Lone Peak soccer, football programs look ahead to fall season 

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

The Big Sky School District opened the 2024-25 school year today, Aug. 26, and Lone Peak High School varsity athletics are scheduled to begin at the end of the week.  

After catching up with the trio of new volleyball coaches, EBS spoke with head coaches of the Big Horn soccer and football programs to see what’s in store this fall season.  

The boys soccer team enjoyed a standout season in 2023, including a deep playoff run to the state semifinal. Head coach Tony Coppola said the 2024 team looks to build on that success, but with a different approach. 

Instead of five or six exceptionally skilled leaders carrying the team, this squad is more balanced. Some players might need to try new positions, and most starting spots are up for grabs. 

Junior Oliver McGuire is back this season, after missing most of last season while studying abroad. He will be the team’s primary goalkeeper, simplifying the equation a bit.  

The team’s five seniors—Finn McRae, Garin Staudt, Arlo Hurlbut, Cam Pecunies and Jack Sheehan—have played many seasons together, and they’re beginning to step up as the leaders they’ve followed in seasons past.  

“I feel like they’ve all found their voice… They’ve kind of learned to fill that role in a different way,” Coppola said.  

But overall, the team is young—17 of 24 players are freshmen or sophomores. One upside is that many of them have played club soccer together for years, as Big Sky’s youth soccer continues to gain popularity.  

“I feel like soccer has just caught on, it’s a sport that Big Sky kids kind of gravitate toward,” Coppola said. “… As a sport, soccer is exploding in America, and that’s reflected in Big Sky.” 

This year’s roster of 24 players is the Big Horn boys’ largest-ever.  

Over Lone Peak’s first four soccer seasons, Coppola and assistant coach Jeremy Harder have been through a lot of trial and error. Coppola said one thing that has stuck is the coaches’ compassionate leadership by example, trying to model strong character and instill a growth mindset. 

“We want to build better humans, soccer players are second,” Coppola said. 

So far, Coppola sees chemistry building. The players are working hard, responding positively to demanding workouts, and fighting for starting spots more than ever. 

The boys will play their first game on Aug. 31 on the road visiting Thompson Falls High School, a new team in Montana Class A. It’s a non-league game, five and a half hours away, and an opportunity to get the season going.  

The Big Horn girls will also make the trip to Thompson Falls. Both boys and girls will play their first home game on Saturday, Sept. 7, hosting Bigfork High School.  

Girls focused on making every moment count 

Last year, the girls soccer team was young. They narrowly missed the playoffs by just one goal, but the team developed and progressed during the season.  

Head coach Kim Dickerson looks forward to seeing that growth continue this year, especially after their experience missing playoffs by such a small margin.  

The team’s theme this season is “every moment matters,” Dickerson said.  

“I think the girls took that lesson from last season and definitely brought it into this season, in terms the intensity and the buy-in needed right now,” she said. She believes her players put in hard work during the offseason to prepare, and she’s confident about the style of soccer they’ll bring to the turf.  

“We’re going to be relentless,” Dickerson said. “They’re a fun group to watch, they’re super passionate, they’re a smart group of girls, they each bring their own personalities which is awesome.” 

To promote accountability, Dickerson and assistant coach Patty Hamblin asked the team to create their own values to uphold. Dickerson said the team’s responses showed the makings of a strong culture.  

Over her three years as varsity coach, Dickerson has realized the importance of her players showing up with a strong, competitive mindset.  

“Win or loss, you’ve got to just put in the work. With us playing against other bigger schools, it shouldn’t matter… If these girls can come together as a team, we are able to compete,” Dickerson said.  

It’s another young team, as Big Sky’s youth soccer program continues to grow and attract young players that feed into the high school program. The Big Horn roster has 20 players, the same as last season including 15 freshmen and sophomores with lots of experience playing with each other in Big Sky’s youth soccer programs.  

The Big Horn girls do not have any seniors on their 2024 roster. 

Dickerson coaches for Montana’s Olympic Development program, and sees how the rest of the state is developing its players. She said fellow Montana coaches have complemented Big Sky.  

“We’ve got great coaches, we’ve got great parents, we’ve got a great environment for kids to play this game, and it will hopefully continue to feed into our program,” she said.  

Football to roll with new QB, hopes to extend into playoffs 

The Big Horns ended their 2023 football season with a first-round playoff loss to Fort Benton High School, 36-33. Head coach Dustin Shipman said it was a tough loss, especially for the group of four seniors which included quarterbacks Juliusz Shipman and Aidan Germain.  

They learned a similar lesson in 2022, losing to Culbertson High School in their first playoff game in five years. Shipman thinks the team is hungry for a playoff win.  

“We gotta be able to finish,” he said. “That’s really it. In those tight games, we gotta be able to be there at the end and give ourselves a chance to win the game.”  

He believes the players and coaches are building camaraderie and have bought into the program’s goals. His emphasis to players—and as an educator, he said—is to be 100% present all the time.  

“First and foremost for yourself… secondly for your teammates,” Shipman said. “And when those two things happen, every play, every practice, every rep… You’re probably going to have some successful football games.” 

This year, the Big Horns have 19 players, which Shipman said is fairly deep considering Lone Peak’s relatively small student body compared to most peer schools competing in eight-man football. 

Key leaders will include Ebe Grabow, now a junior. Grabow earned all-state and all-conference honors as a wide receiver in 2023.  

“The hunt is on to see who is going to be able to get him the ball,” Shipman said—indeed, the quarterback position is still open, but Shipman said the role will be filled by the opening kickoff.  

Players will need to step up across the board.  

Shipman expects impact from brothers Eli and Joe Gale, a junior and senior, respectively, and from junior Will Helms, who returns after a season at IMG Academy, an athletics-focused school in Florida. Senior Kicker Jose Chairez is another strong leader, Shipman said, and Tanner Sleiff will slot in at various positions. Senior Isaac Bedway, who last played in his sophomore year, should make a splash in his return.  

The team will hope for senior Grady Towle to return during the season, as he recovers from shoulder surgery. 

As for playing style, Shipman said the Big Horns have historically been a speedy and athletic team, with strong receivers and quarterbacks. The Big Horns typically don’t have big bodies.  

“We’ve never had the biggest linemen, but we need to be scrappy… we have good athletes on the line, both sides of the ball, they’re just going to need to be scrappy,” he said.  

The Big Horns are entering a new district this season, and will play some new teams in addition to typical matchups against Ennis, Manhattan Christian and Drummond.  

They’ll start the season against an unfamiliar opponent: Lame Deer High School.  

“We know nothing about them. Never played them,” Shipman said. 

They’ll find out when they host Lone Peak’s first varsity home game, on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m.