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The road to Scobey is a long one, a very long one indeed, 629 miles to be exact according the Montana Department of Transportation in-state distance calculator.

That 629 miles might not seem like a real long distance to many who have lived in Montana for a long time but consider this – if you went the other way from Thompson Falls and headed west, you would reach Seattle at something past 400 miles, roughly the same distance as it is to relatively nearby Billings, which after all, is only about halfway across our continent-eating state.

As long as the trip is to Scobey, Thompson Falls coach Jared Koskela and his Blue Hawks are still glad to still be in the playoffs and to be one of the last eight 8-Man teams standing in Montana. Thompson Falls is scheduled to take on the Scobey/Opheim Spartans in Scobey Saturday in the quarterfinals of the 8-Man playoffs.

And it’s not like the Hawks have not made this kind of trip before. Just last year as a matter of fact, also in the quarterfinal round, the Hawks were forced to travel all the way to Fairview – that’s over 650 miles for you math majors – and ended up taking a 66-6 whipping from the North Dakota-leaning Warriors.

Koskela hopes that experience helps his team handle the big-game pressure better this time.

“Every year is a different team, but I think we learned some things from that game last year, things that could help us this time,” he said. “I know this team is still hungry and it would be nice to see them realize their full potential before it’s over.”

Koskela said that if the Hawks and Fairview both win their next two games and land in the championship that ironically Fairview would be forced to play that title game in Thompson Falls.

“That’s the only way we could end up hosting another game,” he said. “If we keep winning and Fairview does too.”

I wasn’t rooting for Fairview last year but I am now. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the second State championship game ever played on Previs Field in a few weeks?

I certainly think so! Go Hawks, to Scobey and beyond…

By the way, that first and so far only State championship football game ever played in Thompson Falls was way back in 1974 and the Hawks walloped visiting Huntley Project 60-22 to win the first of two straight State B titles for Thompson Falls.

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In spite of the COVID-19 shadow looming over the nation and Montana prep sports this fall, the playoffs and tournaments are progressing, maybe not smoothly but they are progressing.

Of local interest in the other 8-Man football playoff games last week, No. 1 ranked Fort Benton defeated Mission 61-6, Joliet edged Westby-Grenora 28-18, Flint Creek dumped Belt 60-14, Fairview beat Ennis 44-6, Park City handled Ekalaka 36-0, Shelby knocked off Clark Fork 60-14 and Scobey/Opheim blitzed Cascade 50-0.

In this week’s quarterfinal matchups, Fort Benton hosts Joliet, Flint Creek entertains Fairview, Park City plays host to Shelby and, of course, Thompson Falls travels to Scobey/Opheim.

Starting a week earlier due to the condensed scheduling created by COVID-19 this fall, the 6-Man playoffs will be in the semifinal round this week with Froid/Medicine Lake hosting Big Sandy and Shields Valley playing at Western conference champion White Sulphur Springs.

In the 6-Man quarterfinals, Froid/Medicine Lake dropped Harlowton/Ryegate 52-6, White Sulphur Springs bested Savage 44-6, Big Sandy umped Bridge 36-12, and Shields Valley outlasted Power/Dutton/Brady 33-26.

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These are admittedly tough times between the politics, COVID-19 and all the other crazy things going on in the world right now.

On top of all the strife we have been experiencing this calendar year, the passing of some very fine folks from this area recently has only added to the trauma of 2020.

For those of you who didn’t know, long-time Sanders County resident, running guru and coach Tony Banovich, and former county athletes Kimmy Moore Cloud and Kelsey Fitchett Cold have all passed away within the last several weeks, leaving some very large holes in the lives of many people around here.

These shockingly sad developments have really hit close to home just when we did not need news like this, it’s like grief on top of grief.

At times like these it is easy to say that the memory of these people will live on with the rest of us, that they really never are truly gone. We carry them and their memories with us for the rest of our individual lives.

Combined with all the other craziness going on right now, it could almost bring us to our knees if we let it. But, to be sure, none of our missing peeps would want us to react that way – I am sure they would say stay in the game, stay in the fight, after all that is what they always did.

In the words of Sean Connery, another recently dearly departed friend – we are shaken not stirred. And waiting anxiously for the calendar to turn over to 2021.