Chinook star will become a Light

The 2015 football season was a season of dreams for Chinook's Kenneth Pruttis, and thankfully for the Sugarbeeter, the dream continues.

Pruttis, who was a key member of Chinook's Class C 8-Man state championship team this past fall, will now get a chance to continue his football career in the Frontier Conference playing at Montana State University-Northern.

"You couldn't ask for a better year than 12-0," Pruttis said. "Then to finish it off by winning a state championship, is unreal. And now to get another four years to keep doing it (play football) is amazing."

For the past two seasons, Pruttis has been an essential part of the Chinook offense and this past season, he took his game to an entirely new level. In 12 games, the 6-0, 175-pound wide receiver/tight end, hauled in 30 passes for 635 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Yet, Pruttis, who earned All-State honors this season as a receiver, got even better once the playoffs started. In four games, he caught 11 passes and eight of them went for touchdowns. And in the biggest game of his high school career - the state title game - he was at his absolute best, notching four receptions for 61 yards and three touchdowns.

Pruttis said that he has always been interested in playing college football and about midway through his senior season, it looked like that dream could become a reality. The Lights started showing interest in the talented pass-catcher and as far as Pruttis is concerned, MSU-N was the only choice for him.

"I always wanted to stay close to home," Pruttis said. "I took a recruiting visit there during the season and loved the campus. And I wanted to be an electrician and they had the program that I wanted, so it all just kind of worked out."

While Pruttis excelled on both sides of the ball for the Beeters, it looks like he will play either receiver or tight end for the Lights, who are in desperate need of playmakers in the passing game. But, before Pruttis is ready to contribute, he said he needs to close the gap between 8-Man football and the Frontier.

"Everyone is going to be better," Pruttis said. "Watching the college game, everything gets harder and it's played at a much faster pace. It's going to be a big change, but I just need to keep hitting the weights and working on my strength."

In addition to his receiving and route-running skills, another key attribute that Pruttis has is toughness-a toughness he developed on both the football field and the wrestling mat.

The senior is in the midst of wrestling for the Beeters, who also won the Class C state wrestling championship last season. Pruttis, who wrestled at the state tournament as a freshman and sophomore, finished fourth last year in the 170-pound weight class.

"It was kind of funny because almost our entire team was made up of wrestlers," Pruttis said. "And wrestlers always make better football players.

"We had a joke about it," he added. "Ian McIntosh and Travis Hamilton are both basketball players. Travis ran the line and Ian ran the rest of the offense and pretty much the whole team, so we joked that they were the brains of the operation but that all of the dirty work was done by the wrestlers."

Pruttis, who will have a chance at an individual state wrestling title in February, said he is looking forward to playing for the Lights and can't wait to get started.

"Ever since I was young I have wanted to play college sports," Pruttis said. "And now it's the next big step."

Note: The Lights and head coach Aaron Christensen have been busy on the recruiting trail so far this winter. The Lights have already signed nine players to the 2016 recruiting class.