HHS star makes the tough choice

Football or wrestling?

That's the question which Havre High senior and athletic standout Kent Pattison had to ask himself before committing to a college.

Pattison was focusing on two local NAIA colleges. If he wanted to continue his football career Montana State University-Northern was the school for him. But if he wanted to continue down the road of wrestling, the University of Great Falls was his choice.

"I really like football and wrestling," Pattison said. "But I had to choose one or the other and I chose wrestling.

"(MSU-N and UGF) were the only two schools that I was seriously considering," Pattison added. "What it basically came down to was the coaching staff at UGF, they all seemed like really good people and the program is going up. The coaches from Northern are really nice too, but I wanted to continue my wrestling career." Pattison recently announced he signed a letter of intent to wrestle for UGF under head coach and former MSU-N national champion Caleb Schaeffer. He will join former Blue Pony teammate Myles Mazurkiewicz at UGF next fall.

One or the other, the choice doesn't seem too big. But when deciding his future, Pattison had a lot to consider.

And as a Blue Pony Pattison was a force on both the gridiron and the mat.

On the football field Pattison, had a monster senior season where he gained well over 1,000 yards rushing, had multiple 200-yard games and led the Blue Ponies in total offense.

He was a Central A Second-Team All Conference running back as a junior.

And his senior year he was a Class A All-State tailback as well as Second Team All Conference cornerback, honorable mention return specialist and Blue Pony team MVP.

Wrestling under long time Havre coach Scott Filius, Pattison was part of four straight Class A state championships.

And individually at the state level Pattison finished third at 135 pounds as a sophomore and was No. 1 as a junior

(140) and No. 1 as a senior (152).

Pattison also won the Tournament of Champions twice in his four-year career.

Earning back-to-back state titles didn't come easy for Pattison either.

This past season, the 152-pound class was arguably the most difficult at the state meet.

With everything Pattison achieved in high school, he wanted to make sure he was making the right decision for his collegiate career as well.

And with two doors wide open, the decision wasn't easy.

"It was a huge decision," Pattison said. "I lost quite a bit of sleep over it. I couldn't decide until it was crunch time, but I talked it over with my family and the coaches from both schools. But me and my family both thought UGF was a better fit for me." As well as a good fit athletically, UGF seemed to fit Pattison all the way around.

Pattison has maintained a 3.4 GPA in his days at HHS, and continuing his education is important. And one of the big positives of becoming an Argo was their small class sizes. UGF caps their classes at 25 students, keeping Pattison in a small town feel.

Once enrolled in classes Pattison is hoping to earn his degree in business.

Coming from Havre farming is a part of his life, and hopefully a business degree will come into play later down the road.

"I wanted to do something that eventually helped me out," Pattison said. "I want to come back and farm with my family. I thought I could put that (business degree) to good use somehow." The transition from high school to college will take anybody some time.

But with what Pattison has learned under the guidance of Filius, he is confident he can adequately do what it takes to continue a successful wrestling career.

"It's going to be a tough transition because college wrestling is a completely different level," Pattison said.

"But Fillius prepares you very well. He runs a pretty high-strung practice most of the time and just tells you what needs to be done. He doesn't beat around the bush, and he prepared me pretty well."