Tigers have a tough season

The St. Regis Tigers knew how to play football, but this season they had to relearn some stuff when they switched from an eight-man game down to a six-man game.

Coach Danny Noonan was confident that the switch wouldn’t be too much of a transition once players got used to the new rules and new styles. With 17 kids showing up for practice on the first day, Noonan was hopeful. Eight freshmen were on the team with sophomores and juniors to round it out. Noonan felt that if they could pull it together, he felt that the talent was there.

The first game for the Tigers didn’t go as well as they had hoped. They were on their home field against county rival Alberton and lost 0-45. Noonan was impressed by what the Panthers did, and was also appreciative of the crowd.

“There was a great crowd,” he said, “one of the biggest crowds we’ve had in years. And they stayed with us to the bitter end.”

Despite the loss, the younger kids got a lot of playing time on the field and that would be important as the team would lose many of its players dropping down to around ten kids for the season. Noonan said that though young, they played a good game against Alberton.

A little bit more experience might have helped against North Star the following week. The Tigers lost 13-53.

“The second quarter of the game was pretty ugly for us,” Noonan said. “We scored to make it 20-6, which put us back in the game, but they turned it on. We had a lot of turnovers.”

The Tigers played tough against Big Sandy during their homecoming game. It was a long game for the Tigers who failed to score any points in the first three quarters and found themselves struggling against a more experienced team. The team held Big Sandy to six points in the first quarter.

“We pretty much played them dead-even in the first quarter,” Noonan said. “We stopped them twice on downs and they scored right at the end there. From there, we couldn’t seem to do anything.”

Despite the loss, Noonan was impressed by the efforts of his team as they played Big Sandy.

“The kids never quit and the freshmen played well once they figured it out,” he said.

Playing against Valier, the Tigers came close, but lost 42-76. Trying to win from behind, the Tigers just fell short. With four minutes left in the game, and the Tigers trailing 42-50, the win was within reach and the team attempted an onsides kick.

“It bounced off their knee and bounced straight down,” Noonan said. “If it had squirted any other way we’d have the ball only down by eight with four minutes left in the fourth quarter.”

Noonan said that once Valier scored again in the last four minutes it seemed like the wind was taken out of the Tigers’ sails and the opponent took the ball down the field in some more long runs.

With the game behind them, the Tigers finished their season the following week with a second game against Alberton. They lost this time, 22-63.

“We just kind of stumbled in the end,” Noonan said of the game. “They were pretty much on top of us by the end of the first quarter and pretty much had the game in their hands.”

The rough season is finally over for the Tigers. The only win they acquired was a forfeit win when Heart Butte failed to show because of a lack of players. Low numbers eventually became a problem for St. Regis as well.

“We started out with high expectations,” Noonan said. “We had eighteen kids sign up and show up at the first couple of practices.”

But by the end of the season, the team was down to nine in what Noonan said was the same old story.  Noonan said the team struggled during the season against teams that had been playing six-man football for awhile.

“We definitely learned how wide-open of a game it is,” he said, “and it’s a bit less structured. If you have the right personnel you can run anything.”

Noonan said that though they didn’t come out of the season with a legitimate win, he was proud of his team and how the players performed and stuck with it. He said that despite everything, it was a good time and he felt that they were able to compete more.