THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Digging deep ... Pearse, a Post Falls High product, makes move to tight end pay off for NAIA Montana Tech football team

Derek Pearse wasn’t afraid of the challenge.

Not as a quarterback at Post Falls High.

Or in February 2020, when he signed his letter of intent to continue his playing career as a quarterback at NAIA Montana Tech in Butte, Mont.

After not taking a snap in 2021, and seeing the school bring in a transfer at quarterback, Pearse had a decision. Transfer, or dig deep.

So the work began.

AFTER SPENDING nearly two years on the sideline due to others playing in front of him, Pearse was approached by Montana Tech coach Kyle Samson with an idea.

“Coach (Kyle) Samson asked if I’d be open to switching to tight end,” Pearse said. “I thought it would be a better chance to get on the field and said yes. I really just wanted to compete and get on the field as much as I could.”

From the time Pearse played Junior Tackle in Post Falls until his senior year, he was the quarterback and rarely played defense, so hitting in practice and being hit wasn’t something he was familiar with.

“It was a first for me, but I really enjoyed it,” Pearse said. “I really enjoyed the process of switching over.”

There was no point where Derek felt like transferring to play quarterback somewhere else.

“I really fell in love with the town when I got here and made a ton of friends,” Pearse said. “It really wasn’t in my thought process at all. I really wanted to stick it out here and didn’t want to start over somewhere else.”

Butte is 291 miles from Post Falls.

“It’s really the community here,” Pearse said. “The community and culture of Butte, I was really drawn to it. How it’s grown over the years, it’s really a blue-collar town. I like the feel of the school and it reminded me a little bit of Post Falls. I really love the culture of the school and this team. At the end of the day, it was the best fit for me and I didn’t want to give it up for something else.”

Learning a new position with a new role was something he embraced as well.

“The first couple of years after I switched, it was a lot of learning,” Pearse said. “You’ve got to do a lot of everything, and there’s a big learning curve. Once I got comfortable, I really had a lot of fun playing tight end. I love having the ability to do a lot of different things and run blocking. The tight end and running backs, they’re some of my best friends. (Offensive coordinator) coach (Travis) Dean really helped me a lot getting comfortable with the position.”

Pearse arrived on campus at 6-foot-3, 203 pounds. Pearse is now 250 pounds.

“I really took the weight room seriously and had to gain a few pounds,” Pearse said. “Since I switched, I’m just stronger and bigger overall. I figured I had to throw on some pounds to hold my own on the line.”

“Derek switching from quarterback to tight end was a great transition for both parties,” said Dean, who also coaches the running backs at Montana Tech. “He had some size already, but we asked him to get to a certain weight and he did with no hesitation. He worked his tail off in the weight room and on the field, and was able to start earning himself a role.” 

Dean added that his ability as a quarterback helped smooth the transition.

Pearse arrived in Butte in fall 2020, but that season was canceled due to COVID-19. He redshirted at quarterback in 2021, then saw no action at QB the following year.

Pearse switched to tight end in 2023, and appeared in three games, starting two for Montana Tech, finishing with two catches for 11 yards and a touchdown. In 2024, Pearse played in 11 games, finishing with seven catches for 73 yards and five touchdowns. This season, Pearse has 23 catches for 310 yards and three touchdowns, and is averaging 13.5 yards per reception.

“His brain and football IQ is second to none,” Dean said. “Having a quarterback there really helps boost everyone around him. He really came into play back in the 2023 and '24 seasons. He started with minor roles in the run game and then really took over last year to be involved in everything we do. Derek is one of the best I’ve ever coached because of his approach to whatever he’s doing. He will give you everything and execute it at a high level.”

Derek’s father, Dan, is the wide receivers coach at Post Falls High, a position he’s held since Derek was in high school.

“He’s always been one of my biggest supporters,” Derek Pearse said. “Him and my mom (Heidi) have had a lot of long car rides. It’s really cool to see him at all of my games. It’s been pretty awesome.”

Dan Pearse said he’s missed two Post Falls games, both this season, to make sure he was there to watch his son play.

“It’s been unique,” Dan Pearse said. “In his four years on the field, not counting the redshirt season, I’ve maybe missed two of his games. When he was starting, I maybe missed one game, but my wife was able to make the games I missed. I’ve made the effort to be there, no matter what. This year, we weren’t going to miss a game.”

Even when Post Falls played at Battle Ground, Wash., some 395 miles west of Post Falls.

“Right after the game, I jumped into a car with one of the other Post Falls coaches and slept in the back seat on the way back,” Dan Pearse said. “I got dropped off at home at 5 a.m., slept for another hour and then jumped into a truck with a buddy of mine that wanted to go see Derek play. We’ve had a couple of all-nighters, but we didn’t want to miss his games. We bought a Subaru brand new when he was a freshman and it’s got 65,000 miles on it now.”

Often times, Pearse and his wife will make one stop, at the travel center in St. Regis, Mont., en route to games.

“(Post Falls assistant football coach Mike) McKeown has a cabin on the Clark Fork River near there, so there’s a couple of times after games we’ll drive there and get some of the drive out of the way after (Friday) games,” Dan Pearse said. "We just like getting there early to tailgate and talk to some of the other parents."

Post Falls played its last game of the season on Oct. 23 and failed to make the playoffs for the second time in nine seasons.

It’s been kind of nice the last couple of weeks to get to Butte on Friday and have dinner with Derek before the game," Dan Pearse said. "But I wouldn’t trade having that hectic schedule for anything.”

LAST SPRING, the Pearse family, lifelong Packer fans, traveled to Green Bay for the 2025 NFL Draft at Lambeau Field.

“I’m from Minnesota and was born and raised there,” Dan Pearse said. “Everyone in my family is a Viking fan, and I don’t really have a good story as to why I’m a Packer fan. We grew up on a farm and each kid got to shop out of the Sears catalog for their Christmas presents. I came across a page with the NFL uniforms and circled the Packer one. My mom asked if I meant to circle the purple one. And I told her I wanted the green one. When I was a kid, they were terrible and maybe went to one playoff game.”

“It was really something that we were planning on doing,” Derek Pearse said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and it was really cool.”

Montana Tech (11-0), the third seed, had a first-round bye, and hosts Carroll College (9-2) of Helena, Mont., in the second round of the NAIA playoffs today at noon PST in Butte. The Orediggers beat the Saints 30-19 earlier this year in Helena in a nonconference game.

“It’s really special here,” Derek Pearse said of Montana Tech, which this season won its first Frontier Conference title since 2016. “We all celebrate each other's success. We’re just one big team and nobody is about themselves. Some guys are breaking records, but we’re all celebrating each other's success. Nobody is above the team. It doesn’t matter if someone has a bad game. If we win, we’re celebrating each other's success.”

Pearse will earn his master's degree in mechanical engineering in December.

“I really came back because I had another year of eligibility left and didn’t want to leave that on the table,” Pearse said. “I thought we had something special building here and have a ton of friends on the team. I just wanted to play another year of football.”

Pearse has been named to the Frontier Conference All-Academic team the past three years.

“Going to a school like this, it’s hard and time consuming,” Pearse said. “It’s a pretty challenging degree, but I take a lot of pride in my schoolwork and grades. To do that while playing football, it’s just how I’m wired.”

Dan knew pretty early into the position change things were going to work out for Derek.

“I went to the spring game once he made the switch in 2022,” Dan Pearse said. “I realized he didn’t have a problem hitting people at all. Now, he’s got that prototype body. I guess it worked out the way it was supposed to.”

"Derek will go down as one of the best I've coached," Dean said. "He takes coaching and makes the necessary changes. He will be the first to acknowledge when he messes up and the last to brag about a play or block he made. Derek loves to play the game and it is very evident on Saturdays. He plays with tremendous energy and excitement. He's the ultimate leader and teammates gravitate to him. He loves to joke and have fun in meetings and pre-practice, but when it's time to work, he is all business."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1206 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on ‘X’, formerly Twitter @JECdAPress. 

    BNO PHOTOGRAPHY From left Dan Pearse, Heidi Pearse, Derek Pearse, Trinity Anderson and Elise Pearse were celebrated before senior day on Nov. 15 against Valley City State in Butte, Mont.
  

    BNO PHOTOGRAPHY Montana Tech graduate student tight end Derek Pearse catches a pass during the Orediggers season-opening game against Montana-Western on Aug. 26 in Butte, Mont.