Sky's the limit for Hawks

The sky is the limit, but the sky is crowded, too.

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawk boys have a very good squad going into this season. The problem is, a lot of the other teams in the Western B division are looking pretty good as well. And only two Western B teams will be moving on to the State B tourney later on this season.

The Western B includes defending District 7B champion Bigfork, which did not graduate anyone from that conference-winning team, and Anaconda, which surged to a surprising second place finish in the State B tournament last winter and has a lot of talent back as well. And that is not even mentioning other potentially fine teams like Florence and Deer Lodge from the eastern side of the division.

Still, Thompson Falls coach Jake Mickelson likes what his team has been showing him going into the season, which opens with a non-conference game at former 7B rival Libby Saturday.

“I am thinking we are going to be very competitive this season,” Mickelson said. “There are some good teams out there but we like to think that we can play with any of them.”

Seniors Danny Hoisington and Payton Frields, first and second team District 7B all-conference picks for the Hawks last winter, and fellow seniors Dylan Beckman, Michael Johnson and Nathan Thibeault, and junior Grant Lundberg return to form the core for this year’s Hawks.

The living legend Michael Benson returns to coach the Blue Hawk junior varsity this season and Scott Pardee will coach the Hawks’ C team.