Big Sky High School is very happy, as the golden goat known as Gertie is in new territory.
Gertie has been re-homed to Big Sky High School for the first time in the history of the city’s GOAT games after the Eagles beat out the Sentinel Spartans 466 to 439 on February 7, 2025.
As students of all three participating high schools know, the GOAT games aren’t just about who wins in basketball; they’re all about school spirit. The rules and goals of the game are: cheer for both teams, no booing, who can cheer the loudest, no heckling, no drinking or drugs, and show you love your school.
This year, the games were Big Sky vs Sentinel, as Hellgate lost last year to Sentinel. According to some students from Big Sky, the game is one of the most intense and most hyped up events that Big Sky will be a part of.
Sentinel’s theme for the game was “Purple Reign.” Their student section had their students seated in specific spots to form a castle. All their students were in their purple GOAT games shirts.
Sentinel performed their halftime show during the girls’ basketball game, while Big Sky had their show during the boys’ game with the theme of Rio. Both shows had students that volunteered to dance in the show. Where Sentinel had crowns and robes, Big Sky had wings with lights on them.
Emma Keffeler and Laci Dunfee got to the University at 2:45 pm to set up decorations and test the sound system for Big Sky.
“I would say that our setup was obviously better since we won,” said Keffeler.
She also noted that the GOAT game shirts for both basketball teams, band, cheer and dance teams were all courtesy of the booster club. The rest of the Big Sky student body purchased their shirts for $10, and all of the proceeds went back into the school for future use on decorations and other products for the student body.
“The booster club does lots for us, we are extremely appreciative,” Keffeler said. She said that the booster club also came up with the idea to make an Amazon wishlist to raise money for decorations for the GOAT games this year.
During last Friday’s event, the girls’ varsity teams played first. Big Sky girls lost to Sentinel 42-34, but at half Big Sky was up 1 point. Then, Sentinel pulled through with the win with an 8-point lead at the end of the fourth quarter. The leading scorer for Sentinel was Kaitlyn Hammett, scoring 14 points, and the leading scorer for Big Sky was Kadynce Couture, who led Big Sky with 12 points.
The boys’ varsity teams played second, and Big Sky came home with a win of 60-49. At half, Sentinel had a 3-point lead. The highest scoring players for the Big Sky boys were Isaiah Reed and Cole Silberstein, both with 19 points. Sentinel’s leading scorer was Lincoln Rogers with 19 points.
Big Sky’s resource officer, Christian Cameron, was there at the game on patrol. He said he is very proud of Big Sky, reporting that there were zero MIP (minor in possession) citations and zero fights that occurred during the GOAT games. There were six cops there to wander throughout the facility managing and making sure the game went smoothly, Cameron said.
After the boys’ varsity game finished up, both schools stormed the court and waited for the winner of the golden goat, Gertie, to be announced. Before the winner was announced, the whole facility went quiet. As the students were waiting to hear who the winner was, a fan from the crowd shouted out “Big Sky!”; then, the announcer confirmed over the speakers that the winner of the 2025 GOAT games was, indeed, Big Sky. The Eagles took hold of Gertie and got as loud as possible. Gertie had officially stepped into new territory.
Gertie, as of right now, resides in boys’ varsity head coach Zach Murphy’s room.
