Hawks fall to Florence Falcons

There is nothing left to do now but go out and play football.

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks will wrap up season play at Anaconda Friday night against the Copperheads.

Since both teams are winless up to this point, something will have to give. And that will likely be by the team that wants to win more after seasons full of losses to this point.

The Hawks completed their home schedule with a 49-6 Western B conference setback to Florence Friday on Previs Field.

Securing a playoff spot with the win, the Falcons took advantage of scoring opportunities when they arose while the Hawks, who moved the ball well at times, seemed to have trouble maintaining any offensive continuity in their attack.

"I feel like we didn't really show up to play and made a lot of mistakes," coach Jared Koskela said. "It was one of our worst offensive performances of the season and Florence took advantage of our problems."

The first couple of drives were reflective of how the entire game would end up going.

After taking the opening kickoff, Trey Fisher converted a third down chance with an eight-yard run to give Thompson Falls the first first down of the game. Then Fisher connected with Kade Pardee for a 25-yard completion that gave the Hawks another first down at Florence's 37-yard line.

Florence's defense stiffened at that point and the Hawks could not convert a fourth and six chance, giving Florence the ball at their own 33-yard line. A 47-yard run by Eli Christianson from there gave the Falcons a first down at the Hawks' 20.

Four plays later, Colby Kohlman threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Trevyn Wood for the first touchdown of the game, and the almost automatic Gavin Zaluski, who would end up seven of seven on extra points in the game, booted the conversion for a 7-0 Florence lead with 7:06 left in the first quarter.

After the Hawks gave up the ball on downs again on their next drive, Kyler Alm scored a few plays later on a five-yard run and Zaluski tacked on the extra point for a 14-0 Florence lead.

Thompson Falls managed another first down on their next possession but again gave up the ball on downs after that and, with only six seconds left in the first quarter, Christianson scooted 30 yards for another touchdown and Florence led 21-0 heading into the second quarter.

Zach Cather (50 yards), Christianson (26 yards) and Kohlman (10 yards) added touchdown runs for Florence in the second quarter as Florence set the game clock in motion early, taking a 42-0 lead into halftime.

Florence scored again in the third quarter to make it 49-0, before the Hawks finally broke into the scoring column on a four-yard run by Nate Wilhite in the fourth period. A pass from Fisher to Brandon Zimmerman set up that score.

Koskela said the Hawks could be without a few key players this week due to eligibility issues.

"It is what it is, we will play with the kids we have," he said. "This game should be a dogfight as we are two teams looking for their first win. We need to bounce back and make the most of this opportunity, just go out and play some hard-nosed football."

As has been his habit this fall, Fisher paced the Hawks on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, Fisher rushed the ball 16 times for 82 yards and completed seven passes for another 67 yards. Defensively, he pulled down a team-high eight tackles, seven of which were unassisted.

Wilhite ran the ball for 32 yards, Pardee caught the one pass for 25 and Zimmerman caught five passes for 40 yards and returned four kicks for 92 yards, including one for 53.

Wilhite also had two quarterback sacks and three total tackles for loss from his defensive end position.