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It is time to separate the pretenders from the contenders.

Coach Jared Koskela and his Blue Hawk football team face their next really big test of the season Friday at Previs Field when the two-time defending Montana State 8-Man champion Flint Creek Titans come a calling.

The Hawks will enter this vital Western 8-Man test with a 2-1 record in conference play and 3-1 overall while the Titans, a cooperative between Drummond and Philisburg, sport a 3-1 conference and overall mark.

It will be the biggest football game to be played in Thompson Falls in many years, and that fact is not lost on Koskela or his Hawks.

“This is a really big game, our biggest one in a long time,” he said. “If we win, we put ourselves on the map as one of the teams to beat in the west. But if we lose, we will have our work cut out if we still hope to reach our goal.”

Assuming that goal is to make the State 8-Man playoffs, the Hawks would face a tough task should they lose, but it would still seem to be doable with the correct circumstances.

Clark Fork, ranked No. 2 in the most recent 406mtsports.com Montana 8-Man power poll, is 3-0 in Western conference play and 4-0 overall, Flint Creek, Mission and Seeley-Swan are tied for second in the league with 3-1 conference marks, followed by Thompson Falls (2-1, 3-1) and Plains (2-2, 2-2).

Flint Creek was ranked No. 4 in that latest 8-Man power poll last week, and Clark Fork owns wins over both Flint Creek and Thompson Falls, giving the Mountain Cats the inside track on clinching one of the division’s four available playoff spots soon. The Mountain Cats and Titans are the only Western teams currently listed among the state’s top ten.

The Flint Creek Titans are used to winning football games. The Titans were on a two-year, 26-game winning streak before Clark Fork stopped that skein with a surprising 74-42 win over Flint Creek in Superior to open this season. The Titans have been on a tear ever since that surprising early-season loss. Flint Creek dismantled previously unbeaten Seeley-Swan 62-20 last week in a display of how well they have rebounded since that early-season setback to the Mountain Cats.

Quarterback Kade Cutler, coach Mike Cutler’s son, keys the Titan offensive attack. Cutler was nominated for western Montana player of the week honors for his fine play versus Seeley.

“Their quarterback is one of the better athletes in the league and they like to run a read option,” Koskela said. “They only have a few plays they rely on but they run them well. The key for us is everyone has to play assignment football, maintain their positions and do their jobs when the play comes their way.”

The Hawks will counter Flint Creek’s potent attack with one of the other better offenses in the conference, keyed by quarterback Trey Fisher, and running backs Nate Wilhite, Roman Sparks and Brandon Zimmerman.

“We have some weapons that Flint Creek will need to respect,” Koskela said. “We have been moving the ball pretty well, too.”

Indeed, the Hawks scored early and often in racing past Darby 64-22 deep in the heart of the Bitterroot Valley last Friday night. Wilhite and Fisher led the way with 209 and 133 yards rushing each against the out-matched Tigers.

Wilhite scored touchdowns on runs of 65 and 26 yards, while Fisher reached the end zone on jaunts of 15 and 33 yards.

Sparks led the Hawks’ march into the Darby end zone with three TDs, scored on runs of 19, two and eight yards.

Zimmerman (on a four-yard run) and Derek Andresen (on a three-yard pass from Fisher) scored Thompson Falls’ other touchdowns in Darby.

Koskela expects a sloppy, slippery field by Friday night; it could be a hot, wet mess out there on Previs Field by the time it is over.

“It could be a wet game, some pretty nasty weather is expected, I have been keeping an eye on the forecast,” he said. “But we are really looking forward to this game, come rain, snow or whatever Mother Nature throws at us, we will be ready.”