George Ferguson Column: Start of football is intriguing

I have been saying for months now, even through a relatively mild winter, at least by Havre and Hi-Line standards, that I’m going to enjoy the summer. I’m going to make the most of it, and make it last.

And that’s exactly what I intend to do, including next week, when my long-awaited trip to the U.S. Open finally comes.

No, I’m bent on making this summer last, I’m going to play a lot of golf, a lot of tennis, and even do some hiking in Glacier National Park.

But, as much as I want the summer to last, I was reminded by a student-athlete at Havre High earlier this week that the next school year is just around the corner. He said to me, “You know, we just got out of school last week, and school already starts again in nine weeks.”

Wow. That is true and that means football season isn’t that far away. And while I’m certainly not going to wish the summer way, the 2015 football season will begin in some interesting ways for many of the teams most of you reading this column care about.

First off, there’s the fact that the Montana State University-Northern Lights are going to open their season about as early as anyone in the country will, that is except for their Aug. 22 opponent, the Dickinson State Blue Hawks. For the Lights to play that early will be a big challenge considering Northern will be a much different team come August than it was last November when the Lights closed out a tumultuous season by stunning Rocky Mountain College in Billings.

Northern is under the direction of just its third head coach since the program was revived just under two decades ago. And what is sure to be a hot Friday August night in Dickinson, North Dakota, will be the debut of head coach Aaron Christenson, and his new-look Lights. That will be a highly interesting game for all of Northern’s fans, and it will serve as the official start to the football season for this area.

Of course, the next weekend there will be more debuts of interest around these parts.

At almost the exact same time on Aug. 29, the Havre High football team and the Montana Grizzlies will make their season debuts, and both teams are also breaking in new head coaches.

Of course, that day at Blue Pony Stadium will mark the highly-anticipated debut of Mark Samson as Blue Pony head coach, and he’ll coach his first game for the Ponies against one of their biggest rivals, the Whitefish Bulldogs. The game is for the annual BNSF Trophy, which the Bulldogs have had in their possession for the past three seasons, and on top of it just being a big rivalry, the game will have heavy playoff implications under the new Class A rating system.

But, trophies and playoffs aside, the game between Havre and Whitefish will perhaps carry as much weight and interest as it ever has. The two sides have been playing each other in season-openers for some time, but perhaps no Havre High season debut will have been as anticipated as the 2015 one since the 2004 season opener when the entire town of Havre fully expected the Blue Ponies to capture a state championship that year.

Now, with Samson, the former MSU-Northern head man, and a winner of three Class AA state championships on his resume at the helm, the anticipation for Aug. 29 is as high as it’s been in a long, long time.

Meanwhile, 275 miles down the road in Missoula, the Montana Grizzlies will make their season debut against four-time FCS national champion North Dakota State. And what a way to break in new head coach Bob Stitt and his innovative offense.

The Griz are playing the mighty Bison for the first time in Washington-Grizzly Stadium since NDSU was a NCAA DII powerhouse back in 2004. And that matchup alone is enough to make it one of the biggest season-openers in UM history. But, there’s more. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN, and is the only NCAA college football game to be played that weekend. Rumor has it, ESPN Game Day will make its season debut in Missoula that Saturday. And while the Griz will be decided underdogs against the Bison, the anticipation will build to a massive crescendo for that game, and the stadium record for attendance will be smashed in the process.

And the season debuts don’t stop there. Chinook will play its first game of the season on Aug. 29 as well, while the Montana State Bobcats will make their season debut with a home game under the lights of Bobcat Stadium on Sept. 3. This year will mark the second season in the last three the Cats have opened up a highly-anticipated season with a Thursday night game in Bobcat Stadium, and like UM’s game with NDSU, that game in Bozeman will likely set a new stadium attendance record. And two days after MSU plays Fort Lewis in Bozeman, the Lights will make their home debut against Montana Tech at Blue Pony Stadium, while the Grizzlies will play a night game in Missoula against Cal Poly.

So while I love that summer is finally here, and I don’t want it to go anywhere anytime soon, I have to admit, the start of the 2015 football season, for those of us who care about the Lights, Ponies, Bobcats, Grizzlies and Beeters, is very, very intriguing.

And while I’m going to enjoy my time on the golf course, on the tennis court, at Granite Park Chalet and at Flathead Lake, I certainly won’t feel any disappointment when all those great season-openers come around in August and September. And I’m sure the rest of you football crazies won’t mind, either.