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2014 State B football Championship is a family affair for Phillips County's George and Berta Anderson

Though the Malta Mustangs aren't in the State B Championship this year, there will be a champion with ties to the Phillips County Area.

George and Berta Anderson live roughly 11 miles north of Wagner.

The couple had two daughters Katie (Kautz) and Jennifer (Bessette) who are graduates of Dodson high school.

If Kautz and Bessette didn't have a rivalry before, they will now.

Kautz is the mother of both senior running back Tucker and sophomore wide receiver Hunter Hould, who are both teammates on the Huntley Project Red Devils, who are the pride of 3B football.

In facing Townshend, the Hould brothers will face the son of their Aunt Jennifer, junior Austin Bessette, a linebacker and wide receiver for the Bulldogs.

Huntley 12-0 is one of two undefeated teams in Montana high school football. The other is Class AA's Glacier.

Townsend has been no slouch often leaving teams scoreless, including a 75-0 thrashing of Florence-Carlton in the first game of the season.

One of those blowout wins was against Baker in the quarterfinal round of the Class B playoffs.

Tucker led the Red Devils past top ranked Fairfield, racking up 121 rushing yards and one touchdown on 24 touches.

Sooner or later Tucker will clash with Bessette, who is Townshend's leading tackler.

Bessette admitted that tackling his cousin will be different than going against other players, but he won't treat Tucker different than any of his other opponents.

In the scenario that Townshend defeated Huntley, Bessette would remind them of how great a season they had.

In the scenario that Townshend lost, Bessette would say, "It was great to play them and I wouldn't want to play any other team in the championship. It was cool that we could still meet up."

At family get-togethers growing up Bessette admitted that Tucker always had the upper hand due to his height and weight advantage.

"He's got about fifteen pounds on me still," Bessette said.

He also acknowledged the fact that he has tackled bigger athletes than his cousin, which means size shouldn't be a problem.

Grandpa George and Grandma Berta have seen both teams play and think that both teams play a similar game.

"To us it's like watching one team, because they seem so evenly matched," Berta Anderson said, noting that George shared the same sentiment. "So when they meet up Saturday, it's going to be one heck of a game."

Though there can only be one winner, Berta declined to make a prediction but noted how proud she was of her grand-children.

"George and I have to figure out what our strategy will be to (cheer for them all)," Berta said, "Where will we sit? Where will we watch? We are going to figure out where we are going to trade sides, so we can cheer for both teams."'

She went on to say how it is pretty amazing to have grandsons on both sides of the State B Championship.

"Either way we will have a number one and a number two team," she said noting that all three are winners in their opinion.

As far as the dress code for the game, grandpa and grandma will likely both wear blue and white for Townshend and red and black for Huntley Project in a creative way.

Like the Andersons, Jennifer Bessette told the PCN that she too was proud of Austin and her nephews saying that the game was a pretty big deal for the family and that the game is a once in a lifetime event.

 

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