MISSOULA — Montana natives almost always leave their imprint on the Brawl of the Wild.
After all, it was Caden Dowler from Billings and Zac Crews from Missoula who made the biggest plays in Montana State’s rivalry win over Montana in November.
With the teams set for their unprecedented semifinal matchup Saturday, 76 Treasure State products highlight the rosters — 44 Bobcats and 32 Grizzlies.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
The players come from 24 Montana communities , ranging in size from tiny Melstone, population 126, to Billings, Montana’s largest city with a population around 120,000.
Melstone claims Montana State linebacker Bryce Grebe, while the Magic City features nine players between the two teams. The Cats are heavy with six West High alums like Caden and Taco Dowler, while the Griz boast former Central Rams Kade Boyd and Clay Oven.
Missoula has more players in the game than any other Montana community with 15 guys spread across the two rosters. Sentinel High School produced nine of those, including Crews and running back Adam Jones for the Bobcats and Grizzlies TJ Rausch and Geno Leonard.
The nine Spartans on the rosters are the most of any high school.
Forty-nine of the 76 players competed in Class AA football in high school, 11 played in Class A and 10 in Class B.
Four guys played 8-Man football, and two —Melstone's Grebe and former Froid-Lake star Mason Dethman — were 6-Man players.
And the number of Treasure State Cats and Griz is set to grow next year. MSU has so far signed 10 Montanans as part of its 2026 recruiting class, and UM has inked nine.
Below is a list (alphabetically by last name) of the Montana natives on the Cats and Griz rosters.
Montana Grizzlies from Montana
Dillon Botner, OL, Whitefish
Kade Boyd, S, Billings Central
Austin Buehler, OL, Helena Capital
Chase Cook, RB, Red Lodge
Kade Cutler, S, Philipsburg (Flint Creek co-op)
Drew Deck, WR, Kalispell Glacier
Kellen Detrick, DE, Havre
Ian Finch, WR, Missoula Hellgate
Kash Goicoechea, S, Kalispell Glacier
Cameron Gurnsey, WR, Butte High
Tanner Huff, S, Butte High
Torin Jeske, OL, Bozeman High
Taylor Jones, LB, Missoula Loyola
Isaac Keim, DL, Kalispell Glacier
Geno Leonard, LB, Missoula Sentinel
Ezra Meyer, OL, Missoula Big Sky
Jake Olson, TE, Butte High
Hayden Opitz, LB, Helena Capital
Clay Oven, LB, Billings Central
TJ Rausch, S, Missoula Sentinel
Talen Reynolds, RB, Missoula Loyola
Fynn Ridgeway, S, Whitefish
Tommy Running Rabbit, RB, Browning
Bridger Salvevold, LB, Culbertson
Cody Schweikert, Ath, Columbia Falls
Danny Sirmon, TE, Missoula Sentinel
Gage Sliter, QB, Kalispell Glacier
Bridger Smith, WR, Kalispell Glacier
Cy Stevenson, LB, Libby
Tate Templeton, OL, Missoula Sentinel
Spencer Tripp, DL, Missoula Big Sky
Grady Walker, LB, Missoula Sentinel
Montana State Bobcats from Montana
Paul Brott, DL, Billings West
Thomas Buchanan, TE, Red Lodge
Everett Carr, OL, Bozeman High
Tom Carter, WR, Helena Capital
Kee Christiansen, WR, Dillon
Malachi Claunch, RB, Billings West
Zac Crews, DE, Missoula Sentinel
Carter Curnow, TE, Dillon
Neil Daily, LB, Billings West (spent two years at Missoula Sentinel before moving to Billings)
Mason Dethman, DB, Brockton (Froid-Medicine Lake co-op)
JJ Dolan, DB, Missoula Sentinel
Caden Dowler, DB, Billings West
Taco Dowler, WR, Billings West
Blaine Downing, DE, Saco (Malta)
Patrick Duchien, QB, Florence
Kenneth Eiden IV, DE, Bozeman High
Kash Embry, WR, Bozeman High
Bryce Grebe, LB, Melstone (Custer-Hysham-Melstone co-op)
George Helms, RB, Big Sky (Lone Peak)
Adam Jones, RB, Missoula Sentinel
Ryan Krahe, LB, Great Falls High
Rocky Lencioni, TE, Bozeman High
Jonathan Luhmann, OL, Florence
Talon Marsh, DL, Helena Capital
Burke Mastel, OL, Red Lodge
Tommy Nilson, OL, Missoula Hellgate
Dalton Noble, OL, Clancy (Jefferson High)
Luke Oxarart, DB, Montana City (Jefferson High)
Jaren Perkins, DL, Bozeman High
Colter Petre, DB, Helena High
Dylan Rollins, OL, Missoula Sentinel
Rylan Schlepp, TE, Bozeman Gallatin
Hunter Sharbono, DL, Fairview
Luke Smith, TE, Bozeman High
Vinnie Souza, LB, Billings Central
Tommy Springman, TE, Bozeman Gallatin
Cole Taylor, LB, Great Falls CMR
Grant Vigen, QB, Bozeman Gallatin
Jake Vigen, DE, Bozeman Gallatin
Hudson Wiens, DL, Bozeman High
Ben Winters, OL, Kalispell Glacier
Vaughn Wirkus, OL, Helena Capital
Josh Woodberry, LB, Bozeman Gallatin
Braden Zimmer, OL, Billings West
