Cats claw past Hawks

ALBERTON – The 8-Man football game has been very good to the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks so far this season.

And even though the Hawks fell 56-38 to Clark Fork in a hard-fought game in Alberton Friday, Thompson Falls is still most definitely in the playoff hunt in their new league, and will be playing meaningful games for the next several weeks – a far cry from the last few seasons for the out-manned Hawks in the Class B 11-Man ranks.

Now 2-1 overall, and 1-1 in conference play, the Hawks travel to Darby Friday to take on the 1-1 Tigers. Darby defeated the Plains Horsemen 41-26 in Plains Saturday. Every game is important in a very competitive Western division race where only four of the 11 teams in the conference will advance to the playoffs.

"It's too early to be talking about the playoffs, everybody probably thinks they have a chance to advance anyway," Hawk coach Jared Koskela said. "We just want to take things one game at a time, and that next game this week is with Darby.

"They will test us in the passing game but I think we will be ready for that," he added. "We look for a good game down there."

Koskela has his boys focusing on the things that they can control as the regular season continues. "We have got to be great at the things we are good at," he said. "If we concentrate on doing the things we do well, we will be all right in the long run."

The Hawks' game with Clark Fork was an exciting offensive exhibition where both teams moved the ball well and scored a lot of points.

As offensive of a game as it was, the Mountain Cats held the Blue Hawk on downs on the first series and took over the ball at their own 31-yard line. Six plays later, Bryan Mask passed to Jake Callaway for the five-yard touchdown and Trey Green ran in the two-point conversion to put Clark Fork ahead 8-0 with 9:03 left in the first quarter.

The Hawks answered immediately with a seven-play drive of their own, reaching paydirt when quarterback Trey Fisher sprinted 32 yards for the score on a fourth down and three yards to go play. Fisher then hit Dakota Irvine with the two-point pass to make the score 8-8.

After Mask hit Kyler Francis with a 13-yard scoring pass and then fed Isaiah Kovalsky the two-point pass, Clark Fork took a 16-8 lead into the second quarter.

The teams then proceeded to trade scores through most of the rest of the Mineral County night.

Following a 23-yard scoring strike from Fisher to Irvine that drew the Hawks back within two at 16-14, Mask scored on a one-yard dive and then passed to green for the two points for the Cats to make the score 24-14 Clark Fork.

Clark Fork then held the Hawks on downs at Clark Fork's nine-yard line (although it looked like the yard markers could have been brought out to measure the distance), marched down the field and scored on a 13-yard pass from Mask to Callaway and added the two-point conversion to make the score 32-14 Cats.

Refusing to go away without a fight, the Hawks immediately answered when Fisher sprinted 42 yards for a touchdown and then added the two points on another run to make the score 32-22.

After Clark Fork fumbled and Brandon Zimmerman recovered on the ensuing possession, the Hawks had one last chance in the half but time ran out, and the game went into halftime.

Clark Fork scored first in the third quarter on a 25-yard pass from Mask to Kovlasky to go up 38-22, before Fisher connected with Lucas Andersen for a 14-yard touchdown pass and then ran in the conversion to make the score 38-30, but the Hawks would not get any closer after that.

Mask threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Francis and scored himself on a one-yard run as Clark Fork extended the advantage to 50-30 by early in the fourth quarter.

The Hawks scored their final TD on a two-yard run by Fisher, followed by the two-point pass from Fisher to Andersen. Clark Fork scored their final touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Mask to Hewston Coon.

Fisher finished with 126 yards rushing and 56 passing to pace the Hawks, Trae Thilmony added 27 yards rushing and 10 receiving, Andersen totaled 24 yards on two receptions, Irvine had 22 yards receiving and Roman Sparks 12 yards rushing.

Defensively, Zimmerman had 11 solo stops and seven assists for 18 total tackles, Fisher added 14, Matt Duplechain 12, Thilmony 10 and Sparks and Irvine six each.