In a battle of two undefeated “Hawks,” the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks soundly defeated the Seeley-Swan Blackhawks 62-6 Friday night at Seeley-Swan High School. In a game billed as “the Montana 8-Man game of the week,” by 406mtsports.com, Thompson Falls justified their number two ranking in the state by dominating the first half scoring 50-6.

In front of the rowdy Blackhawk Nation crowd, Thompson Falls relied on both sides of the football to jump out to an early 30-0 lead in the first quarter. Junior quarterback Elijah Ratliff opened up the scoring with one of his two four-yard rushing touchdowns on the night. Then it was the defense’s chance to shine in a thrilling sequence that included an interception return for a touchdown by senior linebacker Nathan Schraeder, a safety by senior cornerback Ryan Bucher, (who then ran for an eight-yard touchdown) and yet another pick-six for Shraeder. Seeley-Swan was able to salvage some momentum by ripping off a 75-yard touchdown run at the end of the first quarter, but trailed 30-6 heading into the second.

Thompson Falls continued their dominance on the ground in the second quarter with two rushing touchdowns from senior running back Trae Thilmony, and one more from Ratliff. The Blue Hawks had their way running the football Friday night, racking up 261 yards on the ground. Running the football has been key for the Blue Hawks this season as they now have run for over 250 yards in each of their first five games.

The second half of the game was low scoring as Thompson Falls looked to close out the victory. Blue Hawk junior running back Josh Wilhite tacked on two rushing touchdowns to account for all of the combined scoring in the second half.

Up next for the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks is a matchup against No. 21 Darby High School, who is coming off of a dominating win at Troy. Darby will carry a four-game winning streak into Thompson Falls in what should be a true test for the Blue Hawks. If Thompson Falls can run the football and play defense like they did Friday, it should once again be a great day to be a Blue Hawk.