After several years of co-oping with the Dawson County High School team, Terry High School will have its own football team next fall. Many details, like what the team’s schedule will be, are still being determined, but there is plenty of excitement building as Terry fans will get to see the high school boys don their hometown colors once again.
According to Terry Public Schools Athletic Director Xander Canen, there are about a dozen players committed to joining the team in the fall and he is aware of more who are considering joining the team but have yet to make a decision. The team will be playing six-man football.
Canen pointed out that the decision to reinstate the football program next school year isn’t surprising. The district has had a large eighth grade class and members of that class have had an interest in football for a couple of years.
“We’ve known for a few years. We have a big eighth grade class that plays football, so we’ve been waiting for them to move up to the high school,” Canen said.
Not only are members of that class interested in football, they’ve been pretty successful at the middle school level. Canen noted that they only lost once last season and went undefeated the season before.
He expects they’ll continue to perform well at the high school level. With six-man football being a different play style than the 11-man game that the Dawson County High School Red Devils play, Canen said it is more about speed, which the Terry boys have plenty of.
“With six-man, it’s more of a speed game, and we’re pretty fast,” he said.
The team has also had plenty of support in re-establishing the program.
Though they will be able to use some of their old protective gear, most of the equipment the Terriers will be using will be brand new, including uniforms as Canen said they didn’t have enough jerseys for everyone.
That, of course, can be a pretty big price tag, but Canen said Mid-Rivers Communication donated “a substantial amount” to cover most of the new items.
Terry has been part of a co-op with DCHS since 2018.
According to Red Devil Head Coach Ryan Buckley, the first year of the arrangement saw the largest participation from Terry players, with every year after seeing one to four players join the Glendive boys.
He added that there was one player from Terry — Casper Sackman — who was part of the DCHS team his entire high school career.
“We enjoyed having the players from Terry join our program and we wish them luck in bringing back football to their school,” Buckley said.
Glendive Public Schools Activities Director Wade Murphy confirmed that Terry also had to end its co-op agreement with DCHS early to get its own team back on the field. Normally, co-op agreements are good for three years, but there are no penalties for ending it early.
“Their school board has that right. There are no issues doing that,” Murphy said.
The Terriers’ game schedule is still being figured out, Canen noted. He can confirm that the team will play every team in its district at least once, though more teams could be added. Bainville, Brockton, Froid/Medicine Lake, Garfield County, Lambert/Richey, Plevna, Savage and Westby/Grenora and Terry are part the six-man East District, according to information from the Montana High School Association.
