Stevi’s Clark is Coach of the Year

by Scott Sacry, Sports Editor

Stevensville high school boys soccer head coach Christopher “CJ” Clark was recently named the Montana “Coach of the Year” for Boys Class A Soccer by the Montana Coaches Association for the 2025 high school fall sports season.

Clark led Stevensville to the state semifinal game this fall. The Yellowjackets defeated defending state champion Billings Central in the quarterfinals, then lost to Whitefish in the semifinals. Clark also led the Yellowjackets to the state semifinal game in 2024.

“It’s cool to get the recognition, as I’ve put a lot of time and effort into coaching soccer,” said Clark. “But for me this is an award for the whole team. We lost a lot of seniors from last year’s team, and I didn’t think we’d go as far as we did. But all the young kids really stepped up this year. It’s a cool award, but it was a full team effort, the kids deserve all the credit.”

This was Clark’s second year as Stevensville’s head soccer coach. Previously Clark was an assistant coach under longtime Stevensville coach Ralph Serrette. Serrette passed away at the start of the Fall 2024 soccer season, and Clark stepped up to fill the head coaching position.  

“It has been a challenging couple of years for all of us,” said Clark. “Ralph coached most of these kids at some point in high school or club, so it’s still a big loss for these young players. We talk about him all the time, we use his memory as fuel. I think Ralph would be proud of how these kids have performed.”  

Clark is excited for the future of Stevensville soccer and will continue to strive to help build the soccer program in Stevensville. 

“We only lost three seniors from this year’s team, and we have a lot of experience and talent coming back for next season,” said Clark. “We will work hard in the winter and spring, and we should be strong again next year.”