General | 02/28/20 | 4:38 PM

Dane Warp is feeling it.

Though, this is no surprise for many who have followed Warp throughout his athletic career. Success has followed him in whatever sport he chose to play: hockey, soccer, wrestling, football and now, as Saints fans recognize him, a basketball player. His name appears in the Montana High School Association record book 24 times. 

Farmers on the highline across the state to fans in the stands at local high school games will mention his name when talking about the athletic treasures from the state. The silky scorer from Havre, Montana's ability to fill up a box score hasn't changed much from his high school days, just like his 6-foot-4 frame hasn't changed much since then either. His 190-pound playing weight has been as consistent as his jumper over the years, though he jokes now that his body finally changed after he turned 21, as many who haunt Montana breweries can also attest.

Yet here he is in the biggest game of the season, scoring with relative catch-and-shoot ease against the No. 3 team in the NAIA. Sure, the game played ugly, but Warp found his touch and gave the Saints 30 much-needed points. For the Saints to beat the Warriors, Carroll needed every single bucket during this street fight. 

It's a win that, at that point in the season, becomes the Saints' signature victory. It's a signal to the rest of the NAIA that if the Saints go Marching, they once again could find themselves on another run deep in the NAIA Tournament. 

While many around the program are excited about the victory, Warp is ambivalent. He's quick to deflect praise to his teammates and knows the value of a team. To Warp, his statistical totals matter little, if at all. As long as he's making his teammates better and the Saints are winning games, Warp is happy.  

And his 30 against No. 3 isn't his greatest masterpiece -- it's just his latest. 

He's scored more points earlier this season (33). He scored more points in a single game last season (48, with a triple-double attached). He's scored more points in a career in high school (2,072). This is just what Dane does. 

He concedes that he had a good feeling during warmups, but not much else stood out about the game. (He'll note it's not in his teams' best interest to divulge any of the Xs and Os, but credits coach Kurt Paulson with a strong game plan.) And he's very quick to point out how important his team's tenacious defense was in gathering the win. 

Yet Warp, just like his father Doug, is even quicker to stay even-kiel and note his good game came just days after a stinker. 

As frustrating as a bad game can be, Warp also holds a deeper perspective. The winning and losing matters, sure, but it's the process that keeps Warp going in his final season. He's polished his game since his freshman year and he's learned to thrive in whatever role he's been put in -- and there's been many. Over 100 collegiate games wears on anybody but he knows how to get the most out of himself when he needs it -- aches and pains be damned.

This year the Saints have leaned on Warp to eschew that same knowledge on his young teammates. 

"This is one of the best freshman classes Carroll has ever seen," Warp said. "They're honestly so good. It's been great playing alongside them."  

He wants his teammates to learn what he learned from so many great classes of Saints before him: How to win, and win right. He serves them however he can, including chauffeuring those without a car to and from the grocery store. 

As the lone senior playing for the Saints men's team this season, the youth-laden group can use a veteran, calming presence. 

Through faith, family and hard work, Warp has plenty to offer. He gained a good portion of that perspective on a winter night seven years ago. 



*** 

Dane, Doug and Josh Warp made the same drive as always. They headed home after a Havre High game against Lewiston Dane's freshman year. Dane fumed.

Neither Dane nor Doug can remember the context of the game, but Dane's ire drove him as he drove the pickup. For a hyper-competitive teenager, those 32 minutes of high school hoops mattered and his performance wasn't up to his liking. 

"At that point, I really didn't think life could get worse," Warp said.

With a 70 MPH speed limit, the Warps raced back toward home three miles outside of town in the truck. 

About 400 yards away, the summer prior, the county blasted away earth on the side of the butte in hopes of limiting the rock fall onto the road. The stones were placed 150 feet below the road over a cliff. 

Around Havre, there's often such little traffic that a vehicle can afford to slide around on the road some. That night, however, traffic wasn't the matter. 

The black ice on the road late at night was impossible to see, so when the truck began to fishtail to right, Dane evaluated what laid in front of him: a rock face on his left; on the right, a cliff. 

"Come on, brake, brake, brake," Doug implored of Dane. 

"I'm on the brake, I'm on the brake," Dane cautioned. 

As the truck swung out, Dane tried to correct it, but he couldn't stop it from speeding over the cliff, tumbling toward a bed of deadly jagged rock.

As the Warps all three sat in the single passenger row, the truck kicked up as it went over and flipped upside down. Josh clutched Dane's basketball bag. Dane clutched the wheel. And all three clutched their lives. 

Somehow, the truck miraculously landed between the boulders, maybe a foot to spare on each side.  

Dane awoke first, unsure of time's passage. He remembers hitting his head off the steering wheel, but other details get fuzzy. Had it been seconds he was out? Or minutes? 

Upside down, Dane came to and saw only carnage. Doug laid in the truck in a pool of blood. Dane thought for sure this would be one of the final times he saw his father. Josh was awake, but Dane had to act. 

He kicked out the window and dragged his brother from the car. Then, he pulled his father from the car and propped his head as he lay unconscious. 

He doesn't know how, but Dane scaled the icy 150-foot cliff that winter night. Adrenaline coursed through him while his mind raced like crazy. Wearing a tattered, bloodied down coat, Warp attempted to stop passing cars. None did.

"They would think I'm a crazy person," Warp said. "So they kept driving by." 

He sprinted as fast as he could to get cell service to call an ambulance. 

Doug Warp came to and was talking to Josh. Dane returned and notified the two that help was on its way.

And in typical Doug Warp fashion, Dane says, his father -- back broken, face deeply cut and folded over, unaware of the extent of his injuries -- was already considering the medical bill.

"Don't call an ambulance," Doug Warp said. "Call your mother. I'm not paying for an ambulance." 

The truck had been purchased from an auction at a very cheap price -- and had been crashed before. And, somehow, without airbags or seatbelts fastened, all three Warps lived. They would see the rest of their immediate family, Jane and Isaac again.  

"There was so much God in that… there's no other way it could have happened," Doug Warp recalls. "We were going so fast and the ice was so slick." 

"You look back and there's no way we should have lived," Dane said. "These huge boulders on both sides. I guarantee you if we touch any of those things we'd have been pulverized. You look back at a basketball game you didn't play that well in and it's nothing. I could have been responsible for our lives being completely changed. It puts everything in perspective." 

He realizes how lucky he is to have the opportunity to play a game at all in college. He loves seeing Doug and Jane Warp in the stands, acknowledging the many miles they rack up on the road to see he and Josh compete on the hardwood. (Isaac remains down the road at Rocky Mountain College studying aviation.) 

"I owe it all to God," Warp said.

***

After seeing Warp perform so well these past few seasons, many have wondered why Warp didn't see the court more as a freshman and sophomore. Warp often wondered, too. Coming in as a hot-shooting freshman, many outside of the program assumed that kind of scoring would be invaluable on Day One. 

Instead, Warp recalls being picked last in open gyms. He remembers humbling moments when All-Americans Zach Taylor or Ryan Imhoff would school him. He values those lessons and the chemistry he felt with the classes before him. He remembers having to really focus on his defense more than his scoring touch. 

He also remembers the practices and games he would light it up, only to see his play remain inconsistent. 

When he couldn't figure out why his past success wasn't mirroring his present as an underclassman at Carroll, adding in all the late night studies and difficult challenges a pre-med degree presents, Warp leaned on his faith. 

"It's tough studying pre-med and basketball," Warp said. "There's a lot of times you rely on God's strength. Every day it played a pretty big role in my wanting to go into the medical field. My perspective of life as a Christian, wanting to serve people." 

Dane remembers the conditioning. He remembers stacked games in practice where the starters would pummel the reserves. And then, piling onto the defeat, the reserves would run as the starters watched. He remembers walking across campus toward Guadalupe Hall, looking up at the stars and wondering if this was right. 

He confided in Father Marc Lenneman, the Director of Campus Ministry. Fr. Marc would implore Warp to stick with it and find teachable moments through the tough days. 

"The reserve years were tough, but they served an important function to be a steady starter and person that is steady in practice," Warp said." As a leader you have to establish yourself first as a good teammate on the bench, being a reliable person to come off the bench, knowing your role. I thought I did those really well.

"When coach Paulson came in, he trusted me right away to be a starter. I don't think I would have had the success I've had without those previous two years."

Paulson felt lucky to have a player of Warp's caliber to entrust running his offense and leading his new recruits on a nightly basis. Now, Warp is trudging toward his final games in a Saints uniform and the Saints are once again marching. 

"What is amazing about Dane is his level of commitment to our team and also his academic success," Paulson said. "He has had to endure many late nights with studying and then throw in his medical school interviews and he has handled it like a true champion. He will go down as one of the players with the most wins in his Carroll career. He is a winner and very competitive.  I have enjoyed being around him for these past two seasons and we appreciate his blood, sweat, and tears he has given to this college. He will make a great husband, doctor, and dad in the future."

Warp's perspective continues to broaden and he knows he owes many thanks to many communities that have built him into the man he's become. He hopes he'll leave a legacy as an athlete who served every possible role on the court for the Saints, and would do anything for his peers.

"I'm excited for these last couple of games, being able to do all I can for Carroll and making the community proud," Warp said. 

It's a microcosm of why Warp came to Carroll in the first place. Many sports figures around the state and beyond have surmised why Montana's all-time leader in football passing yards didn't take to the gridiron after high school. Warp's statistics are well documented and the interest he drew from major college football schools is known. 

Doug Warp remembers how hard the Warps worked to get Dane recruited. Doug estimates he spent tens of thousands of dollars traveling from Havre's remote location to major football programs and areas to train and get exposure. 

Yet, Dane, as he learned back on that nearly lethal January night, always knew there was more to life than football. Or basketball. Or sports. 

Dane's life is about helping others. It's why all the high school accolades, statistics and achievement never mattered to him much. Dane knew he wanted to be a doctor. 

It became clear Carroll College was his only choice. Basketball was his ticket of admission into one of the best pre-medical programs in the country. 

So as Dane continues to galvanize fans on the basketball court with his ability, it's only a chapter of Warp's story. He'll finish his career as a Top 15 scorer in Carroll men's basketball history. After, his ability will fade over time as athleticism does with age; yet his ability to save scores of people is just getting started. 

Saving lives may have started back on that January night seven years ago. 

"My life and the three of us coulda, shoulda ended that day," Warp said. "Everything after that is overtime." 

And overtime is Dane Time.