BOZEMAN, Montana — Small-school stars have become almost commonplace in the lore of the Division I college football programs in the state of Montana.
Former Griz greats like Marc Mariani (Havre), Chase Reynolds (Drummond), Blaine McElmurry (Troy) and Tim Hauck (Big Timber) helped write that irresistible part of the Treasure State story on the west side of the Great Divide.
At Montana State, some of the most iconic players in program history have come from small-town Montana. Dillon’s Troy Andersen, Glendive’s Mike Person, Choteau’s Mark Fellows and Deer Lodge’s Joe Bignell all come to mind.
Throughout the rich history of college football in Montana, small towns have produced legends. But scouring the record books and historical archives reveals a complete dearth of small-town quarterbacks who have become unforgettable for the Bobcats or the Grizzlies.
Saturday night at Bobcat Stadium, Montana State was down four All-Americans who all happened to be captains. With No. 18 Northern Arizona in town for a “Big Sky After Dark” nationally televised game on ESPN2, many Bobcat fans were stressfully wringing their hands and racking their brains when Skyline Sports broke the news that starting quarterback Justin Lamson, starting wide receiver/punt returner Taco Dowler and starting running back Adam Jones would all miss the late-night showdown.
Add those absences to a list that already included reigning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Caden Dowler — another captain — senior defensive end Dom Solano and senior inside linebacker Neil Daily on the sideline, and it would be easy to understand why angst trademarked the vibes before Saturday night’s throw down.
But instead of seeing a program-record 18-game winning streak evaporate, Montana State turned to a few small-town kids to carry the day.
Despite all of the small-town stars for the Bobcats during the Big Sky Conference era dating back to 1963, Montana State has not had a starting quarterback from the Class B ranks in more than 50 years.
That is, until Patrick Duchien Jr. came of age in front of a national television audience Saturday night.
The former Florence superstar made his first career start under shaky circumstances. Lamson was the Most Outstanding Player in Montana State’s 35-34 overtime win over Illinois State in the FCS national title game last January and one of the undisputed alpha dogs in the Big Sky Conference.
Duchien was shaky himself right out of the gates, committing a pair of turnovers that had MSU sitting in an unfamiliar position: tied 14-14 at halftime.
But in the second half, Duchien settled in, and he also settled on feeding two other small-town kids who had the best days of their Bobcat careers in place of the other absent superstars.
Colson Coon, a former walk-on from Sheridan, Wyoming (population 14,000), rose to the occasion in place of Jones, rushing for 199 yards and helping the Bobcats dominate the run game despite losing the time of possession battle.
And Carter Dahlke, who prepped at nearby Bozeman Gallatin High, is hardly a small-town guy by Montana standards. But he’s still the rare in-state guy who graduated early from high school to join the Bobcats last spring in preparation for his true freshman season.
The speedy, detail-oriented rookie proved to be Duchien’s security blanket throughout the first half, hauling in all seven of his receptions for 117 yards, including a 47-yard catch-and-run to put MSU up 7-0, a lead the hosts would not relinquish.
“Somehow, some way, we were going to put this together and figure it out, and that’s what we did,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “Do nights like tonight, do they galvanize a team? Do you extend your depth because this guy, this guy, this guy had to step up? Absolutely, and the good news is our injured guys are going to be back.
“I even think for those three — Lamson, Jones and Dowler — you’re always taking the big picture. The big picture is the season; the big picture is their health, not this small picture of saying we need you this Saturday. And that was hard for those guys. They wanted to be out there. They’re competitive. I think for this team, the way the last couple weeks have gone was the way it was supposed to be. We needed to be challenged.”
Several of Montana State’s most famed quarterbacks have been from Montana, including two of the most unforgettable, both hailing from the Mining City.
Butte product Paul Dennehy led the Bobcats to the 1976 national championship. And Tommy Mellott, one of Butte’s favorite sons, led MSU to two Big Sky titles and national championship game appearances in 2021 and 2024.
Rob Compson (Billings) and Jake Bleskin (Great Falls) are also Montana boys who started under center at Montana State.
But Duchien is an anomaly.
Cut Bank native Kelly Sherwin started for MSU for part of the 1987 season, but Cut Bank is Class A. An initial perusing of the MSU letterman archive shows that Duchien is the first Class B player to start at quarterback for Montana State in at least 54 years.
Duchien entrenched himself as Lamson’s backup by beating out a pair of hot-shot recruits from Oklahoma who have since left the program.
River Warren was a three-star recruit who was one of the gems of the Vigen era. Chance Wilson looked like the quarterback of the future when he first arrived in Bozeman from the Sooner State.
Instead, Duchien put them in the rearview mirror to such an extent that Wilson transferred and Warren isn’t on a roster.
Montana State has a devilish turnaround this week. The Bobcats come off Saturday’s late-night showcase and have to travel to Idaho for a Friday night nationally televised game against a Vandals team coming off a bye.
With MSU’s bye looming following the Friday night affair, it seems likely that Lamson, Dowler and Jones will shoot for a return following the Oct. 10 open date.
And it seems that Montana State will be just fine without its captains as long as the small-town rising stars are leading the way.
“Knowing that my brothers have my back, and I’m gonna do everything to have their back, too, gives me a ton of confidence,” Duchien said. “That’s huge, and I think that just shows the culture around this program. That’s Coach Vigen and the players and how much we love each other.”
