The Somers Mustangs played their first game of the season against Bigfork last Thursday, falling behind in the second half after keeping pace with the rival team for most of the first half.

The final score left Somers with 12 points on the board to Bigfork's 28.

Somers showed the Vikings that they could play hard early on, with teammates Dallas Grimes and Tanner Mack both scoring touchdowns. Grimes also showed his talent as a running back by making a couple of runs against Bigfork, moving the ball easily across the field and into Mustang territory.

Somers assistant football coach Casey Love said he felt the team played well in the first half and should have done better in the second. Part of the difficulty, he said, was due to the uneasiness of some of the players going into their first game of the season.

Head Somers football coach Nate Dorcheus shared Love's assessment.

"It was our first game, so the kids were super nervous," Dorcheus said. "I thought once the game got started offensively, the kids did a really good job of moving the ball. The snaps between the center and the quarterback were good."

In all, 27 seventh and eighth graders tried out for the team this year. A number of the players found themselves playing their first football game ever when they hit the field on Thursday, and Love noted that even the ones who had been there before were feeling some apprehension about not having faced a rival team since last fall.

Like Dorcheus, Love said that, overall, he saw a lot of good things happen on the field last week and believes the team shows a lot of potential for the rest of the season.

"I don't think [the Vickings' were that much better than we are. There were just some mistakes on our part," Love said. "I think if we could play them again, it would be a different story."

Having learned some hard lessons and acquired some new strategies, Love said the team is anxious to play this week.

"I think the team's going to do really well," Dorcheus said. "They're a great bunch of kids. They're hard working, and they're very coachable, which makes it easy to implement new strategies and new plays."

This year is Love's first year with the team Dorcheus and Love are also joined by Somer P.E. teacher Jim Radakovich, who is volunteering his time to help with the team.