BILLINGS — Spencer Gibbs had a really good time in the week leading up to the 34th Annual Big Sky Class B All-Star Football Game.
As a senior, Gibbs played for the Malta Mustangs statewide football team and can’t wait to take the field for the last time at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lockwood High School
The dual sport star – Gibbs was also the BC national wrestling champion last season at 205 pounds – has decided he will enter the workforce after graduating in the spring, so this will be the last time he is committed to attracts a football game. He will play running back for the North team.
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“It’s cool to be here and I’m honored to be selected,” Gibbs said of the annual competition, where the top graduates play for either the North or the South each year. “You look back and you think about the season and, ‘Wow, that’s it.’ You buckled it one last time, but now you can do it again. It’s quite a lot of fun.”
So far, Gibbs has enjoyed socializing with his fellow players while the two teams train at Rocky Mountain College, stay at the dorms and dine at school.
“It’s a good time. You meet new people,” Gibbs said. “There are good people everywhere.”
Gibbs said learning new schemes and working with different teammates was one of the things he enjoyed this week of practice.
“I’m working to get the guys to know each other and see what they’re capable of,” he said. “Just things like that, to see who fits into the best positions.”
Last year, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Gibbs was an all-conference punter, a second-team all-conference running back, and a first-team all-conference linebacker for the Mustangs.
As he became a punter, Gibbs said the Mustangs needed someone to fill the position, so he accepted the challenge.
“It just came naturally, I think,” he said. “We were looking for a client earlier in the year and I started watching videos and stuff like that and I was fine.”
Nick Oxarart, the Malta head coach who also acts as assistant for the North, said Gibbs is really talented and has made sacrifices for the team over the years. Oxarart explained that Gibbs was quarterback as a freshman and sophomore, then moved to tight end as a junior and to running back as a senior.
As a junior, Gibbs was a second-team offensive pick at all conferences.
“He’s willing to learn and will play any position you expect him to play,” Oxarart said. “He bought into our speed program, developed his speed and turned into a tight end after a running back his senior year.”
As a wrestler, Gibbs’ championship at MetraPark’s First Interstate Arena was the Mustangs’ first title in the sport since 2007 when Chance Demarais won the title at 215 pounds.
For Gibbs, the title was particularly nice as it ended the Mustangs’ dry spell, completing a four-year journey to the top.
The championship marked Gibbs’ first finish in the state wrestling tournament. He had missed the division championships during his freshman year due to illness, then sustained a season-ending shoulder injury early in his sophomore year and qualified for the state championship as a junior, but failed to make a berth.
“For me to miss that second season coming back into my junior year was a fun season and stuff,” Gibbs explained. “But this senior year I guess I had to do something big.”
Oxarart, who coaches youth wrestling and coaches Gibbs at the junior high level, said it was impressive for Gibbs to cap out his career with a state title.
“It’s hard,” Oxarart said. “From the state championship that was never achieved to the appointment as state champion.”
Gibbs has many talents outside of football and wrestling. One skill is welding.
“He’s a phenomenal welder,” Oxarart said. “He’s probably been welding since he could walk. His father is a welder and he has been at it all his life. He switched from welding to mechanics.
“He’s a handy boy who fixes everything.”
Gibbs had opportunities to play football or wrestle in college, but will enter the workforce instead.
“I’ll get to work right away,” Gibbs explained. “I’m thinking about coming over here to Billings, living with my cousin and maybe training to be a plumber.”
Last year, the North defeated the South 27-7, winning for the fourth year in a row. With the win, the North extended their lead to 18-15.
Gibbs said he plans to enjoy his final game on Saturday, and he said the North All-Stars are aiming to walk away with a win.
“We intend to stick with it,” said a smiling Gibbs of the winning streak.
Email The Gazette Sports Editor John Letasky at john.letasky@406mtsports.com or follow him on Twitter at @GazSportsJohnL
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