More than 60 soccer players from five different U11 and U10 teams gathered at the Amundson Sports Arena for the Plains Jamboree and the first games of the spring season.

The rains stayed away, but the wind took the temperatures to around 40 degrees, prompting portable shelters and blanket wraps for the near 200 fans that came and went throughout the day as coed teams from Plains, Thompson Falls, Libby, and Columbia Falls faced off, each team playing two games. When not on the field, most players warmed themselves in wraps.

The Plains Clark Fork Slushies went home undefeated, winning both their games. The Slushies first took down the Kootenai Rapids out of Libby 2-0 with Isaac Wilder scoring first, followed by Ryder Mercer. In the game against the Thompson Falls Erasers 2, the Slushies won 5-2 with Braedan Allen and Kiya Hjorth sharing the keeper duties.

Caleb Sapp of Plains refereed all the games, which ran from 9:45 a.m. and finished around 4 p.m. Sapp said he not only referees the games, but tries to teach the rules throughout the day.

The Plains team, sponsored by Plains Auto Parts, was coached by husband and wife team Brian and Beth Meaden and has nine boys and four girls on the team from 6-10 years old. They started practicing two weeks ago and hit the field for a little over an hour three days a week, said Brian, who has coached soccer for five years.

"For their first game, they did great," said Meaden of his Clark Fork Slushies, but he added that they saw improvement in the second game by starting to learn their field positions and the general movement of the ball. He said they were bunching up too much in the first game, but against Thompson Falls they had better teamwork and communication on the field.

Wilder slipped the first goal in the game against Eraser 2's 7-year-old keeper Dallas Clearmont for a 1-0 lead. Within two minutes, Allen pounded one in for the second point. He soon did it again to give Plains a 3-0 lead. Wade Nicholson then scored first for the Erasers, but Wilder came right back with one for the Slushies for a 4-1 lead at the end of the first half. Eraser Kobee McGann took over as keeper in the second half and had several saves in the game. With some six minutes in the 25-minute second half, Jude Meaden, who turned 11 years old on game day, shot one up the middle for a 5-1 lead. A short time later, Nicholson found another opening and scored. The game ended with a Slushies 5-2 win.

The day started promising for the Thompson Falls Erasers, who came up with the team name that morning, said Carole Jensen, head coach for both the U10 and U11, assisted by her son, Zac. The Erasers are sponsored by Thompson River Lumber.

In the first face off of the day, the Erasers dominated the game against the Kootenai Rapids, defeating them 8-0 with McGann as keeper, but they lost their second game 2-1 against the Flathead Rapids of Columbia Falls. Nolan Wilkes was the only T-Falls player to score. Erasers 2 were defeated by the Flathead Rapids 10-0. They also lost to the Slushies 5-2 in the last game of the day.

"The first games are always scary because you just don't know, but they played great," said Carole Jensen. The Jensens have six boys and three girls on each of their teams with three playing on both, said Jensen, who has been a soccer coach in Montana for 10 years. She also coached in Washington for 11 years.

"I am very proud of both these teams. They played hard and left everything on the field," said head coach Jensen. "The first games of the season always show us what we need to work on. There were some brilliant moments. The kids had a blast and I am always very excited about this season," she said, adding that her kids will be working on positioning and communication on the field before their next game at Polson on Saturday.

Ed Moreth

Nolan Wilkes of the Thompson Falls Erasers blasts one by Libby goal keeper Isaiah Peterson in a U11/U10 game at the Amundson Sports Complex as referee Caleb Sapp of Plains rushes in to see the score. In the back are the Erasers coaches, Carole Jensen and her son Zac. The Erasers won 8-0.

The Thompson Falls home games are played at the Amundson Sports Complex with their next home game on Saturday, April 27. The Clark Fork Slushies will also take part in the invitational at Polson on Saturday and will have their next home game on April 27.