With the team’s first game looming this Friday, Jefferson High School football expects to rebuild this season and establish a new identity after the loss of several standout players.
“You don’t just replace guys like that,” head coach Clint Layng said last week, mentioning Dalton Noble, the top Panthers’ lineman now at Montana State, Luke Oxarart, team captain and 2025 Class B offensive MVP, also now in Bozeman, and Tavan McMaster, who earned two all-state selections and now plays for Helena’s Carroll College.
This year’s Panthers’ squad will suit up more freshmen than all the other classes combined, which means the seniors will need to lead – helping guide and integrate the new arrivals to build chemistry. “We’ve been close for a long time,” running back Cooper Mikesell says of his fellow seniors. “We want to set an example and make sure the freshmen understand what it takes to compete at this level.”
