THE FRONT ROW with BRUCE BOURQUIN, Dec. 26, 2014

Center Alex Kastens, who graduated from Coeur d'Alene High in 2010 and is set to graduate from Carroll College this spring, finished a football season in the Montana state capital of Helena, located 277 miles east of downtown Coeur d'Alene.

The 6-foot-1, 286-pound, 22-year-old senior wrapped up a career in which the Fighting Saints went 10-2, losing 45-42 in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Football Championship Series on Nov. 29 at home to Southern Oregon, which also beat them in the season opener, 38-35, on Sept. 6. Kastens, a three-year starter and two-year co-captain, was on a team that at one time was ranked first in the nation.

A double major in history and political science with a 3.3 grade-point average who was born and raised in Coeur d'Alene, Kastens was named first-team all-Frontier Conference.

He's had to overcome a few hardships but has worked strenuously to overcome them.

ONE SLIGHT hardship has been that Kastens, an only child, has shouldered the burden of paying roughly $30,000 per year for each of the past four years, with tuition and books rising each year. His parents, Curtis and Valerie, have paid for a good portion of his education as well. Curtis is a captain with the Idaho State Police and Valerie is a nurse practitioner who works in Coeur d'Alene.

Fortunately, in his sophomore season, Kastens earned a partial athletic scholarship to play football. It has alleviated some of the cost to the tune of somewhere in the $8,000-$10,000 range. Thanks to a grade-point average earned at Coeur d'Alene High of at least 3.5, he also earned a Presidential Scholarship, which pays another $14,000 per year.

"Those two combined paid about two-thirds of my tuition," Kastens said. "I'm lucky to have my parents pay for a large part of it.

The Presidential one is locked in at a fixed rate, so it doesn't cover rising tuition costs. It's not like D-I, where you have a meal plan and tuition and things like that are all covered."

So it's not like Kastens enjoys the benefit of having a full-ride athletic scholarship at say, Washington State, for example, where tuition, books, room and board are all fully paid for.

Plus Kastens attends a private Catholic college, so Kastens said he has paid overall costs of more than $30,000, although the Carroll College website estimates it more like $38,000, at least for this academic year.

So Kastens has been OK in terms of affording college in general, it's just been a bit tougher than some of your average four-year college players, that's all.

THE OTHER HARDSHIP was of course, physically more brutal and it came toward the tail end of Kastens' junior season, in the first round of the NAIA Football Championship Series.

On Nov. 23, 2013, during the first offensive series of Carroll's 38-28 win over then-No. 13 Georgetown College of Georgetown, Ky., Kastens tore his right Achilles.

"It was the second play of the game," Kastens said. "I was running to cover a play downfield and throw an extra block and it popped."

Thus began the rehab and Kastens made it back a little less than two months before the season opener.

"It took about seven months before I started feeling good," Kastens said. "It was really tough, but we had a few players who were also hurt and so we pushed each other. One also had an Achilles injury and three who had knee injuries. We were always really close. It was in my mind I was going to play."

Carroll coach Michael Van Diest, who has coached the Saints to six NAIA titles, saw the pain and resulting hard work Kastens endured. The team went on to win its next game, 27-3 over Missouri Valley College, before losing a semifinal game in overtime to the University of the Cumberlands of Williamsburg, Ky., 34-27.

"It was a devastating injury to our team," Van Diest said. "As you can imagine, it was tough for Alex to come to grips with. The good news was that he was only a junior and he came back this past season. We have had a great run of centers here at Carroll."

Coming up short of a national title has weighed a bit on Kastens, although he knows they enjoyed a lot of success. He redshirted in 2010 when the Fighting Saints won their most recent title. The next season, as a backup freshman, he watched as Carroll lost to St. Xavier University of Chicago.

The Fighting Saints ran a zone blocking scheme with multiple formations, single back, two tight ends, two running backs, two or three wide receivers.

"We had a team goal of winning national championships," Kastens said. "I think that feeling will come with time, it still stings. A lot of guys did great things. We came up short, but we played some great football."

Kastens said he's grateful for his parents for traveling to every single game in high school and college, with the exception of one. The farthest drive was Dickinson, N.D., a healthy 824 miles away or a 12-hour nonstop drive. Talk about a hike.

BACK IN 2009, Kastens helped get the Coeur d'Alene Vikings going on its current run of three state championships in the past five seasons. Coeur d'Alene lost 25-21 on Nov. 13, 2009, in the state semifinals in the snow, at Viking Stadium, to Eagle. That Eagle team had Taylor Kelly, who is now a senior quarterback at Arizona State. The playoff run followed two straight 3-6 seasons.

"I still haven't gotten over that game and it's been five years," Kastens said. "We didn't want to finish 3-6 again. I'm really happy for them (the current Vikings teams). Their offensive coordinator, Ron Nelson, was our defensive coordinator back then (in 2009). But we had some basic plays we ran, we just didn't go no-huddle."

After college, Kastens said he wants to stick around Helena as an assistant offensive line coach and plans on becoming a coach, preferably in the college ranks. Like many centers, Kastens made every offensive line call at the line of scrimmage.

"The coaches said he's basically been a player-coach the past couple of years," Coeur d'Alene High football coach Shawn Amos said. "They're very excited to have him be a part of that. The biggest transition will be your intensity level can't be what you were as a player, so there will be some adjusting in how you can talk to kids when you're a player and when you're a coach. When you're talking to one of your teammates, it's pretty much unfiltered, you can talk however you want when you're going to war. When you're a coach, you have to approach it from a more professional manner."

Kastens was the classic case of someone who worked very hard and got better every season, including becoming a first team all-league member his senior season.

"He's a fantastic kid, extremely hard worker, and he's one of the most intense people we've had in our program," Amos said. "He made himself to be the best he can be and make others around him better is what's driven him to his success. His drive to get better showed up every day and that is pretty rare for a high school kid."

Kastens started out as a 6-foot, 160-pound sophomore and built himself up into a 6-foot, 200-plus pounder.

"He's not naturally an offensive lineman," Amos said. "He had to build himself into one. He lifted and got stronger and tougher and made himself into a dang good football player. We've taken great pride in watching Alex's success and his will to be successful and he's a true Viking."

Kastens has also been a true Fighting Saint and plans to keep his talents in Helena.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at [email protected]