Five valley players in Shrine football game

Three players from Glacier High School and one each from Columbia Falls and Bigfork will play in the 65th Montana East / West Shrine football game tonight at the Laurel Sports Complex.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Competing on the West team from Glacier are: Bryan Chery, 5-foot-9, 160-pound cornerback; Boyce Ballard, 5-11, 200, inside linebacker; and Joel Horn, 6-5, 260, tackle.

Christopher Knoll, 6-0, 185, running back, is Bigfork's participant, and from Columbia Falls it's Nate Thompson, 5-11, 195, running back.

Troy Purcell of Class AA state champ Bozeman is the head coach of the West squad. Bigfork's Todd Emslie and Columbia Falls' Kelly Houle are assistant coaches for the West. Emslie guided Bigfork to the Class B state title last fall.

Tristan Crosswhite, Kiley Fenster and Christyne Hanson of Flathead and Madison Hunter of Polson are West cheerleaders.

This marks the first time the Shrine game will be played in Eastern Montana. Great Falls hosted this classic for 63 years. The game was played in Butte last year.

The game will rotate yearly between Billings, Butte and Great Falls. The game was originally scheduled for Billings' Daylis Stadium, but it is hosting the Big Sky State Games this weekend.

The game will be televised for the first time on Montana's CBS affiliates (KAJ in Kalispell, air 18, cable channel 8). Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Northern Sports Network will carry the game live on 11 radio stations, but none in the valley. The game can be heard at www.northernbroadcasting.com on the Internet.

The Shrine game raises money for the Shriners Hospital in Spokane. The West has won the last two Shrine games.

Horn will play football at Montana State University this fall, Chery is going to Western and Ballard will be at Montana Tech.

Thompson is also headed for Montana Tech while Knoll is going to Carroll College.