Cowboy Tahj Wells runs Browning football to victory Friday

He doesn’t play baseball and football, basketball and soccer, swimming and water polo. No, Wells is a cowboy.

“That’s the best thing about him,” Browning head coach Shance Hall said. “He does rodeo so he’s good at taking a punishment.”

After leading the 2023 regular season in Class A rushing yards, Wells won the Montana state title in bull riding and Class A state wrestling at 145 pounds this past winter and summer.

Friday night he was back on the football field helping his team to a 40-0 win against the Stevensville Yellowjackets (0-3) for Browning’s first victory of the season.

“We’re a young team, so this is good for us to hopefully have a successful season,” Hall said.

Wells said he’s been working on his rodeo skills since he was six years old and has been playing football since a young age too.

“Growing up, I always loved contact sports,” Wells said. “Rodeo and football, they’re obviously pretty good contact sports.”

Wells emerged for Browning last season, rushing for 1,156 yards and averaging 128.4 yards per game on the ground. The campaign also marked Browning’s first season with three or more wins since 2018. Now in his last year on the team, Wells serves as a key engine that drives Browning’s offense.

While bull riding and football require separate skills, Hall said the work ethic and determination Wells wields helps him immensely.

“He can take a beating, get up and get going,” Hall said. “He’s a humble, quiet kid and leads by example. Hard, hard worker.”

“Once he gets going, it helps him a lot.”

Wells’ grittiness was on full display in Stevensville. The first half was tighter than Browning might have wanted with the offense failing to score a touchdown. Despite a 14-0 lead after two quarters, fumbles from Wells prevented his team from jumping out to an insurmountable lead early on.

“We could’ve did a lot better on handling the ball,” Wells said. “We just gotta keep working, we’ll get better.”

After the miscues, though, Wells went to work in the second half. The veteran running back heated up as the game progressed, turning intermediate runs into chunk plays.

The workhorse finally broke loose at the start of the fourth quarter with a 41-yard touchdown run that all but sealed victory. With a 27-0 lead in hand, Browning coasted the rest of the way.

“As the game went on I got a little warmer, felt a little better,” Wells said.

“I wore ’em down pretty good.”

For Stevensville, the loss marks the third in as many tries. Head coach Gabe Brown recognized the need to work on details, but emphasized keeping the bigger picture in mind for his young team.

“When you’re rebuilding, you just want to be proud of the kids working hard for four quarters,” Brown said.

Brown, a former defensive coach at Carroll College, took the helm at Stevensville over the summer. His team is still seeking its first points of the season after losses to 40-0 and 55-0 losses to Libby and Dillon, respectively.

“You’ve gotta stay positive with these kids,” Brown said. “They’re re-learning how to play football and how to have fun, as frustrating as that can be sometimes.”

Browning returns home next Friday for a matchup with Livingston. Stevensville heads to Hamilton next week for a cross-town rivalry matchup.