Blue Hawks rout Charlo, 42-0, in opener

A 42-0 drubbing of an opponent is not necessarily a harbinger of great success, but it ain’t a bad way for the Thompson Falls 8-man football team to put to rest fears they may have lost too much from the graduating class to be as good as they have been in recent years.

With that thought to ponder, it appears the Blue Hawks are locked and re-loaded heading into the 2021 Montana high school season.

The fourth-ranked playoff team from last year showed they may be worthy of another lofty spot in the Montana state 8-man polls with an impressive running game and a solid offensive line.

As the shutout of Charlo indicated, they seem to be ready to fly on defense as well.

Blue Hawks running back Keinen Williams got T-Falls on the scoreboard first when he plowed over the goal line from three yards out in the early moments of the first quarter. A failed point after touchdown attempt left the visitors with a 6-0 lead.

Before the opening quarter ended, Blue Hawk quarterback Elijah Ratliff bounced around the corner on his way to an 8-yard TD run that doubled the T Falls lead at 12-0.

Not to be outdone, the Blue Hawk defense got in on the scoring column early in the second quarter as defensive back Jordan Fisher intercepted a Charlo pass and sprinted 42 yards for a pick-six touchdown return. This time the Blue Hawks converted the PAT attempt, giving them a 20-0 lead.

Before the first half ended all-state athlete Trae Thilmony, a returning all-stater in football and a two-time state champion wrester, blasted into the end zone from six yards out. Another successful PAT gave Thompson Falls a 28-0 lead as time ran out in the first half.

Thilmony finished as the game’s leading rusher with 158 yards on just 12 carries, including a 70-yard TD.

The second half opened much like the first quarter did, with Williams again capping a steady Blue Hawks drive when he blew into the end zone on a 6-yard scoring run, giving T-Falls a 34-0 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

Ratliff, who had four fumbles on the day but still ran for 71 yards on 19 attempts, put the finishing touches on the Blue Hawk rout when he waltzed in for a score from four yards out. A successful PAT set the final score at 42-0 in favor of Thompson Falls.

After the game, coach Jared Koskela said he was pleased with the Blue Hawks performance with an eye toward reducing the number of fumbles during the game.

“Our play was outstanding,” Koskela said. “We had a goal of being more physical than them and we did that, we wore them out.

“It was wet on the field and the ball was slippery, but we need to take care of the ball better. We had four fumble turnovers on offense, that can’t happen to win football games”.

Koskela was also happy with the running of Thilmony and the overall play of the offensive line.

“Trae Thilmony showed that he is capable of carrying the load on the ground,” he said. “The offensive line stepped up big time by buying into my system and working together.”

Next up for the Blue Hawks is a road game against the co-op St. Regis/Mullan, Idaho team this Friday night in St. Regis, a game Koskela said is a good test for the Thompson Falls players.

“St. Regis will be a good game,” he said. “It’s a non-conference game so not such a huge deal to lose, but we will go down there to win the game. This is also a chance to try a few different things to broaden the playbook and use more skill players.”

The 7 p.m. game in St. Regis could indeed be a unique contest as the 2021 season games momentum.