When juniors Matt Crowell and Mason Green started practice this summer, they didn’t expect to both have significant roles on Friday nights. Now, after two games, both are consistently contributing to the varsity team.

Many teams choose to have only one feature running back, with the starter coming off the field for just a few plays at a time. In the past, Stillwater has also done this, but this year has been different. Through two games, the running backs have split carries, with Green getting slightly more attempts with 40, and Crowell receiving 28.

“When you have two guys, they are going to be more rested, going to be more fresh throughout the game, especially in the second and fourth quarters” said head coach Beau LaBore, when talking about the advantages of having two proficient backs. LaBore added, “If we lose one of them, which can happen, we have a pretty experienced player that can come in and help us.”

One might think that splitting carries could cause problems with their friendship, especially since Green has been getting a few more carries per game, but this isn’t the case. Crowell explained he doesn’t mind that Mason typically gets to start the game. He said, “For me, it’s pretty nice that Mason goes out there and gets the ball first. It makes it easy to see what the defense is going to line up in.”

Crowell isn’t the only running back that doesn’t mind splitting carries. Green said, “It’s really nice to share carries with Matt because we are so close, and it’s cool that we can each get playing time and have a good time together as running backs.”

LaBore, who specializes as the running backs coach, has also noticed how well the two backs get along.  “The best part about our running backs is that they’re pretty good supporters of each other,” said LaBore.

One of the reasons Crowell and Green coexist so well in the backfield is that they’ve known each other since kindergarten. After kindergarten, the two continued to be friends, even though Green switched schools and attended St. Croix Preparatory Academy. This change in schools led to the friends being on different teams when they began playing football in third grade. Even though they were close friends, they competed hard with each other until Green transferred to Stillwater Area High School last year, in tenth grade.

The friends still compete with one another, but in a different way. “It’s a friendly competition, and you’re cheering each other on as much as possible,” said Green.

Crowell feels the same way about the competition. He said, “It’s mostly cheering each other on, but it’s nice to have competition with someone who I’m good friends with.”

The players both stated that they don’t care who ends up with more yards or touchdowns at the end of the year, and that they just care about going out on the field to score and help get a win for their team. Green even said “It wouldn’t even matter if I started or not. If Matt started the next game, I personally wouldn’t care because I feel like we’re both good at our position and that’s the reason that we’re playing varsity together.”