Ezekiel Leighton finished an interview, turned away and stepped into a hug. Not far away, but blocked by a crowd of revelers, a Gallatin High teammate yelled out to him to join a group photo.

“Put down the girlfriend and pick up the trophy!”

There was much celebrating still to do.

The Raptors made semifinal exits each of the last two seasons, but 2025 was, at long last, their year.

Playing in the boys state championship game for the first time in the school’s six-year history, Gallatin defeated Missoula Hellgate 3-2 Saturday at the Bozeman Sports Park in a meeting between the top seeds from each conference. Leighton, a senior and one of the best players in the state, supplied all three goals in the winning effort.

With memories of Gallatin’s girls team winning the state title in 2022,

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