this fall is. There's a guy named Ryan Haught who played here, was in the military, his son is at Sac(ajawea Middle School). Ryan connected with us, and that spurned it on."
Former Bobcat Ryan Haught, now co-head coach at Sacajawea Middle School: "I was just thinking, those guys aren't doing anything this fall and with the Covid stuff everything's weird, so I thought we could make some lemonade out of lemons. I called Phil (Kornachuk) and asked if he'd ask around to see if any of the guys wanted to coach, and Jeff reached out and said, 'Yeah, there's some guys.'
Bobcat running back Jaharie Martin: "Coach BJ (Robertson) and Coach (Byron) Hout presented to the team one day that, since we don't have a season, they told us there was a middle school that needed help with coaches and if we were free and that's something we wanted to do to let them know. One of the coaches from Sacajawea Middle School, Ryan Haught, helped us with the 406 Experience (leadership and team-building program) that we're doing this fall, and that's how I got connected (to SMS)."
Ryan Haught: "We found out CJ hadn't hired any coaches, so we got guys over there first so they could have a season. We got Callahan O'Reilly, Mark Estes and Kyle Rygg over there, and got (Casey Bauman, Jaharie Martin, Isaiah Ifanse and Amandre Williams) here (at SMS). The kids were impressive. They were super engaged."
Bobcat linebacker Callahan O'Reilly: "They said that they might not have a season (at Chief Joseph), and I was thinking about how when I was in eighth grade I would have been pretty bummed out if we couldn't have a season. I imagined how I would have felt so I thought it was something either I needed to do or someone else needed to do, and I thought it would be a great experience and for me to help and give back to the community."
Bobcat running back Isaiah Ifanse: "I'd say getting the opportunity to work with the kids and give back to the community (sparked the decision to coach). This was my first time coaching and I took the approach of coaching (the middle school players) how our coaches coach us. It's obviously more advanced for us but I tried to break it down and find ways to make it easier for them to play fast and not focus on what I said."
BREAKING THE ICE
Teaching and coaching don't come naturally to everyone. Each of the Bobcat players who coached this fall said that the first few practices took and adjustment. Coaching responsibilities ranged from co-coaching position groups to calling offensive and defensive plays as coordinators.
Bobcat Quarterback Casey Bauman: "I have three little brothers, and my littlest brother is in eighth grade. I thought since we're not playing it would be a fun thing to do, the kids would enjoy it, and a lot of people gave back to me when I was playing middle school ball, a lot of older athletes, so I think it's important to give back to the community. I felt like I have some knowledge that I could give the kids that they can take with them to high school. And a couple of them actually do remind me of my brothers. It's pretty cool."
Isaiah Ifanse: "One thing that stood out to me the most is how close the kids were. It was all about having fun, and bringing effort to have fun whether we were winning or losing."
Jeff Choate: "You never really know something, you never really understand it, until you have to teach it. Clearly you always get more from giving than receiving, so seeing a smile on a kid's face, seeing him improve, watching him compete, being there for him when things don't go well and celebrating when they do, you encounter all of the emotions when you coach. Some kids are scared to hit, some kids are super confident but it might be the first time they've done something they're not good at, there are kids that are going to be nervous, kids that will get angry, kids that will be apprehensive. There are all these different emotions, and you probably learn more about yourself by coaching other people, especially (coaching) people whose skill levels aren't on par with yours. You learn some patience, you learn that it's helpful to understand the big picture, you learn different steps in the instruction process, to be detailed, to be positive. I think there are tons and tons of lessons you learn from coaching."
Ryan Haught: "It's like having celebrities at your practices, and (the MSU players) were super engaged. It was awesome. I was really appreciative it all came together."
Callahan O'Reilly: "It was difficult but it was also kind of cool. At first you assume they know stuff about football but when you take a step back you think about this being the first time they're really playing tackle football, you have to teach them how to how to get into a stance, all that stuff. You start to think back to when you were there, and I didn't know anything then either. You kind of assume they're going to know more than they do and you try to jump too far ahead at the start."
Ryan Haught: "Those guys are gentlemen. Coach Choate is recruiting a very high caliber of person, and I was really impressed with the overall leadership. Casey Bauman called all the offensive plays and Jaharie Martin called all the defensive plays (for the SMS team), and we let them run the stuff on game day. They just seem very grown up to me. They came to every practice, never missed a practice."
TRANSITIONING FROM PLAYER TO COACH
The Bobcats that coached in Bozeman's middle schools this fall all talked about a necessary adjustment from playing to coaching, but each said it was eased by the forming a bond with the players. Filtering the information each of the Bobcat players receive daily from their coaches into something that the eighth graders could process was an important part of the learning process.
Jeff Choate: "I think the first coaching gig I had, I ended up coaching my now-brother-in-law's Little League baseball team in Dillon, Montana. RJ Fitzgerald's grandfather was the commissioner of the baseball league, and they were looking for guys who had played some baseball and wanted to coach a little bit. I ended up coaching Mick Dennehy's youngest son Mark, my brother-in-law Brett Jones, a Walker kid, I can remember some of these kids. I had a really good baseball coach in high school, I played a lot of Legion ball, and I felt like I had a lot of knowledge, but learning what was going to be too much is what really helped those kids. Providing discipline, structure, consistency, fundamentals, those were the things that were important. When you're young and you have all these ideas you want to put X's and O's or scheme or the fun stuff ahead of what really helps people succeed, which is the basics. So that's what I learned, stick to the basics."
Jaharie Martin: "It was fun being around the different personalities. You have some kids that are outgoing, you have some natural athletes with a niche for the game, who know what they're doing, and then you have some you have to bring out of their shell. This one kid named Jack was a real quiet, reserved kid. The first couple practices I was there I tried to talk to him, but he didn't really look at me or make eye contact. But by the end of the season he was starting the conversation with me, asking me how I was doing, so that was cool, but being around them was just so fun."
Casey Bauman: "Playing and coaching are very different. It's one thing to go out there and do it, but to break it down and explain it, especially to younger kids, is more challenging. There were a couple times I had to think of the right way to explain something to make sure they'd understand it because obviously what we do is a little more complex than eighth grade football. I had to try to break it down and simplify it as much as I could for the kids."
Jaharie Martin: "I feel like as a coach I was just as nervous as I was (playing football). I was calling (defensive) plays this season, so if there was a drive and the other team went down and scored that's going to fall back on the D-coordinator who's calling plays and putting the kids in those situations. So that's where my nerves were at."
Callahan O'Reilly: "Once I started coaching them I felt they were teaching me more than I was teaching them about having a good attitude and all that stuff. I had a great time doing it."
Jaharie Martin: "The first day of practice I was sitting back, trying to get a feel for (the players), introducing myself to them. My second or third day of practice, getting into coaching the fundamentals, it was a learning experience for me. The way I learn stuff, other people won't learn the same way, so I had to learn to differentiate the kind of learners I had on the team and communicate to them what I wanted to learn in a way that they could learn. It was a learning experience."
Callahan O'Reilly: "It was interesting trying to teach them based on what I've learned in college and they're only in middle school so I definitely had to find the balance between stuff I'm learning now and the things I learned in middle school."
Ryan Haught: "I think the college players had a lot of fun. On the sideline during the last game Casey and Isaiah were jumping up and bumping shoulders like they had shoulder pads on. They were very dialed in."
Jaharie Martin: "It was a little bit difficult because it was my first time ever doing this, and people learn differently. But once I figured out how their learning styles the practices went a lot smoother. Sometimes I had to go back and repeat things because kids will tell you they understand but they really don't so you have to go back and repeat those concepts, repeat what you want to do in certain situations. It was pretty tough at first, then at the season went on they gained more understanding and it got easier."
THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Both Sacajawea Middle School and Chief Joseph Middle School played games against other schools from around the Gallatin Valley, as well as playing each other twice. The final of those two games was at Van Winkle Stadium, where this year's middle school players hope to play home games for either Bozeman High of Gallatin High.
Isaiah Ifanse: "It was super weird. The very first game we had was kind of a two-quarter thing, and when it was out turn to coach the eighth graders I was getting super anxious and kind of worried. I don't know why. It was a different feeling, I've never felt like that before."
Jeff Choate: "My nephew plays for Manhattan and one of the first games was Manhattan vs. Sacajawea, so that was Casey, Amandre, Isaiah and Jaharie working there. It was fun to watch them. I think that was their very first game and you could tell they were nervous, probably as nervous and anxious as if they were playing a game themselves. I remember after the game Casey told me, 'They were well-coached.' Manhattan ran a little Wing T and did their thing, so it was interesting watching their approach."
Casey Bauman: "It's really important to sometimes take a step back and look at the big picture. Our middle school team lost a couple of games at the beginning of the season and our guys were kind of feeling down, but I think it's important to step back and have fun at the end of the day. We wanted to make it as fun as possible. Sometimes at the level we play at it's hard to step back and see that we're playing a game for a living and that should be fun. So at the end of the day you want to have as much fun as possible, I think that's what I got from this experience."
Jeff Choate: "Football is not easy for kids. It's not go out and grab a basketball and shoot it at a hoop, or try to hit a baseball with a bat. There's this element that is not necessarily innate for kids to have to invade each other's personal space or have contact, either at the line of scrimmage or tackling somebody. There's a conditioning element in football that's different from other youth sports, and that builds a toughness."
Casey Bauman: "I did call plays, and I thought it was good. I'd never been in that position before. It's obviously harder that getting to play and do it on your own. You have to be aware of the game situation, down and distance, and it was a really good experience for me, especially at that level, taking the games we played and learning from it and trying to get better every week."
Jaharie Martin: "I was happy to see them play, to see them out there having fun, because when you're in the upper level of high school, when you get into recruitment, and then especially in college, this game becomes more like a business every single day. Being around those kids and see them genuinely have fun, that was great."
COACHING IN FRONT OF YOUR COACH ND COMPETING AGAINST YOUR TEAMMATES
As Jeff Choate indicated, several of the Bobcats who coached in the middle schools this fall had the opportunity to coach in front of him, and Callahan O'Reilly actually coached his CJ squad against Andrew Bush, a long-time Bozeman youth football coach who was co-head coach with Haught at SMS. Since each of Bozeman's two eighth grade teams featured current Bobcat football players, the team's fall practice sessions included friendly wagers and, of course, competition and trash talk.
Callahan O'Reilly: "Coach Bush was my coach in middle school. It was fun seeing him out there."
Isaiah Ifanse: "(Coach Choate) gave us some tips at the end (of the SMS-Manhattan game that he attended) on coaching, the do's and don'ts and stuff like that. It was good to have him out there to see us coaching. He talked to us about the energy, about the body language and being positive on the sidelines."
Casey Bauman: "It was fun. We went up against Callahan and Kyle Ryggs' team, and we had a wager in practice that if we lost we had to push-ups. We played them twice, and the first game we lost 12 to 14, and that was during our 'fall camp,' so I was the one doing push-ups during that week. But we just played them on Monday and we won 54-14, so we made our adjustments and came back and finished strong and we're pretty proud about that."
SEASONS END, BUT FRIENDSHIPS DON'T HAVE TO
By all accounts none of the players or coaches involved were ready for the 2020 Bozeman Middle School football season to end.
Jeff Choate: "When you talk to football players, they have a bond because they've been through shared hardship, they've been through struggle, they've been through difficulty just in getting the chance to go play. In my personal experience, outside of wrestling that doesn't exist in most other sports. There's a lot of discipline and time that goes into being a baseball player or a basketball player, but from a physical standpoint you don't go through the same level of pain as even youth football players."
Isaiah Ifanse: "There's a handful of guys I feel like I formed good relationships with, and it made us harder after our last game to end the season. I feel like I got a lot closer to them from when we started."
Jaharie Martin: "A couple of them followed me on Instagram so I guess they liked me."
Casey Bauman: "I always think of them as little kids, but you have to realize they're in eighth grade, they're actually getting ready for high school and growing up and they know stuff. They were joking around with me, a lot of them wanted to play video games after practice and hang out with me and that kind of thing. They're really sharp kids and it was a lot of fun teaching them."
Callahan O'Reilly: "Making the connection with the kids was the most fun. They were real awesome kids, and I'm looking forward to having them come to our games, and of course going to their games in high school will be awesome, getting to see them grow from eighth grade through high school. A lot of those kids will be going to Gallatin and I was a Bozeman Hawk, but it'll be fun."
Ryan Haught: "I don't know if I can emphasize enough the character of the guys that coached. They always had great input to give, they always had something great to say to pump kids up. It was nice to see all of them talk about, 'This is your last game as an eighth grader, go out there and lay it on the line.' And the kids listened. There was no standing in the corner, they all wanted to be there and they all did a great job."
CONTINUING TO COACH?
Ryan Haught: "If we're able to make it work I'd definitely love to have those kids back next year."
Jaharie Martin: "My major is actually is actually physical education with a minor in coaching, so that's why I hopped on the opportunity. You hear a lot in the athletic world that it's one thing to play a sport but it's another to teach it and coach it, so I used this as a test and trial to see if I can actually teach someone else. I liked it way more than I thought I would, the bond you make with those kids and the impact you have on those lives, even if it's off the field. You can't replace that."
Isaiah Ifanse: "I've thought about coaching, and I feel like doing this made my interest in coaching go up. I wasn't sure how I'd do as a coach or if I'd like coaching much, but I feel like this was a good experience to me. The thoughts that stick with me are always bring good energy, and out of everything else just make sure to have fun."
#GoCatsGo #PlantTheFlag
As Montana State Athletics strives to develop the best and brightest student-athletes, support for the Bobcat Club Annual Scholarship Fund is crucial now more than ever. Donating to the Bobcat Club Annual Scholarship Fund's Plant The Flag initiative ensures not only that the 350-plus Bobcat student-athletes will continue to receive the resources needed to succeed in and out of competition, but that Montana State Athletics will rise above the pack stronger. For more information about the Plant The Flag initiative, visit MSUBobcatClub.com or contact a member of the Bobcat Club staff.
Players Mentioned
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Wednesday, May 03
