Warriors' football coach gets his team ready for camp
Newly-appointed Arlee High School football coach Chuck Forgey knows replacing Warriors Coach Todd Yocum won’t be easy.
Two years ago, Yocum led the Warriors to a second-place finish in the Montana Class-C, 8-man football state tournament. Yocum will still be a member of the Warriors’ staff and will become the new defensive coordinator headed into the 2017 school year.
“There are obviously some expectations in inheriting this program,” Forgey said. “Todd did a really nice job with the boys. I really enjoy working with Todd and having a good time.”
Forgey, a former Montana Tech football player who played under coach Bob Green and also received NAIA All-American honors, said Green “taught him” a lot about the game of football.
“I learned a fair amount about football from Coach Green, and he taught me a lot when I was a player and as a coach,” Forgey said. “I learned a lot about coaching from him and how to deal with players. He has great career, overall. I had a great year with him and he is a great guy to be around.”
Since 2015, Forgey has become a part of the Warriors’ football program as the Junior High coach. Studying as the junior high coach, Forgey said he has learned a significant amount about 8-man football.
“The last few years, I’ve gotten to know the 8-man game at the junior high level and that has helped a little bit with making the adaptation to the high school level,” Forgey said. “The 8-man game is a lot different and faster, and a little less cerebral. There is a little more expectation on the player, which I enjoy orienting. My philosophy is ‘have a good time and learn as much we can.”
Forgey admits winning makes learning even “more fun.”
“Winning makes playing football fun,” Forgey admitted.
With the new reassigned conferences, the Warriors will be in a football conference that includes Charlo, a team that finished second in last year’s Class-C, 8-man state, Hot Springs, a team that won the 6-man football conference, Victor, a team that was in the mix for last season’s conference football title with Charlo and also appeared in last year’s state playoffs, the storied program Twin Bridges, and Mission, who will be coming down from Class-B and had a 27-man roster at the start of last season.
“You are going to have to work hard and earn everything in this conference, that is for sure,” Forgey said.
Despite the increased level of competition, Forgey has expressed confidence in the personnel he will return from last year’s team that was in the playoff hunt.
“We have some wonderful players coming back and they are a joy to be around,” Forgey said. “They are working hard this summer and getting ready for the season. Everyone is excited about football and ready to go. We’ve been getting together and it’s just been good.”
As football camp gets ready to start on Aug. 11, Forgey said his team learned a lot playing at the 5-on-5 camp, the 8-man’s version of 7-on-7 camps, at Montana Tech this summer.
“When our team went to Montana Tech’s team camp, they had a great time and they learned a lot,” Forgey said. “They played pretty well. They did throwing and running. We didn’t do a passing league this year. We decided to work on our staff and get as prepared as we can come Aug. 11.”
The Warriors’ first game on Aug. 25 will be against Victor.
“Victor has the same staff in place and they have a lot of talented players coming back from the team that qualified for the playoffs,” Forgey said. “They are one of the better teams in our conference and playing against them is going to be a big-time challenge. We will just have to work hard in order to beat them.”
Forgey, who was an assistant coach on the Montana Tech team that won the NAIA, finished runner-up in the NAIA National Championship in 1996, and lost in the quarterfinals in 1997, said he is “excited to get started.”
“Our kids are mostly working in the weight room and last fall, after football season, they were ready to get going,” Forgey said. “We have a really good senior class and I look forward to get going.”