CUSTER — How did Sage Spinner and the many strangers he met this week as part of Team Red for the Montana 6-Man Football All-Star Game break the ice and build some camaraderie early on?
By doing what many others before them have done during a night in a small Montana town — hit up the nearby casino and test their luck on the slots.
Well, some of them did, at least.
“One of the first things that we did when we all got together and introduced each other was we went to the bar and we went gambling,” Spinner, a Richey-Lambert grad, said. “Those of us that were 18; I’m 17, so I didn’t gamble.”
The point is, Team Red kept it loose for much of the leadup to the 28th edition of Big Sky Country’s annual 6-Man All-Star Game on Friday night.
But once kickoff came and the actual play started happening, Team Red did nothing but lay down some punishment.
People are also reading…
Team Red’s Sage Spinner, right, of Richey-Lambert, runs away from Team Blue’s Angus Glennie of Harlowton-Ryegate-Judith Gap during the 2024 Montana 6-Man All-Star Football Game on Friday in Custer. Team Red won 60-24.
Spinner was named Team Red’s offensive MVP off of the back of three rushing touchdowns as his squad ran all over Team Blue in a 60-24 victory, keeping the bragging rights in Red’s hands for the second consecutive year and putting it just one game down of Blue in the all-time series (14-13).
The 36-point margin of victory was the most lopsided by a team in the 6-Man All-Star Game since 2018, when Blue stomped Red 70-28, per the game’s program.
Former Froid-Medicine Lake star and soon-to-be Montana State Bobcat Mason Dethman was named Team Red’s defensive MVP, taking back an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter and throwing another in the fourth in mimicking his do-it-all career with the Redhawks.
Harlowton-Ryegate-Judith Gap’s Bergen Mysse and Savage’s Cade Tombre were named as Team Blue’s offensive and defensive MVP’s, respectively. And while Spinner most certainly enjoyed the fun Team Red had in victory Friday night, he enjoyed the new friendships built more — and had plenty of appreciation to show for those who helped make the 6-Man All-Star Game possible.
“I’m glad that Montana has a game like this,” Spinner, who said he has enlisted in the Army National Guard and will enroll at Rocky Mountain College next spring, said shortly following the final whistle. “This group of guys that I got to play with and practice with this whole week, just amazing guys, all standup guys, each and every single one of them.
“Big thank you to everybody who sets this up, from the refs (and) chain gang, everybody helping set the field up (and) coaches especially. This is just amazing, and it’s a privilege and a pleasure to be here.”
Red’s two MVPs set the tone in the opening two minutes as less than 120 seconds into the game, Team Red was already up 14-0 — despite being the ones who kicked the ball off to Team Blue to start the game.
Team Red’s Charles Butikofer (a Bainville grad) recovered a fumble on Blue’s opening possession, and Spinner subsequently then took his first carry 26 yards to the house. Moments later, Dethman then jumped in front of and picked off a Blue screen pass for an untouched 22-yard pick-6 and one of four Red turnovers forced in the first quarter.
Up 28-6 after the opening 12 minutes as Red added two more scores from Spinner and Chester-Joplin-Inverness’ Adam Grammer, the scoring pace slowed down dramatically for the rest of the first half as neither team scored at all in the second quarter.
Once Mysse found the endzone for Blue to make it 28-12 with 8:21 to play in the third quarter, however, that’s when the switch flipped for Red to put the game out of reach.
The Red outscored the Blue 32-12 the rest of the way as Spinner and Grammer each found paydirt again through big runs in the third quarter, with Dethman throwing his touchdown pass to CJI’s Pat Dahlin with 9:50 left on the clock. Bainville’s Cayden Boyd then scored from short yardage almost four minutes later to get Red to the 60s.
“It was awesome,” Dethman said of his week with Team Red. “We got to meet new people, got to play with some new guys and everybody around you is full of talent. I mean, I’ve had some loaded 6-Man teams, but that was fun playing with these guys.”
Dethman sure did have some stacked squads at Froid-Lake, making the state championship game three times while winning it twice, and he got one last ride in Custer on Friday with fellow outgoing Redhawks Nate Stentoft, Daniel Forizs and Cian Logan, plus coach Michael Reiter.
He’s off to the bright lights of Bozeman in a few weeks, but Dethman, in his final 6-Man game of his decorated high school career, knows firsthand the type of joy small-school football can bring to towns like Froid and Medicine Lake.
And after running circles around rivals as the Redhawks’ quarterback for four seasons, he was able to close out his high school days by playing with some of them — and become friends with them in the process.
“It’s been huge in my family and obviously in our community,” Dethman said when asked what the 6-Man game meant to him. “It kind of brought our community together, and they’ve been nothing but supportive to me and I know they’re going to continue to support me when I go to Bozeman.”
Email Briar Napier at briar.napier@406mtsports.com or follow him on Twitter/X at @BriarNapier
