Friday Night Lights: Another Richter enjoying Friday nights in Chester

Just about everyone in Montana loves high school football and if not, it at least seems that way. In Chester and the surrounding areas of Joplin and Inverness, that all comes together to form the Chester-Joplin-Inverness High School.

And in Chester, there is no feigning a love for the game, or for the Hawks.

"We get a lot of really great support," CJI quarterback Spencer Richter said. "Even if we aren't doing as well, like we aren't right now, people still come out and support us."

If Richter sounds like a familiar name, it's because when it comes to football in Chester-Joplin-Inverness in recent years, there is probably no last name that is more synonymous with Hawk football. His older brothers Brandon and Cory Richter each preceded Spencer as the starting quarterback for CJI.

"I looked up to them both quite a bit," Spencer Richter said. "I wish that I would have been able to play with both of my brothers in high school, but it was fun to play with at least one of them and hopefully, in a couple years, I am hoping I can be just as good as them, or better."

Of course both Cory and Brandon played key roles on the Hawk's 2015 team, which lost just one regular season game and went to the quarterfinals of the Class C 8-Man playoffs. Both players earned Northern C All-Conference honors that season and last year, with Brandon graduated, Cory helped carry the Hawks back to the playoffs with an All-State season.

Yet, when CJI was beaten out in the playoffs last fall, it was clear that the ball and the position of quarterback belonged to the youngest Richter.

"They were both really good players," Spencer Richter said. "So I just tried to learn as much from them as I possibly could."

While the Hawks have struggled so far in 2017, starting the season 0-4, the enthusiasm in places like CJI, never seems to die. Of course, under the direction of head coach Jim Vinson, the Hawks' program has excelled for more than a decade and despite a few down years, it has been a consistent playoff contender.

Having a good coach in place helps establish a winning program, but a passionate community following can be just as important, which is part of the reason why CJI has been able to endure, despite falling enrollment numbers.

"You look at our high school and more than half of the boys are playing football," Richter said. "So I think that shows how important it is. Right now, we don't have any seniors, so we are pretty young, but in a couple of years, I think we will have a chance to be pretty good."

Of course, when it comes to high school football in Montana, there are a lot great traditions and Friday nights in Chester are among the best of them. But right now, there are also a lot of changes happening too, changes that have directly impacted programs like CJI.

The Hawks are part of an expanding 8-Man football division, an expansion that has forced the Northern C to grow from nine teams a few years ago, to 12 now. This has led to new conferences, new schedules, new rivalries and new questions about the future.

Yet, in the midst of all the changes, the Hawks have been and will continue to be a constant. No matter what happens, you can count on those Friday nights in Chester, which are just about as picturesque as they come, just as much as you can count on, someone with the last name of Richter starting at quarterback.

"It's just something about our community," Richter said. "Football is a really big thing. It's something that everyone loves and supports and I think that's the thing that keeps us going."