Young Hawks won't give in

They never give up and they never give in; the junior high Blue Hawk football team just keeps playing hard right down to the last second of each game.

Playing with lots of heart, the undermanned Hawks dropped a pair of games last week, falling 54-32 to the young Vikings in Charlo Tuesday and 32-18 to the Mission Bulldogs at Previs Field in Thompson Falls Saturday.

Coaches Michael T. Allen and Brandon Fisher were set to guide the young Hawks against Sanders County rival Plains Tuesday afternoon in Thompson Falls (results of that game were not available at press time) and will take their boys to Troy Saturday.

Elijah Ratliff led the Hawks against Charlo, completing six of nine passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns besides rushing the ball three times for 65 yards and another touchdown.

Beano Fisher completed a 25-yard TD pass to Ratliff, and Breck Ferris caught two of Ratliff's touchdown passes and returned a kickoff 60 yards for another touchdown.

Ratliff pulled down a team-high 16 tackles, Hayden Hanks made 10 stops, Max Hannum seven and Fisher six.

The Hawks scored two touchdowns, two safeties and a two-point conversion in the game with Mission.

Fisher passed for both TDs, completing one to Ratliff and the other to Ferris, in addition to running over a Mission linebacker to convert a 2-pointer following the second touchdown pass. Fisher completed nine of 17 pass attempts for 143 yards and added 51 yards rushing on eight carries.

Hanks carried the ball seven times for 23 yards and Ratliff three times for 10 more yards.

Hannum piled up six tackles, Ratliff had five and Ferris, Fisher and Hanks four each to lead the Hawks on the defensive side.