Hawks struggle in 11-man transition

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks lost their third game straight, leaving their record at 0-3 to start the season. The Hawks traveled to Butte last Friday to play the Shepherd Mustangs on neutral grounds at the Naranche Stadium. The transition to 11-man football continues to be a struggle for the Hawks as they suffered their third loss of the season to the Mustangs, 0-20.

The Hawks had a strong opening drive bringing them within the 15-yard line. However, there was a fumble in the backfield that the Mustangs recovered. The Mustangs were able to use this opportunity to march downfield into the endzone for the first touchdown of the game finishing the quarter at 0-8. “Shepherd showed up as a different team than what we saw on film. We weren’t exactly prepared for the power run game they used and that’s on me,” said Haw Head Coach Jared Koskela.

The Mustangs were threatening to score an early touchdown in the second quarter on a fourth and goal with two yards to go. The Hawks made an impressive goal-line stand, stopping the Mustangs only inches from their endzone. The Hawks struggled to get any offensive pressure on the Mustangs for the rest of the quarter. The Mustangs were able to drive the ball to the 1-yard line with only three seconds left on the clock before the half. The Hawks failed to make the stop this round and the Mustangs drove the ball into the endzone leaving the score 0-14 at halftime. “Overall I think we did really good on defense as a team. We communicated really well in the first half. Our offense needs to improve and we need to work as a team,” said junior captain Max Hannum.

On the Mustangs’ first drive of the third quarter, they were able to score on a long breakaway run bringing the score to 0-20. For the rest of the quarter, both teams played a defensive battle and neither team could find an opportunity to score. “Missed assignments and unfortunate turnovers plagued us from start to finish on offense. But the positive piece of that is minor adjustments needing to be made and we will focus on that in practice,” said Koskela.

In the fourth quarter, the Hawks had a promising drive with a series of long passes. They finally got a pass into the endzone but the touchdown was called back on a penalty. The Mustangs got the ball back and used their drive to run out the clock. The game concluded with a final score of 0-20.

“Fairfield will be our last test before we get into conference play where it really counts. We have gotten better on defense and the passing game and have to keep our heads high,” said Koskela.

The Hawks travel to Fairfield this week, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. Friday.