New coach leads Bluehawks

THOMPSON FALLS – The Bluehawks of Thompson Falls are under new leadership for the upcoming football season, a man who himself was coached by last year’s coach, Curt Kegel.

Jared Koskela has stepped up to the position, hoping to give back to a program that heavily influenced him.

“I wanted to give back to the program what they gave to me,” Koskela said. “I had success with it and my future was formed from this group right here. It is a good way to give back.”

Koskela last played for the Bluehawks in 2001, and then went on to play five years at Montana Tech. His love for the game is palpable and he plans on building onto what he considers an already strong program.

The first year head coach assisted Kegel for two years prior, so he has a strong understanding of the team dynamic.

“I’m not going to change a whole lot from what they did because I had success here, so I’m going to keep the same tradition,” Coach Koskela said.

The new coach plans on keeping the same philosophies, while adding a little twist. His goal for the season is one that he picked up while playing football in college – continual improvement.

“(Our goal is to) every practice get one percent better,” Koskela said.

This year the team has a larger pool of athletes to work with. Currently the team sits at 36 players, up from 24 last year. The numbers help give Thompson Falls an advantage.

“If one guy goes down we have a back up at least,” Coach Koskela said.

During two-a-day practices the team worked heavily on the basics. Coach Koskela said it was important to nail the specifics of the game down in order to finish a strong game and win the fourth quarter.

So far the team’s five captains have stepped up to the plate and have been good leaders for those under them. With around 20 returning players, many of the underclassmen already know what to expect.

This year eight freshmen were also added to the ranks.

Coach Koskela is excited to hit the ground running for their first game against Florence on Friday, Aug. 29. Although not much is known about the team this year, Florence was one in seven last year.

He said the game will be a good opportunity for the team to bring out all the stops against someone other than members on their own team.

“It’s hitting a different color helmet,” Coach Koskela explained. “Usually we do a scrimmage that we do before our first game. When we are hitting the same color of helmet for three weeks, these guys aren’t going as hard as they want.”

The game will offer the players an opportunity to go at their opponent at full force again and is what Coach Koskela referred to as a huge pick up game. It will help them gauge where they stand for the remainder of the season.

The team has been hitting practices hard, conditioning and working on harnessing their strength. The excitement could be felt during the ongoing drills and it was evident that the Bluehawks have a strong love for the game, something the coach also feels.

“I just can’t stay away from the game,” Coach Koskela said.