story by Ruth Nicolaus
The fourteen year old cowboy, a member of the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association, competes in the tie-down roping, ribbon roping (as the roper for Abby Lawton), team roping (as the header for Zane Kreikemeier), goat tying and chute dogging.
His favorite horse is Bakin, his tie-down and ribbon roping horse. His head horse and goat tying horse is Cash, a twenty-year-old gray. Bakin, who is 21 years old, is a sorrel.
Matthew is an eighth grade student at Broken Bow High School, where he loves pre-algebra class. He is involved in football, basketball, FCA, and is on the honor roll.
For fun, this past summer he went fishing at Sherman Reservoir, where the catch includes bass, blue gill, crappie, northern pike, and walleye. If the fish are big enough, the Miller family keeps them and has a fish fry. Matthew also likes to hunt deer, geese, ducks, and elk.
One of the fun things he did this summer was compete at the National Junior High School Finals in Lebanon, Tenn. The family had a chance to visit downtown Nashville and walk past the Titans football field on their mini-vacation.
Matthew’s favorite meal his mom makes is chicken parmesan and cherry cheesecake. He loves double-stuff Oreos with milk, The Hunting Channel on television, the Nebraska Cornhusker football team and the Green Bay Packers. His favorite apps are Snapchat and Instagram.
When he grows up, he’d like to be a veterinarian or a professional steer wrestler.
Matthew competed at state finals the last two years, and qualified for Nationals in seventh grade. He competed in the ribbon roping at Nationals. He has an older brother, Sean, who is seventeen, and a younger brother, Zach, who is eleven. He is the son of Brad and Stephanie Miller.