Bears achieved much more than just winning

STANFORD — The Box Elder Bears may not have won the Class C Six-Man state championship this past weekend, but that doesn’t mean their season was a failure. In fact, far from it. The Bears have been playing football for a long time and never in their history have they had a team like this.

At the start of the season, many pundits predicted that Box Elder would end its long playoff drought. And those predictions were right, the Bears made the playoffs, but Box Elder always wanted more and they worked extremely hard to get it.

Thanks to their hard work, determination and dedication, the Bears’ dream of winning a state championship almost became a reality. Instead, they will have to settle for being the Six-Man runner-up. Yet, that doesn’t make this team or what it accomplished any less significant.

The truth is, some didn’t think it was possible for Box Elder to achieve what it did, or for any Native American team to win a state championship in football. That’s because in terms of high school football teams from reservations, the kind of success the Bears achieved this season is unprecedented.

There is definitely a racial aspect to the idea that Native American teams can’t win on the gridiron and that’s why it was so satisfying to see Box Elder disprove anyone who thought that to be true.

It wasn’t the purpose of the Bears’ season or even a motivating factor for them, but at the end of the day, their success and the ripple effect it could have on high school football in Montana can’t be understated.

“I have been asked that before about Native Americans and football and it not necessarily being their sport,” Box Elder co-head coach Neil Rosette Jr. said. “But for us, it wasn’t really about that. We tried to stay away from that. We just wanted to compete at the highest level, and knowing that we can and that we made it far this season is just incredible. I think it’s about the work we put in, not just being athletic or being great basketball players. It’s the work ethic and it shows on the football field.

“We know the game, too,” he added. “These boys know the game and they are familiar with it. If we could spark some more interest in Native American schools playing football that would be awesome, because there are some Native American kids that can play football and maybe just thought they would rather save themselves for basketball. But these boys don’t want to think like that, they want to play all sports and be involved and be involved in their community and uplift the community by what they are doing on the basketball court or on the football field.”

It was a long journey for the Bears and it’s one that started four years ago with a winless, 0-8 campaign. Yet, Brandon The Boy, Jerrod Four Colors, Bodis Duran, Jake Jones, Shane Ketchum and Elias Duran stayed the course.

As sophomores, they went 3-5 and missed the playoffs by one game. As juniors, they were 4-4 and missed out on a tiebreaker. And after two years of heartbreak, the senior class was determined to not only make the playoffs but also make history, and that’s exactly what they did.

“I think the best part of it was the journey,” The Boy said. “That is the thing that I will remember the most. We put in a lot of hard work and it took us somewhere, and I hope people notice that because if you work hard it will take you somewhere.”

With their success, the Bears have helped break the stereotype about Native American football teams. The idea that Native Americans aren’t tough enough mentally or physically to win on the football field was always hogwash and now Box Elder has proven it to be true.

When the Bears took the field against Denton-Geyser-Stanford Saturday, the playing field was level. Sure, DGS proved to be the better team, but by hanging with one of the top Six-Man programs in the state, for the second time in a month, the Bears proved more.

If you really want to know what the Bears are made of, all you need to do is look at the last two minutes of Saturday’s state title game.

At that point, Box Elder trailed 60-28. The outcome was decided, the Bears knew they weren’t going to get a state championship and they could have easily packed it in. But they didn’t. They drove the field and punched in one more touchdown.

The last score didn’t change much other than the final score, but it did make a profound statement about Box Elder and the character of its team.

The Bears may not have won the state title, but they didn’t need to. They are already champions. They have already done something few thought they could and in the process changed the way people view Native American football teams. Nothing that happened on the field Saturday in Stanford is going to change that.

“The thing you want to take away from football is a life experience,” Rosette Jr. said. “And I think the boys got a great life experience this season. I think they will grow from it. They have a never-say-die attitude and with that type of attitude and that type of drive they have, they are going to be successful in whatever they do in life. Their character just speaks highly of them. They are some tough individuals and I am proud of what they achieved.”