More local athletes sign

It has been a year of firsts for Box Elder athletics and on Tuesday, there was another first for the Bears football program.

That's because Bodis Duran, a Northern C All-Conference and Class C Six-Man All-State football player signed his NAIA letter of intent to play in the Frontier Conference at Montana State University-Northern. In doing so, he becomes, according to athletic director Neal Rosette Jr., the first Box Elder player to receive a scholarship to play college football.

"I am excited," Duran said. "It feels really good and it's something that I have wanted for a long time. I thought it was possible, but it was never something I thought would actually happen."

Duran, who played both running back and linebacker for the Bears, helped Box Elder in 2015 to the finest season in football it has ever had. The Bears finished 11-2 and made it all the way to the Six-Man state championship game before falling to Denton-Geyser-Stanford.

Yet, on the way, Box Elder not only won its first ever playoff game, the Bears also hosted the first playoff game in school history. Duran, who will likely play on the defensive side of the ball at MSU-N, was also a member of the Bears' boys basketball team, which won the Class C state championship back in March. He is also a thrower for the Box Elder track team.

"The thing that we really liked about Bodis, is that not only is he a good football player, he is a great athlete, too," Northern defensive coordinator Jake Eldridge said. "He has good speed, but he is also a really physical player. That's one of the things that stood out to us when we saw him play was his physicality."

Eldgridge said it will be an adjustment for Duran to go from playing Six-Man football at the Class C level, to 11-man in the Frontier, but that he thinks he has the skills to do it.

"He will have to get used to having more guys on the field," Eldridge said. "That's the first thing. Sometimes it can be hard to evaluate those Class C guys because you are kind of making a projection, so you look for athleticism and Bodis has that."

While it was tremendous year for Box Elder football and boys basketball teams, the girls basketball team had a great season in its own right, making it all the way to the Class C state championship game before finishing as the runner-up.

Tyrah Gopher, a dominating post player that earned All-State honors this past season, was a key member of a Lady Bears team that won its first 23 games of the season and captured the District 9C regular season and tournament championships. She also helped the Bears finish second at the Class C state tournament to Belt.

Now, after a tremendous four-year career, Gopher will continue playing roundball at Little Big Horn College, a community college in Montana. The Rams play in Region 9 of the NJCAA in the North Division. They play other junior college teams from Wyoming and Montana.

Along with Duran and Gopher, North Star's Gavin Spinler joined the list of local athletes signing to play collegiate athletics as he recently signed an NAIA letter of intent to play college football at Rocky Mountain College.

Spinler earned All-State honors for North Star in each of the past two seasons and helped the Knights reach the Six-Man playoffs back in 2014. He plays both running back and linebacker/defensive back.