Through its fall season, the Billings Central Catholic High School Football Team had a winning streak of five wins and zero losses. Their Pass Completion Percentage (PCT) was 1.000, which ranked them as the number one team in the Eastern Region of Montana. The members of the team had no plan to stop this winning streak. “Seeing all of us compete with each other, we all want to see each other do well at all times. Being able to send the seniors off with one last good game, one good championship playoff game, and just seeing them win is a really important part of this year,” Evan Harrell stated mid-season when asked what was the most exciting thing he was looking forward to in the remaining season. The priority of the team matched the school’s motto: Family, Faith, & Academic Excellence. The team embraced this motto, and persevered through tight regiments and workouts, following the command of their coach, Mr. Jim Stanton. “We all play for each other as we’ve been playing with one another since elementary school. We all know that it’s not just about an individual person, but instead, it’s all about our team. People are going to have to sacrifice if we want to win games,” team member Kellen Reece shared. As the team inched closer and closer to the championship, the team worked tirelessly and was well-prepared to bring home another title. With hard work and determination to stay present, the team was successful in winning all the games through the season. The BCCHS Football Team was undefeated the 2024 season. The final two playoffs game were played against Whitefish, 55-21 and against Fergus, 34-13. It was no surprise to neither the team nor the fans when the Central Rams won state against Laurel at Rocky Mountain College. Once again, the BCCHS Football Team brought home a state title by winning the championship, 31-21.
The Billings Central Golf team accepted the first and second-place state titles. The girl’s team had 685 shots collectively, which brought them 42 strokes ahead of second place holders, Whitefish. The boy’s team collectively made 600 shots, which allowed them to be 2 shots behind the boy’s state holder, Laurel. The individuals who attended state for Billings Central were Anna Prill, Jordan Nielsen, Berkeley Park, Kaitlin Ferris, and Kiya Ford for the girl’s division. The boy’s top individuals who attended were Colin Jenson, Ethan Miller, Matteo Harris, Caleb Fornshell, and Matthew Hermanson. Their Coach, Tony Derrig, helped both teams, encouraging them to better themselves in the sport and as individuals.
Billings Central Volleyball was on a roll with 29 wins, only one loss, and eight ties. Their current stats hold in 63 aces, 244 kills, 240 assists, 34 blocks, and 262 digs as of October 6th. Their Stats were placed in 406 MT Sports as well as Maxpreps, and were updated by the teams’ head coach, Anita Foster. The players that made huge contributions to the stats are Kaitlyn Foster with 55 aces and 311 digs, Annie Hanser with 778 assists, CC Case with 58 blocks, and Kamryn Reiner with 257 kills. The team had no intentions of losing Divisionals or State and planned on bringing home 1st in all. As of Nov 9, 2024, the Lady Rams were number one in the state rankings. When they played at State in Bozeman on Nov 14-16, the girls won all but one game as they battled for the title. Ultimately, the BCCHS volleyball team retrieved another state title for Central, winning against the Frenchtown Broncs.
The Billings Central cross-country team had a great season with 15 boys and 13 girls, 28 runners all together. The head coach was Greg Britain. At a meet on August 30, Junior Greyson Piseno took second place overall with a time of 15 minutes and 19 seconds for the 5,000-meter race. On that same day, Shayla Britain, a Junior as well, took fifth place with a time of 21 minutes and 7 seconds. With new athletes and a new coach that started in 2022-23 season, Coach Britain has brought new results to the team. Sam Jagodinziki has been rising on the leader boards, while Micah Fallsdown and Austyn Jardine have climbed at least 10 places as well. The team has one more race until Divisionals at the Cottonwood Country Club in Joliet MT. Making a mark in Divisionals, the team competed for the State title in Missoula and scored 346 for the Class A Girls, and 313 for the Class A Boys. Shayla Britain took first for the Billings Central Rams girls, taking 10th overall. Greyson Piseno took first for the Billings Central boys, taking 7th overall.
Billings Central has now broken the school record for the most State titles, currently holding five as of 2024. The teams include girls and boys soccer, golf, volleyball, and football. “It feels great, it’s rewarding for all our students to get what they work so hard for,” reported Nolan Trafton, Principal of Billings Central. Trafton reflected, “It’s not our number one goal necessarily. Our number one goal is to grow as a team and together journey through this life with faith as our foundation, but to be rewarded for the hard work is really good.”
