There have been times that the four seniors who are the heart and soul of the Frenchtown Broncs' Wishbone rushing attack would probably like to forget.

Brennan Fisher, for example, doesn't miss filming Frenchtown games from a frigid perch atop the press box at Lyle Bagnell Field last year, after a freak accident robbed him of his junior season.

Daniel Aichlmayr doesn't relish the memory of ending 2008 with a broken hand, watching from the sideline as the Broncs' season ended with a semifinal loss to Miles City.

Johnny Dilworth doesn't pine over the years he lost to a pair of major knee injuries, doesn't dwell on the time spent on crutches, the physical therapy or the people who told him he might never play football again.

Whether he'll admit it or not, JD Undem doesn't miss being the team's default fullback last season. He certainly doesn't miss playing out half of the year with a dislocated thumb.

None of the four kids who make up the Broncs' backfield particularly wants to relive Sept. 18 of this year, when Frenchtown surrendered a double-digit lead and lost its only game of the regular season, 16-12 on the road at Billings Central.

They are all just happy to be healthy for this Saturday's state championship game, happy to get another shot at the undefeated Rams and happy to have the opportunity to end their high school careers by earning the Broncs their first title since jumping to Class A in 2003.

Their coach? He's just happy to see them all out on the field at the same time.

"It's very rewarding ...," says coach Steve Pinsoneault of his battle-tested seniors. "All four of these guys, in one way or another, have overcome their fair share of adversity."

None of it was more trying or shocking than the mishap that befell Fisher just before the start of his junior year.

"I was jumping on a trampoline," he remembers. "My friend was throwing a wire rod at a shed and I was jumping off the shed onto a trampoline. (The wire) nicked off the shed and hit me in the eye. It went through (the corner of) my eye, through that little piece of bone there and went in about (six inches) ... just a rusty piece of metal."

Somehow, Fisher walked away from the incident without a major surgery, but doctors - worried about the possibility of further brain trauma - ordered that he sit out the '08 football season.

"I got really lucky," Fisher says. "Basically I shouldn't have survived. But any little nick ... and I could've started leaking brain fluid. That's what they were mostly worried about."

Lucky perhaps, but not at all pleased about missing the year, even when the Broncs made Fisher the team videographer, assigning him to shoot footage of each game for film study.

"I was really ornery (about it)," Fisher says. "I was a bit touchy ... sitting in the cold up in the bird's nest filming all the games. I got to go on all the trips though, so it was well worth it."

Fisher returned this year and put together an extremely productive senior campaign, averaging 8.6 yards per carry en route to 12 touchdowns. On defense, he had 93 tackles, two interceptions and two sacks.

But did his teammates give the bruising 6-foot-2, 205-pounder any grief last year about his position as team cinematographer?

"Hell no," Fisher says emphatically.

"He would've killed us," mumbles Dilworth.

Dilworth knows the pain of being injured better than most. The 5-11, 176-pound halfback is a track and field standout with blazing speed, but he missed most of his freshman and sophomore football seasons with matching ACL tears in each leg.

He returned last season, but spent the entire year trying to run with protective braces on his legs. Now he's back at 100 percent and, aside from a little pain at the end of the year, he says he feels better than ever.

"I had my doubts a few years ago," Dilworth admits. "A lot of people were telling me I was never going to play football again. ... It was intense. Nine months of rehab for each knee. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of time in the gym while your friends are out playing. You just have to think long term. My physical therapist just kept telling me, ‘Focus on your senior year playing football.' "

That senior season was special. Dilworth racked up 1,216 yards on 107 carries, for an astounding 11.6-yard average.

Still, the work is not yet done. When asked what he expects from this weekend's title game, Dilworth says: "A lot of revenge."

About Aichlmayr, Pinsoneault says his senior quarterback possesses the kind of intangibles that simply can't be taught.

"He's very calm," Pinsoneault says. "He doesn't seem to get flustered. He's a good game manager. He's been running our offense for two years now and we missed him desperately when we didn't have him against Miles City last year."

Aichlmayr sat out the season-ending semifinal loss to the Cowboys after breaking his hand in the Broncs' playoff opener against Hardin.

Frenchtown might've felt the 5-11, 166-pound signal caller's absence even more on defense, where Pinsoneault says he thinks Aichlmayr feels most comfortable dishing out punishment.

"Without a doubt, he's our No. 1 corner," Pinsoneault says. "It's kind of scary sometimes, he comes up and puts a wallop on somebody and you think, ‘Wow, that's our quarterback.' But when he's on defense, he'll up and knock you into next week."

This season, Aichlmayr has six interceptions from his defensive back position. On offense, he's also rushed for nine scores and passed for seven.

The Broncs' midseason loss to Billings Central this year was a wake-up call for the four senior runners, and Aichlmayr says it'll take a complete effort this weekend for Frenchtown to claim a first-place trophy.

"We just have to keep playing all four quarters," Aichlmayr says. "We can't let down. We know they have the ability to come back and score when they want to."

The loss of Fisher a year ago directly affected Undem in that the coaching staff moved him to fullback to fill the void.

Playing out of position and with some torn tendons in his dislocated thumb, he made the best of the situation. Undem seems uncomfortable, even now, admitting that switching spots with Fisher wasn't what he had in mind for his junior year.

"It wasn't that great of a personal thing for me," he says. "I mean, I didn't like it, but it was what the team needed, so I was glad to do it when Brennan got hurt."

With Fisher back in the mix, Undem, a natural halfback, has given the Frenchtown offense what Pinsoneault calls an "ambidextrous" look this year. He's currently the Broncs' second-leading rusher, with 1,045 yards and nine touchdowns.

"He's probably the slightest of any of the guys we're talking about, but he really packs a punch," Pinsoneault says. "He was really selfless about (moving to fullback). Perhaps more so than anybody else on our whole team, he's sacrificed for the good of the team."

With their struggles behind them, Fisher, Dilworth, Undem and Aichlmayr are quick to point out that this weekend's championship game represents the culmination of sacrifices made by all of the Frenchtown seniors, not just the four who have the luxury of carrying the ball.

"We've all been playing together for a long time," Dilworth says. "We've been talking about this for a lot of years. Playing in the state championship against the best team, with thousands of people around us. It's going to be a lot of fun on Saturday."