ST. REGIS – After splitting from the cooperative with Alberton, the St. Regis football team will now solely be a junior varsity team.

According to Head Coach Robert LaBrie the team hopes to upgrade to a varsity schedule next year.

“This will allow our players time to grow in the new football program we are developing, and protect our younger players from larger teams,” LaBrie said. “Although this helps our younger players develop, it does make us ineligible for postseason play.”

Despite being ineligible, LaBrie is excited for the schedule they have developed for the players and stated it would bring great challenges and opportunities for each player to grow and further enjoy the game of football.

 The team joined with Alberton last year because of their roster size. The group only had about eight players for the team in the two years prior to the co-op and was afraid they may not be able to yield a team.

“There were times in the past that St. Regis had to forfeit games due to injury and too few of players,” LaBrie explained. “The co-op has allowed St. Regis players to partner with another team to be more successful in 6-man football.”

During the season as the Clark Fork Timberwolves, only three players from St. Regis decided to participate. Although only a small amount of kids participated, LaBrie said the experience they gained was massive.

“A winning season, and home playoffs, something that St. Regis alone had not experienced on its own in years. After that, we were expecting more St. Regis players to play, because everyone was excited with the winning that occurred,” LaBrie said.

The cooperative dissolved due to a rule change presented by the Montana High School Association. Previously, the rule stated that a 6-man co-op team had to have a combined high school enrollment of 85 students or less, LaBrie stated. The rule has now been changed to 65 students and because of that rule change, the co-op had to break apart.

“Money was never the issue. Our enrollment combined is about 85 plus or minus five in a given year. Therefore, St. Regis will need to field its own team,” LaBrie said.

In order to keep football within the school, a JV season was decided upon and MHSA recommended the school start with this in order to get back onto their feet.

“Many of the students that were going to go out for the co-op are going out now and are freshmen. So we will be able to field our own team,” LaBrie said.

Currently there are about 10 kids on the roster and hopes are it will continue to grow as the team gets closer to their first official practice.

LaBrie said none of this could have been done without Jake Giffin, Eric Johnson and Kyle Fisher who contributed a great experience to the co-op.

“They have helped St. Regis a lot,” LaBrie said.