The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks started this year’s season off right with a 13-6 win against the Florence Falcons last Friday night.

Quarterback Brandon Wakefield drew first blood in the first half with a one-yard QB sneak into the end zone and the Falcons fought back with a touchdown of there own, tying the game up in the third quarter.

At the end of half time, the third quarter showed itself to be a stalemate as the two teams made a number of attempts to gain ground despite a few close call tackles made by junior Will Dalby a defensive back and backup quarterback.

“Will Dalby had two really good plays that saved us,” Blue Hawk Coach Doug Padden said.

In the fourth quarter Dalby laid the foundation for the Blue Hawks game winning touch down when he intercepted a pass from the Falcons on the 60 yard line and ran it forty yards to be tackled only four yards from the Falcons end zone. Running back Hayden Cristaldi made short work of the four yards and charged into the end zone to break the tie 13 to 6.

Despite their best effort the Falcons were unable to make up for the lost the ground that the night and ended with the Blue Hawks celebrating their first win by running out onto the field. After their win they had team prayer and cheer to end the night.

Though he was happy about the teams win Padden was cautious not to be overconfident about the path that lies ahead. He said that he felt that the win will help the team gain some momentum for the season but also felt that there was still a lot of work to be done with basic fundamentals.

“We’re going to work on our blocking schemes and then just good fundamentals; our fundamentals aren’t where I want them yet,” Padden said.

Yet, he said that for the first game of the season he was very impressed with the teams offensive technique and the constant energy and effort they gave throughout the night.

“It really make me feel good that we can have as rough a game offensively as we did and still come out on top,” Padden said

He credited the win to the discipline of the players and simple good ball control.

“We did really well in the first half because of the good conditioning the team had offensively,” Padden said.

Going into the game the Blue Hawks offensive strategy was to run a wing offensive, but Padden said that he had to alter his plans midway through the game to simplify things and focus the team.

“At that moment I just made up my mind we were going to run the ball down the field and we did,” he said.