Soccer teams cap inaugural season

With rare exception, starting a new business or fielding a new team in an established, power-laden league, requires willingness to invest in many things, including experience.

For the new kids on the high school varsity soccer block, the Thompson Falls-Plains-St. Regis (TPS) boys' and girls' soccer teams were successful despite their records. 

The boys, who have five seniors on their roster for this, their first season of high school varsity play, went won two, lost seven and tied three matches. The Lady Hawks, meanwhile, were 1-9-2. 

Not playoff qualifying numbers but for followers of the two teams, who were in conferences with three of the top five Class A teams in Montana, the success is in the experience they gained and the improvements they made. 

The boys team closed out its initial season this past week with a 2-1 win over Bigfork and a 6-1 loss to Whitefish in their season finale.  The loss to Whitefish, which in a recent poll was ranked fourth among state A teams, was their second of the year to the Bulldogs. 

The girls played the same two opponents last week to close our their season, falling to Bigfork, the state’s fourth-ranked girls A team, 10-0, then losing their season finale 3-0.  The Lady Bulldogs are ranked fifth in the girls Class A poll. 

TPS boys opened their final week of the season with a trip to Bigfork, where they scored two quick goals on amazing shots in the first half to take a 2-0 lead over the Vikings. 

The Blue Hawks first goal was a seemingly impossible shot from the right side, almost parallel to the net, by junior Andrew Wrobleski.  The shot found a path along the front of the net and into the outside post, giving TPS a 1-0 lead at the 32:00 mark of the first half.   

Less than two minutes later, senior William Grenda launched a penalty kick from just beyond the 30-yard line at the 30:42 mark.  The ball arced over the outstretched hands of the Bigfork goalie and inside the net post, upping the Bigfork lead to 2-0. 

Bigfork answered with just over 25 minutes in the half to cut the Blue Hawks’ lead to 2-1.   

Both teams played tough defense throughout the second half, with neither side able to find the inside of the opponent’s net. 

“It was a great game and so good to get a win,” said boys’ head coach Michael Scharfe. “Jacob Howell played as keeper and did an excellent job of stopping the ball.  He made numerous saves that helped keep us in the game”. 

Scharfe credited the Blue Hawks with playing “with grit the whole 80 minutes”. 

Last Thursday against Whitefish TPS fell behind early to the powerful Bulldogs, despite what Scharfe said was an outstanding performance in goal by Howell. 

“The highlight of the game was when Howell made a beautiful save on a penalty kick, which is one of the hardest things for a goalie to do,” he said. “They have to time their movement and direction just right and Howell did just that on a textbook save”. 

The Blue Hawks’ lone goal was on an on-point strike from 30 yards out by Grenda. 

Scharfe said he was appreciative of the team’s effort this season and of the support from the community, school and fans for making the first season a success. 

“I am so proud of these boys and how much they improved throughout the season,” Scharfe said. “We’ve forever cemented our place in history.  A big thank you to all the parents, fans, businesses and community members who helped us make this season a reality”. 

Against the same two schools this past week, the Lady Hawks lost twice, including a narrow, 3-0 loss to fifth-ranked Whitefish this past Thursday on the Lady Bulldogs’ pitch.  Whitefish netted three first half goals and recorded a match-long shutout in posting the victory. 

Earlier in the week, the Lady Hawks faced a road match in Bigfork against the fourth-ranked Valkyries, who exploded for eight first half goals on their way to the 10-0 win. 

The loss dropped TPS to 1-9-2 for their first campaign in Montana high school varsity sports.  Last week they picked up their first win of the year with a 10-0 rout of visiting Browning, in a game played in Plains. 

Bigfork’s Paeten Gunlock had six goals against the Lady Hawks in the win.  Gunlock leads the state Class A scoring list with an eye-catching 81 points, including a state-best 33 goals so far this year. 

Lady Hawks eighth-grader Katherine Wrobleski finished the year as the sixteenth top point-getter in the state with 26 points, including a team-best 12 goals. 

Grenda led the Blue Hawks boys with 24 total points and seven goals on the year.