Rausch, Pirates head to playoffs

Mike Cast

POLSON - Before he was a football star, Polson junior running back Tim Rausch had other hobbies.

"I loved horses growing up," Rausch said.

It was true. Rausch was once as crazy about cowboys, action figures, and superheroes like Captain Planet, Batman, Superman, and even Robin as he now is about sports.

And he liked video games - maybe a little too much.

"I was a gamer," he said. "My mom would continually have to tell me, 'Tim, you've played on it for two, three hours now, get off.' I'd say like, 'OK, I'm finishing real quick,' and then play for another hour," he said.

Although he hasn't lost sight of video games and action figures, Rausch, as some readers may have heard, also plays sports.

He didn't really embrace football until he moved to Polson with his mom, dad, brother and two sisters from Shelby to start eighth-grade. He saw how big the game was in town, that winning football games mattered in Polson, and never looked back.

Some people think Rausch is so competitive because he hates all the colors besides purple. Just ask the players from the opposing teams.

In fact, it has a lot more to do with his older brother, John, who plays baseball for Northern Oklahoma College.

"My brother has always been competitive and he hates it when people are better than him and he is just a work horse. He'll do anything to become the best. I was always the lazy one in the family," Tim said. "I had more talent but didn't work as hard. But John, being the older brother, worked his butt off in sports and to take care of me and the sisters. He was always working hard to become the best he could when I was floating on by being good just because of my talent."

John said that he and Tim would dress up in their little NFL football jerseys as kids for some backyard pig skin. Tim was Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys and John was John Elway of the Denver Broncos. John would win because he was older.

"Mom would say, 'John you got to be careful, one of these days he's gonna be bigger than you," John said.

"I got bigger than him my freshman year," Tim said.

Tim also said John was more than just a brother.

"He was really a mom to me.," Tim said. "We called him "Mama Rausch" cause I would always forget something and John would have to take care of me and get me this or that."

John said he's not the mama anymore.

"I was Mama Rausch and had to keep him in line and now he's a leader. He has to be everyone's mama now," John said.

Tim isn't lazy anymore. He built off his brother's competitive streak and now has the same character malfunction himself.

"He's worked his butt off. He enjoys everything he does and he just wants to win," John said.

Baseball is Tim's favorite sport. He has played for the Mission Valley Mariners club team with his brother and also had the opportunity to attend a tryout for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Tim played well for the pros.

"They thought I wasn't a half bad player so that was really cool," Tim said.

Tim prefers to play pitcher, catcher and short stop.

He also mentioned that Montana is the only state besides Wyoming that doesn't have high school baseball - something for all of you athletic directors out there to ponder.

Although playing baseball after school would be his first choice, Tim said it's not an easy trade for football.

"Every once in a while you get that urge, you want to go hit somebody, but then you see the world series and think you want to play baseball," he said. "It depends on where things go with all the scholarships and that stuff."

It's a problem many would love to have.

His brother may transfer to Oral Roberts to play baseball and Tim said he might like to go there as well.

As for football, Rausch and his team will face Miles City in the playoffs at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Polson.

"I'm really excited this year about our football team," Tim said. "We've really come together as a team and we're working really hard and I think we're the best conditioned team in the state."

There's one thing that Tim hates, and it keeps him scoring touchdowns and pummeling opponents all year. He said his team hates it too.

"I hate to lose, hate to lose you know," he said. "That's where I get most of my motivation. You don't want to go out there and get your butt kicked like we did against Dillon and I think most of the guys decided they didn't want that. I think that's what keeps us motivated for being that first team to get to that state playoff game and winning state, that's a huge motivation for us."

He says his team is focused on the right goals and while individual stats have taken precedence in the past, this year's team has had only one goal.

"It was about going out there and winning games and trying to achieve what the school has never done before, a state championship, which is what you want to shoot for every year. It's not about who gets all-conference or all-state, it's about winning," he said.

In his day-to-day life, Tim tries to make sure he lounges around the house watching TV and hanging with his friends whenever possible, and puts in some time in the lake during the summer. But right now, until it's over, football is what mattes.

"We go to football, go rest up on Saturday, Sunday. Go learn a little bit at practice, and go get beat up again," Tim said.