Fairview Warriors end Hawks' playoff run

It ended about two weeks too soon, but the Thompson Falls Blue Hawk football team completed season play with a 66-6 loss to No. 1 ranked Fairview in faraway Fairview Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Montana 8-Man playoffs.

Although the end came quickly, Thompson Falls fans will not be forgetting this special season of 2019 Blue Hawk football anytime soon.

"All good things come to an end and this team gave us a heckuva ride this season," coach Jared Koskela said of his powerful Hawks, who complete play with a fine 9-2 record. "We would have liked to get a little deeper into the playoffs but Fairview is a very good team, and I expect them to win it all in the next few weeks."

Fairview will host Fort Benton and Clark Fork will entertain Great Falls Central in the State 8-Man semifinals this week.

Koskela was impressed with what the Warriors brought against his Hawks, who were riding a seven-game win streak after last losing to Clark Fork in Alberton way back on Sept. 13.

"They have built a really good football culture in Fairview, they have been aiming at having a good season this year for a while and it has fallen together nicely for them," he said. "The long trip getting over there didn't help but that is a good team. They really pushed us around."

Cody Asbeck and Alex Schriver, Fairview's biggest weapons all season, were lethal against the Hawks.

Asbeck opened scoring in the game by taking a punt back 55 yards for a touchdown. A short while late, Schriver pitched an 18-yard scoring strike to Jesse Selting to make the score 12-0, which it remained until the second quarter.

The Warriors took complete control of the game with a 22-point second quarter as Schriver scored on a one-yard run, Easton Hope reached paydirt on three-yard run, and Asbeck scored again on a four-yard run, and the game went into halftime with Fairview ahead 34-0.

Playing one of his better games of the season, Alex Vogelsang returned the second-half kickoff 58 yards for a touchdown to give the Hawks a ray of hope, but Fairview quickly answered to put things out of reach.

Asbeck scored two more touchdowns on runs of seven and six yards, Hunter Sharbono caught a 25-yard scoring strike from Schriver and Brady Buxbaum wrapped up game scoring with a four-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Completing one of the single most productive individual seasons in Blue Hawk football history, senior quarterback Trey Fisher ran the ball 20 for 86 yards besides completing four passes for 24 more yards.

Fellow senior Nate Wilhite added 20 yards rushing and six receiving, and Vogelsang caught two passes for 20 more yards.

Defensively, Vogelsang pulled down a season-high 15 tackles to lead the Hawks, Fisher added nine stops, Matt Duplechain eight and Brandon Zimmerman five.

Koskela sees a silver lining in the loss.

"It was nothing but positive," he said of the season. "We came a long ways, all the way from a 0-9 season last year in 11-Man to 9-2 this year, and that feels really good.

"The kids bought in, worked hard and made it a season they can always remember," he added, "and you can't ask for much more than that."

Koskela said his assistant coaches Bill McGuire, who coached the defense, and Ray Brown, who worked with the special teams, were a big part of the winning formula this fall.

"They were both awesome to work with," Koskela said. "Bill was kind of my 8-Man guru this fall, he really understands the game so well, and Ray has this ability to communicate with and relate to the kids so well. They were invaluable to this team, and it was nice having them both in the school system with the kids every day."

Koskela also praised the work of team managers Maycie Anderson and Daisy Ulrick. "It is not exactly easy to manage a football team," he said, "but those two did a great job all season."

Looking at the big picture, Koskela was grateful to the team's fans and optimistic about the future of Blue Hawk football from this point forward.

"The community support we received was just awesome this season," he said. "And that's a positive for everyone – the kids, the school, the town. It's kind of been our motto this year: start believing and start achieving, and we were able to do that."