Bobcats voted top in the district

SUPERIOR – Eight members of the Superior Bobcats football team have been named All Conference players with three of them to participate in the All Star game this year.

Tucker Smith, Tanner Smith, Anthony Parkin, Bridger Lapierre, Alex Billet, Wyatt Zylawy, Aaron Kelly and Cole Karrow were all named as All-Conference players. Superior High School is part of the Western Class C Division.

“That group of All-Conference kids were among the best in our conference,” said Alan Labbe, head coach of Bobcats football in 2013.

Parkin, Billet and Zylawy were also named All State. These are players determined to be the best in the state of Montana. Labbe described them as among the elite of Montana high school football players.

Labbe felt the Bobcats were well represented. While more players were named All State last year, he was proud of those who received it. He also felt the low number made sense, since the championship winner usually had more picks for the titles.

According to Labbe, the titles are determined by a vote from the different coaches in the district. While this would seem to have problems with bias, he said the representatives had to excuse themselves from voting on their school’s players.

“You don’t get to vote for you own kids,” said Labbe. “It’s more of a fair way to do it. If everybody voted for their own, there would be a lot of ties.”

Tucker, Tanner and Parkin were also named All Star players. The four players will participate in the All Star game in Butte in June. The game is the last football game, played with the best players of the year.

The Bobcat players will play with players from the Eastern Division.

Labbe said the east and west divisions would be the red team. They would play against representatives from the north and south divisions on the blue team.

“They took their best 36 players and we took our best 36 and we’re going to meet up against each other and play one more game,” said Labbe.

Football in summer might seem dangerous, with all the pads and players running around in the heat. However, Labbe said this would not likely be the case and Butte in early June was still prone to snow storms. He said killer heat was a rarity for the area at that time of year.

Labbe said the guys chosen were good ambassadors to the school, both for their sports ability and their academic achievements.

“Those same kids are very well accomplished in the classroom also, they’re good leaders in the school” said Labbe. “So, we’re lucky to have all that.”

The All Star game will be on Saturday, June 7, in Butte.