Rivalry comes to a head
In the eye of the storm: the Savage Horsemen and Blue Hawks experience a lull in the action between period of utter chaos.
Carson Lilja breaks a tackle as he rolls out on a naked bootleg.
Plains-Hot Springs head coach Jim Lawson calls in a play from the sideline.
Jonathon Joner leads a convoy paving the way for Taylor Firestone.
Plains-Hot Springs and Thompson Falls squared off Friday night in a grudge-match that’s older than the seniors on either team.
Adding to the hoopla and intensity were Plains homecoming festivities, beginning with a bonfire on Thursday, continuing on Friday afternoon with the Savage Horsemen Olympics and culminating with the football game on Friday evening.
The game itself, wasn’t as exciting as Thompson Falls ran away with the game, winning 31-0.
“As everybody knows the Black and Blue Trophy was on the line,” Blue Hawks head coach Doug Padden said. “There’s a lot of hype that goes with it, and we really tried avoiding it this year.”
“It wasn’t bad,” Savage Horsemen head coach Jim Lawson said. “I don’t think it was a distraction. I just felt like we didn’t execute like we could have and that’s my fault. I’ve got to get them better prepared.”
Most of the damage was done on the ground for Thompson Falls. Chris Hart rushed for 133 yards, and Nick Adler racked up 95 of his own.
“This is only the second game he’s started,” Padden said. “I think he’s got a starting position.”
Padden has been impressed with his team’s resiliency, despite struggling to a less than stellar record.
“These guys, for the first couple games were really having a hard time with the losing,” Padden said. “We really focused on giving your all and elevating your game and making yourself better and just let the chips fall where they may. If it’s a loss we accept it, and if it’s a win we’ll accept that too.”
Although on the wrong end of the score board on Friday, Lawson was also happy with his team’s efforts this season.
“Well, I’m happy with the way the kids have played, how hard they’ve played. Obviously, you can’t always look at your record and go by that. You kind of have to go by if you’re getting the best out of your kids or not,” Lawson said.
“It was kind of a bummer for everybody,” Lawson said. “We can rebound from that. I know the kids definitely want to win their last two games.”
Remarkably both Thompson Falls and Plains-Hot Springs still have an outside chance at making the playoffs, despite having just one conference win with two games remaining.
“A lot of other things would have to happen,” Lawson said. “It’s kind of a rare situation to have, I think, every single team in the conference is still in the playoff hunt right now.”
Plains-Hot Springs will play Mission on Friday, as Thompson Falls is set to face off versus Eureka.