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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Brityn Stewart and Bode Hazlett
Butte High basketball player Brityn Stewart and Butte High wrestler Bode Hazlett are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
Stewart, a senior, takes home the girls’ award after scoring at total of 39 points as Butte High went 1-1 over a weekend trip to Kalispell. She scored 19 points in a 61-52 Friday win over Glacier. Then, Stewart poured in 20 points as the Bulldogs dropped a 53-52 decision to Flathead.
On the season, Stewart is averaging 13.9 points per game. She has averaged 18.3 points over the last three game for the 7-2 Bulldogs.
Hazlett, a sophomore, takes the boys’ award after winning the 138-pound division at the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula. Hazlett went 5-0 to take home the title in the division that included 26 wrestlers. Hazlett won four of those matches by way of the pin before beating Gage Clothier of Cut Bank in a 10-8 thriller in the championship match.
Hazlett is now 29-3 on the season. Bulldog coach Corey Johnston calls Hazlett a “machine.”
For the third year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photo of Stewart courtesy of Alycia Holland Photography. Photo of Hazlett courtesy of Tess Garrison.
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Kids’ Hoops will run two more weeks
The Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s Little Kids’ Hoops program will run for two more weeks.
Games for boys and girls will be played on Saturday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 1. Players from pre-kindergarten through second grade go from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Games for players in the third through sixth grade go from 10:30 until noon. Hoops will be lowered for the younger players.
The league is free to all boys and girls, and players can show up to play week to week. There is no registration.
The KC Little Kids Hoops program has been running for more than 30 years, and many of the boys and girls in the league turned out to be high school and college players.
All players who show up for the last day will receive a league T-shirt.
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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of Jan. 20. No games will be played on Monday because of the NCAA National Championship football game.
Tuesday
7 p.m. — Jellyfam vs. Someday Starters
8 p.m. — Parish vs. Poi TimeWednesday
7 p.m. — Cook vs. Parish
8 p.m. — Cook vs. Someday Starters
9 p.m. — Washington Generals vs. Poi TimeThursday
7 p.m. — Jellyfam vs. Washington Generals -
Butte Central, Butte High boxscores
Butte High’s and Butte Central’s boys’and girls’ basketball teams were in action Saturday.
The Bulldog teams played at Kalispell. The cold-shooting Butte High girls fell in a 53-52 thriller to Flatehead. The Butte boys downed the Braves 78-69.
The Maroons swept past Stevensville with to open Southwestern A play. The BC boys won 94-40 at the Maroon Activities Center. The Central girls won 64-22 in the Bitterroot Valley.
We will have more on these games in Wednesday’s ButteCast Sports Cap.
BOYS
Butte High 78, Kalispell Flathead 69
BUTTE HIGH (5-3, 1-2) — Spencer Callaghan 1 0-4 3, Dylan Bache 6 1-2 14, Torre Tempel 6 6-9 23, Hudson Luedtke 8 6-11 26, Braylon Larson 3 2-4 8, Raeder Grey 0 0-0 0, Brady Hanson 0 0-0 0, Kendel Noctor 1 0-0 3. Totals 25 15-30 78.
KALISPELL FLATHEAD — Dustyn Franchini-White 2 2-2 8, Lyric Ersland 5 6-7 17, Gabe St. Germain 2 0-2 5, Noah Sonju 2 2-2 6, Brodee Zahn 2 0-0 5, Jordan Griffin 4 3-4 11, Eli Coopman 2 0-0 6, Colin Smith 0 0-0 0, Korbin Eaton 4 1-3 11. Totals 23 14-20 69.
Butte 18 13 19 28 — 78
Flathead 18 12 19 20 — 69
3-point goals — Butte 12 (Tempel 5, Luedtke 4, Callaghan, Bache, Noctor), Flathead 9 (Franchini-White 2, Coopman 2, Eaton 2, Ersland, Germain, Zahn). Fouls — Butte 18, Flathead 22. Fouled out — Bache, Zahn. Technical — Larson, GriffinButte Central 94, Stevensville 40
STEVENSVILLE — Evan Montague 2 0-0 4, Angus Trangmoe 2 0-0 5, Tanner Brown 3 0-0 6, Spencer Moore 0 0-0 0, Jake Gavlak 6 3-3 15, Kaden Wyant 0 2-2 2, McCoy Endres 2 0-0 4, David Beames 1 0-0 2, David Laufenerg 0 0-0 0, Silas Sebert 0 2-2 2. Totals 16 7-7 40.
BUTTE CENTRAL (4-4, 1-0) — Ryan Peoples 5 3-3 17, Patrick Stimatz 1 0-0 3, Joshua Sutton 8 1-2 21, Justus McGee 2 0-0 4, Owen McPartland 11 2-2 30, Cde Kelly 3 0-0 7, GG Fantini 1 2-2 2, Jaxon Hiatt 3 2-2 8, Xander Strand 0 0-0 0, Burkley Lakkala 0 0-0 0. Totals 34 10-11 94.
Stevensville 10 8 12 10 — 40
Central 36 23 23 12 — 94
3-point goals — Stevi 1 (Trangmoe), BC 16 (McPartland 6, J. Sutton 4, Peoples 4, Stimatz, Kelly). Fouls — Stevi 11, BC 13. Fouled out — none. Technicals — none.GIRLS
Butte Central 64, Stevensville 22
BUTTE CENTRAL (3-5, 1-0) — Evyn Smith 2 0-1 5, Kenzie McQueary 5 4-6 14, Zayonna Otherbull 3 0-0 7, Rylee Forbes 8 1-3 18, Arika Stajcar 1 1-2 3, Caden Tippett 0 0-0 0, Marly Mansanti 0 0-0 0, Braelynn Schelin 5 0-0 13, Jaedyn Maldonado 1 0-1 2, Meika Boyer 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 7-13 64.
STEVENSVILLE — Emma McKoy 0 3-4 3, Amy Donaldson 1 2-2 5, Harley Gilleard 0 2-2 2, Olivia Hanson 1 0-0 2, Bella Raszler 3 1-3 7, Emma Tan 1 1-2 3, Avery Raszler 0 00-0 0, Avery Henderson 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 9-13 22.
Central 21 12 19 12 — 64
Stevensville 10 5 5 2 — 22
3-point goals — BC 5 Schelin 3, Smith, Otherbull), Stevi 1 (Donaldson). Fouls — BC 15, Stevi 9. Fouled out — none. Technicals — none.Kalispell Glacier 53, Butte High 52
BUTTE HIGH (7-2, 3-1) — Dylann Bartoletti 0 1-4 4, Cadence Graham 4 12-14 20, Brityn Stewart 8 0-0 20, Franki Salusso 0 2-3 2, Emma Johnson 3 2-4 9, Sidney Whitaker 0 0-0, Autumn Clary 0 0-0 0, Addie Hiatt 0 0-0 0, Gracie Jonart 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 17-25 52.
GLACIER — Teagan Flint 0 0-0 0, Tayler Greene 1 0-2 2, Caitlin Converse 4 3-6 13, Ava Malmin 4 4-7 14, Crace Gall 5 1-2 15, Mattie Thompson 3 1-2 8, Makenna Aldrich 0 1-2 1, Gracie Mae Kilmer 0 0-0 0, Cheyenne Heino 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 10-21 53.
Butte 14 15 10 13 — 52
Glacier 16 16 11 12 — 53
3-point goals — Butte 5 (Stewart 4, Johnson 1), Glacier 9 (Gall 4, Converse 2, Malmin 2, Thompson). Fouls — Butte 20, Glacier 17. Fouled out — Salusso, Malmin. Technicals — none.
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Butte High-Glacier box scores
KALISPELL — Butte High’s boys’ and girls’ basketball teams swept varsity contests against Kalispell Glacier Friday night.
Butte High’s girls ran their winning streak to six games with a 61-52 victory before the Bulldog boys escaped with a thrilling 57-54 win in the nightcap. The Bulldog boys trailed by nine points heading into the fourth quarter.
Cadence Graham scored 26 points to lead Butte High’s girls. Brityn Stewart added 19 in the win. In the boys’ game, Hudson Luedtke led all scores with 24 points. Torre Tempel tossed in 13, while Braylon Larson and Dylan “Bobby” Bache each scored 10. Butte High’s boys were still without senior Tocher Lee.
The Bulldogs will stay in Kalispell to take on Flathead on Saturday. The girls play at 3 p.m., while the boys play at 4:30.
We will have more on these games in the ButteCast SportsCap on Wednesday.
GIRLS
Butte High 61, Kalispell Glacier 52
BUTTE HIGH (7-1, 3-0) — Dylann Bartoletti 2 1-2 6, Cadence Graham 7 10-12 26, Brityn Stewart 7 2-3 19, Franki Salusso 1 2-2 4, Emma Johnson 1 0-0 2, Sidney Whitaker 0 0-0 0, Autumn Clary 1 0-0 2, Addie Hiatt 1 0-1 2. Totals 20 15-20 61.
GLACIER (4-4, 2-2) — Karley Allen 3 5-5 11, Allie Krueger 3 6-10 12, Reese Ramey 2 6-6 14, Cassidy Daniels 2 2-2 7, Cazz Rankosky 2 0-0 5, Rylee Bigelow 1 0-0 3, Lucy Halloway 0 -0 0. Totals 14 19-23 52.
Butte 18 21 15 7 — 61
Glacier 18 12 19 12 — 52
3-point goals — Butte 6 (Stewart 3, C. Graham 2, Bartoletti), Glacier 5 (Ramey 2, Bigelow, Daniels, Rankosky). Fouls — Butte 13, Glacier 12. Fouled out — none. Technicals — none.BOYS
Butte High 57, Kalispell Glacier 54
BUTTE HIGH (5-3, 1-2) — Spencer Callaghan 0 0-0 2 0, Dylan Bache 4 1-2 10, Torre Tempel 5 0-0 13, Hudson Luedtke 6 8-10 24, Braylon Larson 5 0-1 10, Kyler Kjersten 0 0-0 0, Raeder Grey 0 0-0 0, Brady Hanson 0 0-0 0, Kendel Noctor 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-15 57.
GLACIER (1-6, 0-3) — Liam Ells 1 0-0 3, Easton Kauffman 3 0-0 8, Asher Knopik 2 2-2 7, Luke Nikunen 3 0-0 7, Dylan Banzet 1 0-0 2, Cooper Pelc 4 0-0 12, Ethan Kastelitz 1 0-0 2, Slate Burrington 1 4-8 6, Ben Winters 3 1-7. Totals 19 7-12 54.
Butte 13 21 7 16 — 57
Glacier 19 21 10 4 — 54
3-point goals — Butte 8 (Luedtke 4, Tempel 3, Bache), Glacier 8 (Pelc 4, Kauffman 2, Ells, Nikunen). Fouls — Butte 12, Glacier 17. Fouled out — Larson, Banzet. Technicals — none.
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Podcast No. 239: Russell Nelson
You might not know Russell Nelson, but there is a pretty good chance you have heard his work.
Among other things, Russ is the director of the band at Butte Central Catholic High School. It is a band that is unlike any other band you will see at a high school sporting event in Montana.
The band is not your traditional marching band. Rather, it is the kind of band that you are more likely to see on a stage in a bar or music venue.
The band has great range, too. Some of the current bands and musicians they have been sampling lately include Ozzie Osborne, the Dropkick Murphys and Toby Keith. Russ lets his band members pick out the songs to learn, and he is usually playing the guitar or drums to accompany the band members.
In nearly a decade directing the band, Russ has launched music many music careers. He also got students who never thought of themselves as singers to become singers.
It really has been something cool to watch.
Russ is a 2007 graduate of Butte High School. He wrestled briefly for Butte High, but spent a lot of his time in those days in the weight room. He won multiple state championships in power lifting, and he competed in body building competitions as a youth.
Then, he went to Los Angeles to follow his first love, music.
You can catch Russ in action tonight at the Butte Depot, playing with Levi Bloom’s band. You don’t want to miss that show, which starts at 9 p.m. It is part of the Northwest360 Winter Fest.
Listen in to this podcast as Russ talks getting into working out so intensely as a young boy and why. Listen as he talks about his job at Butte Central, where he teaches different types of music classes all day.
Listen as he talks about his No. 1 goal when he got into music: being as cool as his uncle John Montoya.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat.
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Bulldogs, Maroons bring record books into play early in the season
By Bill Foley
The 2024-25 basketball season is one that would have the late Pat Kearney going crazy.
That is because the school record books — a good portion of which he helped compile — have come into play early in the season. Both Butte Central and Butte High have seen performances that have sent us scrambling to check out the numbers from the greats of the past.
Butte Central sophomore Joshua Sutton brought back the name of a BC legend from not so long ago when he tied Dougie Peoples’ school record of eight made 3-pointers in a game.
Sutton drained the eight treys on his way to a 30-point performance in Friday’s 76-31 non-conference victory over Anaconda at the Maroon Activities Center. He quite possibly could have broken the record had the Maroons not called off the dogs and emptied the bench in the second half.
After all, he sank seven threes and scored 25 points before halftime.
Peoples, who is now excelling at the College of Idaho, knocked down eight 3-pointers in a home win over Corvallis in 2023. He went on to win the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year award that season.
Luke Stajcar (1999), Shaughn McKeon (2006) and Jonathan Richards (2009) shared the record of seven before peoples broke it.
Eight BC players have made six threes in a game. They are Mike Kump (1987), Dan Leary (1988), Ryan Murphy (1990), Rob O’Neill (1994), Justin Thatcher (1998), Casey Kelly (2003), Alex Murphy (2006) and Matt Ritter (2005 and 2007).
Sutton was hardly the only Maroon dialed in from behind the arc in that win. As a team, BC knocked down 19 long balls. According to the MHSA record book, that is the third best of all time in Montana.
Manhattan Christian and Melstone share the record of 22. Central’s previous best was 14 made 3-pointers against Lewistown in 2008. Those Maroons also drained 13 threes against Belgrade.
Ryan Peoples hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points, eighth grader Noah Sutton tossed in three treys and scored nine points, and Patrick Stimatz and Owen McPartland each sank two. Stimatz scored six points, while McPartland netted nine.
Xandar Strand added nine points for BC, which got four from Burkley Lakkala and two apiece from Jaxon Hiatt and Justus McGee.
Ryder Anderson scored 11 points to lead the Copperheads.
Central’s boys improved to 3-4 with the win that completed the boys-girls sweep at the MAC.
Butte Central’s girls turned back the Copperheads 46-43 in double overtime in the opener. That game included Act 2 of the Zayonna Otherbull Breakout Show.
One week after scoring 17 points at Livingston, the 5-foot-9 freshman scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to highlight the effort that raised BC’s record to 2-5.
In all, seven BC players scored in the win. Kenzie McQueary finished with eight points, while Rylee Forbes scored seven. Also, Evyn Smith and Braelynn Schelin each scored three, and Jaedyn Maldonado and Arika Stajcar both netted two.
Meela Mitchell, a 1,000-point scorer who is making her own history in the Smelter City, scored 21 points to lead the Copperheads.
A pair of Butte High Bulldogs also invoked the school record book. With all eyes on Hudson Luedkte as the junior closes in on the school’s boys’ scoring record, sophomore Cadence Graham turned in a historic performance of her own.
Graham sank six 3-pointers and scored 33 points to lead Butte High to a 51-37 win over Missoula Hellgate at the Richardson Gym. Neither broke a school record, but they were in the conversation.
The six threes came within one of tying the school record of seven, which is shared by Hattie Thatcher (2013), Mariah Richardson (2014) and McCaul Ori (2015). Graham’s big night tied her at six with Sonja Rogers (2003) and Brianne McClafferty (2008).
The 33 points is tied for seventh best in Butte High girls’ history, tying Butte Sports Hall of Famer Deanna Dugdale (1982).
The great Lexie Nelson, Butte’s all-time leading scorer in high school hoops, holds the record with 39 points against Billings Skyview in 2010. Graham’s teammate, senior Brityn Stewart, sits at No. 2 with 36 points in a divisional tournament game in 2023. Dugdale also scored 35 in 1982, while Butte Sports Hall of Famer Debbie Silk scored 34 in 1981. Nelson also scored 34 points in two different games in 2010.
Stewart added nine points in the win over Hellgate. The Bulldogs also got two points from Dylann Bartoletti, Emma Johnson and Addie Hiatt. Autumn Clary scored one.
Two nights later, Butte High rolled its record to 6-1 overall and 2-0 on Western AA play with a 44-22 rout of Missoula Sentinel in Missoula. Stewart’s 16 points paced the Bulldogs in that win. Graham scored 12, and Johnson tossed in eight. Butte High also got five from Clary, two from Franki Salusso and one from Bartoletti.
Butte High’s boys dropped a pair of non-conference games last week. The Bulldogs fell in a 76-74 double-overtime thriller at Missoula Hellgate on Thursday. They then dropped a 53-37 decision to Missoula Sentinel at the Richardson Gym.
With the losses, Butte High fell to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in Western AA play.
Luedtke scored 31 points in the loss at Hellgate, and that earned him a nomination for the Sports Illustrated National Boys’ Athlete of the Week. Two days later, Luedtke tossed in 10 points to raise his career total to 935.
He is now 34 points away of tying Chris Rasmussen for No. 2 on Butte High’s boys’ all-time scoring list. Only John Dawson scored more points for the boys’ program at Butte High. He closed his career with 1,022 points in 73 games. Luedtke has played in 56 games.
Braylon Larson scored 18 points at Hellgate, and Dylan “Bobby” Bache added 10. The Bulldogs got seven from Torre Temple before he went down with an ankle injury. Spencer Callaghan scored six, and Brady Hansen tossed in six.
Lincoln Rogers, a 6-7 junior guard, sank four 3-pointers and threw down a dunk in traffic to lead the Spartans in Saturday’s win in Butte.
Bache’s 11 paced the Bulldogs. Tempel returned and joined Rhett Arntson with six. Larson tossed in four.
Butte High is hoping to get senior guard Tocher Lee back from a concussion this week when the Bulldogs play at Glacier and Flathead in Kalispell Friday and Saturday. Butte High’s girls will also make the trip to Kalispell.
Both Butte High teams will be back in the Butte Civic Center Friday, Jan. 24, to play Missoula Big Sky.
The Maroons play Stevensville on Saturday. The girls hit the road, while the boys play at the MAC.
Butte High sticks it to Hellgate
It wasn’t exactly a fair fight, but Butte High beat Missoula Hellgate 78-6 Tuesday night at the old Butte High gym.
The Bulldogs used nine forfeits — 54 points — to make quick work of the Knights. Joey Ward (126 pounds), Lincoln Zell (132), Bladen Horne (138) and Mason “The Duke” Swanson (190) all won by way of the pin. Renzy LeProwse (103), Kuley Queer (110), Isaac Zell (118), Bridger Garrison (144), Karson Pumnea (157), Cameron Fleege (165), Kasen O’Keefe (175), Waylond Hicks (215) and Gavin Rowe (285) won by forfeit.
The match was the last home action of the season for the Bulldogs, who picked up wins over Helena High and Helena Capital at home on Friday. Butte stuck Helena 66-17 before edging Capital 44-36.
Butte High celebrated Senior Night before the Capital match, honoring seniors Ben Tierney, Will Stepan, Jake Bailey, Braydon Pierce, Garrett Henson, Gavin Rowe, Pumnea and their parents.
Tierney (110), Rev McEwen (118), Ryder McEwen (144), Bailey (157), Bridger Brancamp and Rowe all won by pin against Helena High. LeProwse, Darryn Rossiter (132), Jaeger Hansen (138) and Swanson won by forfeit.
Against Capital, Keegan Hunt (103), Bradey Doyle (126), Bode Hazlett (138), Ryder McEwen, Stepan, Pumnea and Rowe all pinned their opponents. Tierney won by technical fall.
On the girls’ side, the Bulldogs honored Jessie LaPeir, their lone senior, on Senior Night.
Peyton Liva picked up a pin at 100 pounds for the Bulldogs against Capital. Irelynn Cullen (105), Jessica Blow (120), Deearea Smith (125), Brooke Johnson (140), Mattie Stepan (145) and Chyanne Robinson (235) won by forfeit.
LaPier pinned her Capital opponent in 38 seconds. Smith, Keeleigh Doherty (130), Brooke Johnson (140) and Mattie Neighbor (155) also won by way of the pin. Cullen, Lilyi Malone (119), Blow, Stepan and Robinson picked up forfeit victories.
The Bulldog girls were set to compete in Dillon on Tuesday before heading to Kalispell to take on Glacier and Flathead on Thursday. Butte High will compete in the Hellgate Invitational Friday and Saturday in Missoula.
Butte High’s boys will also go to Kalispell on Thursday before competing in the Rocky Invitational at Missoula Sentinel on Friday and Saturday. The Bulldogs will also send a team to the John Fisher Tournament Saturday at Missoula Big Sky. Butte Central’s wrestlers will compete in that meet, too.
Dogs, Maroons compete in January Splash
The Butte Family YMCA pool set the scene Saturday as Butte High hosted the January Splash. The Gallatin High girls and Bozeman boys swam to team titles.
Butte High’s girls took seventh, and the Bulldog boys took eighth. Butte Central’s teams took 12th and ninth.
Eighth Grader Adalie Grochowski placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle and seventh in the 200 freestyle to lead the Bulldog girls. Junior, Olivia Thurmond, who is still battling back from knee surgery, took ninth in the 50 free.
Sophomore Nimalka DeAlwis took ninth in the 200 individual medley. Sophomore Sophia Fladager had a 4 second drop in the 100 backstroke to take 10th. The 200 medley relay of Fladager, Tatum Trefts, Nimalka DeAlwis and Gracie Ferriter placed eighth.
Trefts, Bryher Fitzpatrick, Thurmond and Grochowski captured fifth in the 200 freestyle relay. Thurmond, Delwis, Fitzpatrick and Grochowski swam to sixth in the 400 freestyle relay.
Junior Nathan Stone took sixth in the 100 butterfly and 10th in the 50 freestyle to lead the Butte High boys. Eighth grader Alex Sonnemann took ninth in the 500 free.
Freshman Elgin Hoar took 18 seconds off his 500 freestyle time to capture 10th place.
Blair Hamry, Gage Plum, Alex Sonnemann and Stone took seventh in the 400 freestyle relay and eighth in the 200 freestyle relay.
“We had a lot of personal bests today,” Butte High coach Lynn Shrader said. “I was pleased with how we did. There were 13 teams and 220 swimmers who competed. We competed well and worked hard.”
While the Maroons didn’t finish high up in the standings, Central is fielding a swimming team for the first time in many years.
Competing for BC are Joe Bradshaw, Jim Bradshaw, Connor Hardy, Robert Regester, Arwen Regester, Kherington Adams, Izzy Lopez, Carolyn Lopez, Conan Holmes and Morgan Hardy.
Butte High will compete in Great Falls this Saturday. BC’s next action is at a Butte meet on Jan. 25.
Oredigger men, women rebound
Montana Tech’s men’s and women’s basketball teams bounced back from loses at Rocky Mountain College with a pair of home sweeps.
The Orediggers swept MSU-Northern on Thursday before taking two from Carroll College Saturday at the HPER Complex. The win over Carroll was the first time the Oredigger women topped the Saints in eight years.
Hadley Humphreys scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Oredigger women to a 65-55 win over Northern on Thursday, and she was just getting started. The junior post player scored 20 points, grabbed five bards and dished out four assists to lead the Diggs to a 64-55 win over Carroll.
Brooklynn Hankwitz scored 15 points against Carroll. Liv Wangerin tossed in nine. The two wings upped Tech’s record to 11-5 overall and 2-1 in Frontier Conference play.
Tech’s men improved to 14-2 overall and 2-1 in league by beating Northern 82-56 before knocking off Carroll 74-67.
Michael Ure’s 20 points and nine boards led the Diggers against Northern. Ifeanyi Okeke added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Keeley Bake tossed in 15 points to go along with four dimes.
Hayden Kiekhans’ 22 points led four Orediggers in double figures scoring against Carroll. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Brayden Koch scored 16 points against his former team, while Okekey scored 12, and Bake netted 10.
The Oredigger men and women will play Montana Western Thursday in Dillon before playing host to the University of Providence on Saturday.
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Copper City Softball registration open
Registration is now open for the Copper City Softball 2025 season.
The city-wide softball little league is open to all girls age 4 to 16. Girls of all skill levels, including those new to the sport, are welcome. Registration must be completed online at coppercitysoftball.com.
Registration is open thru March 17.
Click the link below for more information on the Copper City Softball League.
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You better come at our boy with more than just a little bit of trash
Jake Larson was one of the greatest athletes Butte High has ever produced.
Whether he was competing in football, basketball or track, he played with an edge that made opposing fans hate him. He still has that rough edge when he plays slow-pitch softball.
That edge is something that helped make him great. It was what helped him continually rise to the big moment when playing receiver at Montana Western.
He knew he was better than you, and he was never afraid to let you know that.
When I ran into Jake the other day, I asked him if he had been talking with Tommy Mellott, the former Bulldog who became a legend with the Montana State Bobcats.
Jake gave me a puzzled look and asked why I would ask him such a thing.
“Because Tommy Mellott pushed over that trashcan,” I said. “When I saw that, I said, ‘That’s a Jake Larson move.’”
Jake, after all, famously gave the home fans in Kalispell the double Butte Salute when he was playing basketball for Butte High. Knocking over a trash would be child’s play compared to that.
We have all seen the video many times by now. Two days after he received the Walter Payton Award, which is billed as the Heisman Trophy of the FCS, Mellott scrambled for some yardage in the FCS National Championship Game against North Dakota State.
Tommy ran out of bounds on the NDSU sideline. As he stopped, he put out his hand almost to brace himself. Then, he used that hand to tip over a trashcan that appeared to be full of discarded drink cups.
Now, I have no idea if Tommy did that on purpose, and neither do you. But it sure looked like it was an intentional move by Mellott.
From this point forward, we will assume that his gently tipping over the trashcan was, indeed, on purpose. We will assume that because it seems everyone else already has jumped to that conclusion.
Forgetting that no person has earned the benefit of the doubt more than Tommy, that video has become the talk of the state — and beyond.
I have seen where people have referred to Mellott as “Trashcan Tommy,” making a play on the nickname, “Touchdown Tommy,” that he earned early in his freshman season at Montana State.
Montana Grizzly fans, in particular, have piled on with the comments, and many of them have pointed out that he is from Butte.
“Typical Butte.”
“That’s so Butte.”
“You can’t take the Butte out of the boy.”
Even though those comments are written on social media, you can tell they come with the “oh you’re from Butte” tone that we Butte Rats know all too well.
Well, you can make fun of us for our dirty water, which is likely cleaner than yours. You can mock us for our mine dumps, and you can poke fun at us for being gullible every time the latest Monorail salesman comes to town.But you can never shame us for Tommy Mellott.
In Butte, we like to play the “Oh Yeah Game” when talking about Tommy.
“You heard Tommy rescued a family of cats from a burning tree? Oh yeah, well listen to this.”
Then what follows will be an even more incredible story about the 2020 Butte High graduate.
He is, after all, the boy who went to a birthday party of a kindergarten-age girl he had just met. He was a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Butte through his high school days. He was the guy who was invited to speak at sixth grade graduations by three of Butte’s six elementary schools in Butte before his senior football season was over.
When COVID wouldn’t let his alma mater, Margaret Leary Elementary, host a graduation ceremony, he wrote a very touching letter to each of the sixth-grade graduates.
I could go on and on about Tommy’s strength of character, but it is hard to top what he did when the Montana East-West Shrine Game was canceled in 2020. (I’m sure somebody will, though.)
While players around the state — and their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends — felt anger and sadness out about losing the game, Tommy thought about the patients at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane.
On the weekend the game would have been played, Tommy led the way as the Butte players picked for the Shrine Game held a socially-distanced cornhole tournament at Copper Mountain Park. That tournament, along with an auction, raised more than $50,000 for the hospital.
That was about half the amount that was raised when the game was actually played the year before.
When we tried to give credit to all the players from Butte named to the Shrine Game, they turned it away. They were just doing what Tommy told them they were doing.
So, if you are going to come at our boy Tommy, you better have more than a little bit of trash to throw in our face.
Tommy has long been a beacon of class in a sea of unsportsmanlike conduct.
The sporting world today is full of end zone dances, bat flips and shooshing. It is full of Lambeau Leaps, flag planting and receivers pointing for first down.
It has trickled down from the professionals to the college to high school to Little League.
With Deion Sanders again being treated like a hero in college football, things are only going to get worse in this regard, too.
For the last four years, however, we’ve had Tommy Mellott showing the young athletes how it should be done.
After the Bobcats beat the Grizzlies in Bozeman in 2022, Tommy went on television to beg MSU fans to stop with their taunting of the UM players. He knew how hard they worked and how much the game meant to his biggest rivals.
That was the epitome of elegance in victory, and that was a from-the-heart gesture that could not easily be faked.
None of that can be tarnished because Tommy pushed over a trashcan on the North Dakota State sideline.
The thought that Tommy did that on purpose, though, gives me even more hope for his future in professional football.
I once asked a college basketball coach about a player he signed being a jerk on the court. He was so bad that he made Jake Larson look like a choirboy.
The opposing fans hated him, and so did the game officials. His teammates did not even seem to like him.
This player came across as so dislikable that I could not help but like him.
I asked the college coach if he worried about adding a player like that to his program.
“Nah,” the coach said. “I like a player with a streak of a–hole. I know I had a streak of a–hole when I played, and it made me a better player.”
It is true that a rough edge like that can make a good player great. Players like Pedro Martinez, Aaron Rodgers and Larry Bird all had a streak of a–hole in them. Jake had a streak of a–hole in him.
That streak was part of what made those guys so dominating. It was part of what made them fun to watch.
Throughout his career, Tommy Mellott has been the total package. He has seemed almost too good to be true. If you wrote a movie and included Tommy as a character, it would not be believable.
If that gentle flip of a trashcan lets us know that Tommy, too, has that nasty streak in him, then I would definitely move him up on my draft board if I was the general manager of an NFL team.
Touchdown Tommy with an edge has Hall of Fame written all over it.
And to answer the question, Jake Larson was not talking to Tommy before that championship game in Frisco, Texas. Tommy did that on his own.
Jake also said he would have never flipped that trashcan on its side like that.
“I would have kicked that damn thing over,” Jake said. “I would have kicked that garbage all over the place.”
— Bill Foley, who has more than a streak of a–hole in him, 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.
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Joshua Sutton and Zayonna Otherbull
Butte Central basketball players Joshua Sutton and Zayonna Otherbull are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The honors come after Sutton and Otherbull led Butte Central to a doubleheader sweep of Anaconda Friday night at the Maroon Activities Center.
Sutton, a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard who has contributed on varsity since he was an eighth grader, tied a school record with eight 3-pointers on his way to 30 points in a 76-31 victory. The eight treys tie the school record set by Dougie Peoples in his Gatorade Player of the Year campaign in 2022-23.
Sutton sank seven of those threes before halftime. He scored 25 points before the break, and the Maroons led 45-14.
On the game, the Maroons hit on 19 3-point shots. According to the Montana High School Association record book, that is the third best team performance from behind the arc in state history.
Otherbull, a 5-9 freshman forward, scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds as BC turned back the Copperheads in a 46-43 overtime thriller.
The big-time performance by Otherbull came one week after she scored 17 points to lead the Maroons in a loss at Livingston.
“Zayonna played with such great confidence Friday night and made some clutch shots to lead our team to a huge win,” BC coach Quinn Carrter said. “Zayonna is a hard-working kid, and we couldn’t be more excited for her and her future as a Lady Maroon.”
Butte Central’s teams will play Stevensville on Saturday. The girls will be on the road, while the boys play at the MAC.
For the third year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photos of Sutton and Otherbull courtesy Jacqueline Photography.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 