Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Sorted by date Results 751 - 775 of 1301
The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks traveled hundreds of miles to the Smelter City for a basketball ball tournament last weekend, but they weren’t alone. Dozens of fans also made the trip to Anaconda to watch the Hawks in action. “The fans were awesome,” Lady Hawks Coach Chadd Laws said. “Thompson Falls was well represented.” The Lady Hawks came home with two big wins, beating Stillwater Christian 77-34 on Friday and Choteau 71-28 on Saturday. Laws said it was a big weekend for his team, but they still have some things to work on, including reboundin...
The Blue Hawk boys came home from the Tip-Off Tournament in Anaconda with a win and a loss, narrowly losing to Stillwater Christian 50-46 on Friday and beating Choteau 55-46 on Saturday. “It was a great weekend for the boys,” Coach Jake Mickelson said of the Hawks, who are now 2-1 for the season. The Hawks were tied with Stillwater Christian after two quarters as both teams went into halftime with 24 points. Stillwater outscored the Hawks 16-12 in the third to take the lead and maintained that through the fourth quarter. “I was impressed with...
The Thompson Falls-Noxon wrestling team got some good competition with a mixer on Friday and the Bob Kinney Classic in Superior on Saturday. Thompson Falls finished fourth in Superior as a team and Coach Mike Thilmony said team wise, they were right where they wanted to be. The Hawks added some wrestlers to the lineup this week, with Shane Reishus and Hayden Hanks seeing their first action of the season. “Shane came out and wrestled really strong,” Thilmony said. Reishus took the top spot in the 160-pound bracket in Superior, beating Henry Ben...
The Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat jumped right into the season last weekend at the Ronan Tip-Off Tourney, beating Lincoln on Friday 33-25. “It was a great feeling and a much-needed win,” Coach Richard Jackson said. “The girls have been working hard. They deserved it.” On Saturday, Hot Springs came up short against Ronan JV with a 35-26 loss. Jackson was pleased with his young team’s performance on Saturday, noting that each team scored 24 points in the fourth quarter. “We were right in there,” he noted. Back for her senior season is all-state pl... Full story
Sanders County basketball players tipped off their season at the Ronan Tip-Off Tournament last weekend. Hot Springs, Plains and Noxon competed in the tournament, which offered an opportunity to play a variety of western Montana schools. The Plains Horsemen first met the Ronan JV squad on Friday, falling 44-16. On Saturday, the Horsemen were bested by Seeley-Swan 53-14. Despite the losses, coach Tyrel Allen was proud of his young squad. "None of these kids have ever played varsity basketball,"...
Plains/Hot Springs finished fifth in their first tournament of the season, the Cascade Badger Invitational. “It was a great season opener for us,” Coach Shane Angle said. The Savage Horsemen sent seven to the finals in the tournament and two wrestled for third and fourth. The girls’ team garnered enough points to take home the first-place team trophy. “It was impressive,” Angle said. “What a surprise.” Drew Carey brought home first place from Cascade in the 132-pound bracket. Carey first pinned Jace Ashley of Three Forks in 2:50, then Eli Zach...
The Lady Hawks showed they were a force to be reckoned with Saturday as they traveled to Troy for their first game of the season last Saturday. The Hawks came home with a 63-7 win over Troy, dominating the Trojans the entire game. "We used our entire bench to play," Coach Chadd Laws stated. "Everybody got a ton of playing time and we got to work on some of our different offenses and defenses. The biggest thing was just getting more playing time together and doing what we do, pushing the ball up...
The Blue Hawk wrestlers were back on the mat over the weekend in their first competition of the season and coach Mike Thilmony was happy with the results. The team saw three wrestlers in the finals at the Bob Owen Invitational, a two-day tournament in Polson, and two won their brackets. “The Owen Invitational is a tough tournament,” Thilmony said. “Overall it was a really good weekend. We like that tournament out of the gate as we see a lot of good competition, even from Class A. It tests us early.” Senior Trae Thilmony, a two-time state champi...
Despite over an hour delay due to a power outage on Saturday, the Thompson Falls basketball teams came out en force Saturday during their first competition of the season in Troy. "I had said we were going to cancel if the power didn't come back on by 3 p.m.," Thompson Falls Athletic Director and boys' coach Jake Mickelson said, "and it came back on at 2:59." Mickelson's team ended up beating Troy 65-39. "We had five brand new varsity starters, so there were some nerves at the start," Mickelson...
Sanders County athletes are hitting the courts and the mats this weekend in the first round of play for the local basketball and wrestling teams. As Thompson Falls boys basketball coach Jake Mickelson said, “It feels like we just played a football game yesterday, and now we’re playing basketball.” And he’s right. Because of the Blue Hawk football team’s long season to a state championship, which was played on November 20, the boys on the team didn’t get much of a break and were at practice the next Monday. Mickelson said practice is going we...
In last week's Ledger, we celebrated the accomplishments of the 2021 8-Player Champion Thompson Falls Blue Hawks. I wrote about the community spirit and support, the stats of the game and interviewed players and coaches following. However, I forgot one important detail – the historical record. When the Blue Hawks won the semifinal football game this year, I immediately went to the basement of The Ledger and pulled out the archives from 1974 and 1975 to read the stories from the previous state ch...
It was a chilly day at Previs Field last Saturday, but the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks were on fire as they dominated their way through a Montana 8-Player State Championship. Coach Jared Koskela and his Hawks defeated defending state champions Flint Creek 40-8, finishing the season 13-0 and winning the first state title for the school since 1975. "I'm speechless, it's incredible," Hawk senior Nathan Schraeder said Saturday. He added that the Hawks felt pretty confident "when we got up three...
The state championship win wasn't just a victory for the Hawks. The entire Thompson Falls community celebrated the team's win with fireworks and a parade down Main Street on Saturday. Koskela said the parade, fireworks and celebration after the game were unexpected, and something he's never experienced as a player or a coach. "You couldn't hardly leave the field," he said. Members of the last state championship teams from Thompson Falls, in 1974 and 1975, joined the Hawks on the field after the...
With the first snowflakes falling on the area, the Thompson Falls community is preparing for its annual Christmas on Main Street event. The theme for this year’s event, scheduled for December 2-4, is “Christmas is Coming.” The Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce will present the Holiday Stroll 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, December 2. Businesses will be open offering goodies and specials, and carolers will be singing up and down Main Street. Craft stations will be set up at First Baptist Church, The Ledger and Rex Community Theather, and at 6 p.m....
Blackfoot Communications presented $6,000 last week to Clark Fork Valley Hospital (CFVH) on behalf of the telecommunications company and CoBank. Tom Eggensperger, president of the Blackfoot Board of Directors, and Account Executive Kris Sweeney presented the funds to Barry Fowler of the CFVH Foundation last Thursday. “The hospital has been so important to communities through COVID,” Eggensperger stated. “We appreciate what Clark Fork Valley Hospital does as a customer.” Fowler said the foundat...
Fresh off a state championship in the Class B/C 8-player bracket of the Montana High School Association (MHSA), the Blue Hawk football team was notified this week that they will be moving up a division in 2022. MHSA met Monday to discuss redistricting and decided that Thompson Falls will move back to 11-player football for the 2022 season. The Hawks will be in the West Division, which will also include Anaconda, Bigfork, Eureka, Whitehall, Loyola and Florence....
With the high school football season over, Sanders County athletes were recently named to the state all-conference and all-state teams. In Class C 6-Man, seniors Kyle Lawson and Jack McAllister of Hot Springs were named to the all-state team, while Noxon seniors Cade VanVleet and Nathan Cano earned all-conference honors. In 8-Player football, Thompson Falls players making the all-state team included seniors Trae Thilmony, Erik Strom, Ryan Bucher and Nathan Schraeder, as well as juniors Breck Ferris and Elijah Ratliff and sophomore Hayden...
On Saturday, Previs Field at Thompson Falls High School takes center stage as the site of the 2021 Montana 8-Player Championship football game. Blue Hawk Coach Jared Koskela and his team are feeling the support of the community. "The support from the community keeps increasing through the season," Koskela noted. "The more support they get, the more energy the team has. They play really well under that support." Koskela said Flint Creek is a familiar foe for the Hawks. Though they haven't played...
An incredible season for the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks volleyball team came to an end last week at the State B tournament in Bozeman. The Hawks headed to the state tournament at Montana State University fresh off a division title win on their home court the weekend before. It was the second straight state appearance for Thompson Falls. "This team is so resilient," Coach Sandra Kazmierczak said. "They don't give up. We were behind many times during the season and they would come back for wins."...
The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks moved one step closer to a state championship last weekend as they defeated Park City 41-16 in the eight-player semifinal game Saturday on their home turf at Previs Field. The Hawks started out the game as they have most of the rest of the season, scoring early and asserting their dominance over their opponent. After turning over the ball on downs in their opening possession, Erik Strom put pressure on the Panthers and caused Park City to throw an interception to Ha...
Ryan Zinke is ready to be back in Washington, D.C., representing Montana. Zinke is running for Montana's newly added second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Zinke this week set out on a 1,200-mile tour through the district. He stopped in Thompson Falls on Tuesday, visiting with The Ledger after meeting with the Sanders County Republican Central Committee. Zinke, a Republican, talked about the tension between federal control and power and having local influence and voice. He said that...
The Noxon community is coming together to support a Noxon athlete who suffered an injury this football season. Senior Nathan Cano, quarterback for the Red Devils, was injured during a game in White Sulphur Springs on October 16. After being life flighted to Great Falls, it was discovered he had two small brain bleeds which caused him to have seizures. According to Cano's family, doctors aren't sure if a specific hit caused his injuries. Coach Bart Haflich called a timeout and Cano walked off...
Even though it's getting darker earlier this late in the year, Main Street in Thompson Falls is a bit brighter with the addition of some new artwork. A 10-foot-tall mural now adorns the side of the Edward Jones building at the corner of Main and Hill streets. The mural, commissioned by the Thompson Falls Film and Theater Foundation, depicts a western scene with cowboy boots and a hat. It also includes information on the Rex Theater Project's Spaghetti Western fundraiser. The event debuted this...
The Blue Hawks won a divisional volleyball tournament last weekend, but it wasn't easy. The Hawks ended up playing the Florence Falcons, who beat them in the regular season, three times in the tournament. They also lost one of their seniors to an injury. It wasn't easy, but they got the job done. This was the first time the Blue Hawks had hosted a divisional volleyball tournament. Coach Sandra Kazmierczak said she and previous coach Jeff Wheeler could not ever remember such an event in Thompson...
The competition was tough at the Western B Divisional volleyball tournament last weekend, and not just for Thompson Falls. Several of the matches went five sets as teams battled for a chance to go to state. Florence’s road to the championship matchup with Thompson Falls began with a three-set win over Mission Thursday afternoon (25-12, 25-12, 25-9). The Falcons then met the Eureka Lions in the quarterfinal, who had beaten Deer Lodge in the opening round in three sets (25-16, 25-24, 25-17). The Lions fought hard against the Falcons but were n...
