Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

by John Hamilton

Is this inglorious ending what leads to a new beginning?

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawk football team ended season play with a 46-13 road loss to the Anaconda Copperheads Friday as the Hawks complete the season with an 0-9 record, including a 0-6 mark in Western B conference games. The ‘Heads finish 1-5 in conference and 1-7 overall with the win.

“Thompson Falls football teams don’t go winless very often,” Hawk coach Jared Koskela said. “This is a wakeup call for this program and our kids, and I am interested in seeing how we respond.

“We need to work on some things during the off-season,” he added. “We need to get better in the classroom, we need to get more kids in the weight room, and we need to give some time to football in the summer if we hope to get this thing going in the right direction. I am going to work my butt off, we will see if we have some kids buy in, too.”

Grades and injuries played a role in the loss at Anaconda. Two starters were lost before kickoff due to poor grades. Then starting quarterback/linebacker Trey Fisher, the team’s leading rusher, suffered a deep thigh bruise early on in Anaconda.

Before long, fatigue started to also take its toll.

“We got crippled quick, and then fatigue started kicking in,” Koskela said. “With Trey hurt and the other kids already out, we were forced into passing more and it made us kind of one-dimensional, and easier to defend.”

In the beginning, the Hawks looked good in Anaconda and, in fact, took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after Nate Wilhite ran eight yards for the game’s first touchdown and Kade Pardee tacked on the extra-point kick.

The Hawks’ early lead did not last however, as the Copperheads scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 22-7 lead into halftime, and extended that lead to 34-7 by the middle of the third quarter.

Fisher connected with Pardee for a five-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter for the Hawks’ final scoring of the 2019 season.

Although hobbled by the thigh injury, Fisher completed 16 of 40 passes for 159 yards and ran the ball 11 more times for 66 yards. Willhite packed the pigskin 16 times for 36 yards and Justin Miller carried it twice for 11 more yards.

Wilhite caught six passes for 80 yards, Pardee had two catches for 37 yards, Roman Sparks three for 29 yards, Trae Thilmony three for 16 yards and Cody Burk one catch for six yards.

Wilhite paced the defense with seven tackles, including two quarterback sacks and a total of six unassisted stops, and Pardee and Jordan Fisher added four unassisted tackles each (with one of Fisher’s being another quarterback sack).

Wilhite and Jordan Fisher also recovered Anaconda fumbles.

Brad Lantz and Thilmony also recorded four tackles apiece, and Trey Fisher and Jack Jacobson added three each.