Spencer Jenne caught the punt midway through the first quarter of the 2006 Class A State championship football game on Dillon’s Vigilante Field.

The Dillon senor took a few steps to his right to see that the Beavers were setting up a wall of blockers. He was still on the wrong side of the 50-yard line when Steve Vezina emphatically raised his arms to signal a touchdown.

Vez was calling the shot.

Vezina, who passed away after a long battle with cancer 11 years later, was a smart, but a bit goofy assistant coach for Dillon. He wore shorts on the sidelines of every game — even if the temperature hit single digits — to show his players that they were not really all that cold.

Seriously, there were games when I was bundled up like the little brother on “A Christmas Story,” and Vezina would be wearing shorts. He was every player’s favorite coach. Vez would make them laugh, and then he would get the very best out of every one of them.

Then they would laugh some more.

The 2006 championship game was the first big game I got to cover for The Montana Standard in Dillon. As I watched the team play more over the years, I realized that Vezina would often signal touchdown at the beginning of the play.

Most times, though, he was raising his arms almost in a hopeful manner. It was almost as if he was asking a question. Touchdown?

This time, though, Vezina, who was the last coach to talk to punt returners before they fielded a kick, was making a statement. He knew a touchdown was coming. There was no doubt, and he was right.

Jenne followed that blocking and raced for a 55-yard touchdown to break a scoreless tie and put the Beavers on top for good in a 35-14 win over Frenchtown. The touchdown helped give the Beavers their second straight Class A title, which came one year after winning a 21-20 title game in Frenchtown.

Vezina kept his arms high in the air as he walked down the sideline, following Jenne on his way to the end zone. That confidence displayed by Vezina so early in the play was like nothing I have ever seen. I did not think I would see something like that ever again.

Then I got to watch Brooke Badovinac sink the biggest 3-pointer in the history of the Montana Tech women’s basketball program last Monday night.

The best part about the basket was the way Oredigger head coach Jeff Graham called the shot.

Badovinac, “The Assassin” from Butte Central, hit a trey to give the Orediggers a 73-72 lead over top-seeded Dakota State. The clock showed 20.8 seconds left in the Frontier Conference Tournament championship game at the Butte Civic Center.

For good measure, the lethally-tranquil Badovinac then forced a Dakota State turnover and hit two game-clinching free throws in Tech’s 76-72 upset victory.

Montana Tech will now head to Lewiston, Idaho for the first and second round of the NAIA National Tournament. The Orediggers open with Nelson (Texas) at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

The win over Dakota State in the title game was a gut-check performance for the Orediggers. The Trojans took a 24-5 lead to start the game, but Tech never quit. The shot by Badovinac gave the Orediggers just their second lead of the game.

It was the only one they needed.

That Badovinac, a redshirt sophomore, made the shot was not even remotely surprising. She was one of the best high school basketball players the Mining City has ever seen. During her junior season of 2021-22, Badovinac scored 671 points to lead the Maroons the Class A State tournament.

No boy or girl high school player ever scored more points in a single season.

The next year, after the Maroons were devastated by graduation, she scored 419 points while facing double and triple teams all season.

I had heard of the triangle-and-two defense before. But I had not seen it in action until Badovinac’s senior season with the Maroons. It is nearly impossible to score against that kind of a defense, but she still reached a number very few in Butte have ever done before.

She was able to average 23.3 points per game still largely due to her 56 steals in 18 games. She took a lot of those steals the distance for a bucket.

It was her unwavering demeanor during the run to the State tournament in 2022 that earned Badovinac the nickname “The Assassin.” Rarely did she show emotion as she slowly took out the competition in cold-blooded fashion.

Her game-changing baskets were like mob hits.

That is why nobody was surprised when it was Brooke who hit the huge shot. If there is one person who was born for that moment, it was “The Assassin.” 

As the Oredigger crowd went nuts, I could not help but think about the Southwestern A coaches who unjustly kept her off the All-State team her senior season.

I figured she was going to be named MVP. She could have won the Gatorade that year — and the year before — but she was only named all-conference because her team did not win enough.

Luckily, Graham and the Orediggers were not fooled by postseason honors, or lack thereof. The Orediggers signed the right player, and they got her the ball at the right time.

Montana Tech inbounded from under the Dakota State basket with 45 seconds left in the game. Avery Carlson took the ball down court before passing it to Halle Haber, who passed it back to Carlson.

Carlson then got the ball to Hadley Humphreys at the high post. When two defenders converged on the forward from Blackfoot, Idaho, she passed it out to Badovinac in front of the Tech bench.

“The Assassin” did not flinch, even though Dakota State’s Bria Wasmund was quickly approaching with a hand in the face. The coach did not flinch, either.

Graham, like he often is, was crouched down in front of the bench. As he saw the ball heading toward Badovinac, he stood up and held three fingers on his right hand over his head as he started to walk down the bench.

She had not even caught the ball yet, and he called the shot with the confidence of Larry Bird raising his arm as he got off his last shot in the 3-point contest of the 1988 All-Star weekend. The coach made it to the baseline — about 10 feet away — before he watched the ball hit nothing but net, with his three fingers still held high.

He knew that shot was going in because he knew “The Assassin.” That is why he worked so hard to recruit her, even though her mother works at the school and both her parents are Oredigger alumni.

Graham was introduced as Montana Tech’s new coach on Aug. 1, 2022. After the press conference, he did not go out and celebrate with family and friends. He did not go shopping for a house.

His first order of business was to visit “The Assassin,” who ended up being the first player to commit to the Orediggers under Graham.

Before coming to Butte and being best known as the husband of Montana Western Hall of Famer Megan (Schmitz) and the father of Cadence, Ellison, Jace and Jimmer, Grahan was a highly-successful high school football and girls’ basketball coach in Belt.

His girls’ basketball team went 358-42 in 15 seasons. His Huskies won six Class C state titles in that span. So, it is safe to say that he knows a winner when he sees one.

He saw one in Badovinac. He has seen it in every game and every practice over the last three years. That is why he raised his hand so quickly. The coach knew what was coming. There was never a doubt.

Over the last week, I have watched the video of that shot and Graham’s reaction dozens of times, and it makes me smile every time. It takes me back to Vezina calling the shot before Jenne’s pivotal touchdown in the 2006 championship game.

The only thing missing was the shorts.

— Bill Foley, who is still peeved that Brooke Badovinac was not named All-State in 2023, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.