Superior students playing college football

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

Football season is hardly over and already three of the Montana State Champion Superior Bobcats are looking towards their college football dreams and aspirations.

“I think they’ll be great. They’re going to be champions,” said Bobcats Head Football Coach Dan Lucier about Bobcats Tyler Stenberg, Aukkarapong ‘Yim’ Sribenjakul and Brian Labbe.

Stenberg was picked as Montana Tech’s first signee this year and will be playing with the Orediggers next football season.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Stenberg said.

Stenberg, a 6’3, 195-pound wide receiver hauled in a record 79 catches for 1308 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2008, helping the Bobcats seal their state championship victory.

Stenberg said he has been working towards this goal for some time now and is excited for the opportunity to play college football.

“I just had to lift and work hard and play other sports to stay in shape,” Stenberg said about his preparation for playing college ball.

Stenberg said that a big part of his decision to attend Montana Tech was their engineering program and the fact that the Bobcats have been going to football camp at Montana Tech since he started playing high school football.

“I decided on Montana Tech because of the education I can get there in their engineering program. That and ever since we’ve started going to Montana Tech Football Camps I’ve wanted to play football there,” Stenberg said.

Because of his experience with the Orediggers’ coaching staff he said he already knows what to expect from the program and he is excited to get started this August.

Sribenjakul plans to walk on as a kicker for the University of Montana Grizzlies this fall, and after his performance this year for the Bobcats he is sure to be a consistent performer for the Grizzlies.

Sribenjakul’s consistent kicking helped keep the Bobcats in control of their games for much of the season.

“That’s always been a dream of mine. Ever since I started going to games there I’ve wanted to kick for them,” Sribenjakul said.

Sribenjakul, who moved to Superior from Bangkok, Thailand in 2004, said that he plans to major in social work at UM.

Labbe has decided to attend UM and has contacted coaches about playing for the Grizzlies and is waiting to hear back from them.

“The environment they have there, watching the players run out of the tunnel, ever since I first saw that I thought ‘I’m going to be doing that one day.’ That motivated us to play better in high school and that’s probably one of the reasons we won state, we all had a dream of being great football players,” Labbe said.

Labbe plans to major in radio and television journalism and said he would gladly take a walk on position with the Grizzlies if he gets the chance.

All three players made All State and All Conference this year, and both Stenberg and Labbe will be competing in the Montana State All-Star Game in June.

“All three of them were shooting for this. They were great leaders and they led by example with hard work in the weight room and the way they treated everybody,” said Lucier.