Locals play in Six-Man All-Star game

The second of four big all-star football games this summer is set to kick off.

Saturday night in Custer, the annual Six-Man All-Star game will be held and three local standouts will be taking part.

Playing for the Red Team, which is composed of players from the Six-Man North and West Divisions, will be North Star's Jaxon Simonson and Thatcher Smith, as well as Big Sandy's Kyle Strutz. All three players earned Northern Division Six-Man All-Conference honors this past season, while Simonson is a two-time Six-Man All-State selection. Simonson is also headed to play offensive line for Montana State University-Northern this coming fall.

Simonson will also have his dad to coach him one last time. North Star head coach Steve Simonson is an assistant coach for the Red Team this week. The head coach is Gerladine-Highwood's Brandon Gonderio, while Hot Springs' Jim Lawson and Lone Peak's Matthew Bakken will also serve as assistant coaches.

Geraldine/Highwood also has a host of players on the Red Team, including Jordan LaFontaine, Darren Malek, Kule Davison, Jake Malek, Patrick Ayers and Logan Ferda.

The annual Six-Man All-Star Game will kick off Saturday at 7 p.m. in Custer. The next big all-star game of the summer is the Badlands Bowl, which is the annual showdown between Montana and North Dakota. That game is set for June 20 in Miles City, while the Montana East-West Shrine Game is slated for July 18 in Great Falls.