Fisher leads Blue Hawks to 64-24 rout of Flint Creek

With the Thompson Falls offensive line dominating play up front, quarterback Trey Fisher ran for six touchdowns and 187 yards, leading the Blue Hawks to a 64-24 thumping of the two-time defending state champion Flint Creek Titans in 8-man high school football action Friday night in Thompson Falls.

The Blue Hawks took the opening kickoff and marched steadily downfield, putting the game’s first points on a busy scoreboard when running back Nate Wilhite raced around end from five yards out. The conversion run was good, giving Thompson Falls an 8-0 lead with 7:50 left in the quarter. Wilhite finished the game with 87 rushing yards and the team wracked up an impressive 421 yards on the ground.

Flint Creek, a co-op team put together with students from Philipsburg and Drummond, answered the Blue Hawk opening drive 15 seconds later with a 50-yard scoring strike from quarterback Cade Cutler, tying the game at 8-8. From that point on, the game belonged to Fisher and Thompson Falls as Fisher scored on successive runs to 40 and 10 yards to put the Blue Hawks in front 22-8 at the end of the opening quarter.

Just under three minutes into the second, Fisher scored on yet another quarterback keeper, this one a 53-yard scamper to push the lead to 28-8. Flint Creek took the ensuing kickoff and passed its way down to the Thompson Falls 7 before fumbling and turning the ball over to the Blue Hawks.

Following a series of punishing runs behind the imposing line, Fisher ran around end for yet another score, this one from 7 yards out to push the Blue Hawk lead to 36-8 at the half.

The Titans fumbled the kickoff to open the second half, allowing Thompson Falls to march down the field. Fisher capped the drive with a 6-yard run on fourth down.

Flint Creek, which finished the game with 220 passing yards put one more TD of its own on the board via a 59-yard bomb from Cutler but the rout was already on.

Thompson Falls improved to 4-1 on the year as a result of the win, while Flint Creek dropped to 3-2.

Interestingly enough, both teams’ lone loss on the year came at the hands of Clark Fork, a Superior/Alberton co-op team.

Thompson Falls heads to Plains this Friday night for the renewal of a long-standing rivalry following a four-year pause between the two Sanders County schools.

Blue Hawks head coach Jared Koskela was pleased with his team’s performance against Flint Creek and looked forward to renewing the rival matchup with Plains.

“We have a good system going here,” he said. “Our style of play fits the big offensive line and the depth at those positions that we now have. We completely dominated up front and controlled the clock for most of the game. It was a really good win.”

Turning to the upcoming game at Plains, Koskela said he was glad to see the two teams meet again.

“It should be a really fun game and a good one to watch,” he said. “This kind of friendly rivalry is good for both communities.”