St. Regis fell to Valier 76-42 on Saturday, but one bounce might have changed the outcome of the Six-man North game.

With four minutes to play and the Tigers trailing 42-50 after a score, they attempted an onsides kick.

“It bounced off their knee and bounced straight down,” explained St. Regis head coach Dan Noonan. “If it had squirted any way we’d have the ball only down by eight with four minutes left in the fourth-quarter.”

“We just kind of gelled for a couple quarters,” Noonan said. “But in the last four minutes, once they scored again, it seemed like it kind of took the wind out of our sails and they got a couple more long runs right there at the end.”

Valier came out of the gate strong, setting the stage for the Tiger’s near-comeback, scoring 28 points in the first quarter on rushing touchdowns by Koby Hawke (2), Rye O’Neal, and Cole Wagner.

In the second, David Shadley’s 36-yard touchdown reception put St. Regis on the Scoreboard, before Tim Stokes made it 36-6 at the half with a two-yard scoring gallop.

St. Regis made its biggest spash in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns. First,

Spencer broke free for 47-yard clip on the ground, Shad Rich caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Spencer, and Spencer snaked through the defense for 38-yards.

Tim Stokes hit pay-dirt from two yards out, and Cody Berg found an opening on special teams returning a kick-off 60-yards for the Panthers.

 In the final stanza, Tim Cradley and Shandley for the end-zone for the Tigers, before

Hawke scored three straight rushing touchdowns, and Justin Sullivan recovered a fumble in the end-zone putting the cherry on top for Valier.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-5 conf., 1-6 ovr., as Valier improved to 3-1, 4-1.

Hawke led all players with nine carries for 191 yards and five touchdowns, leaving even Noonan in awe of his impressive display.

Thomas Spencer was 10 for 28 for 108 yards in the air and three touchdowns for the Tigers (1-5, 1-6). He also ran 16 times for 146 yards.

“He’s probably the best running back we’ve faced since [University of Montana stand-out] Chase Reynolds,” he said. “He was something else. He was big and fast, and he had some good moves too.”

Despite the loss Reynolds was pleased with several aspects of his teams game including their blocking and defensive play.

“We’ve stressed that [down field blocking] for the last few weeks,” he said. “I mean all season we’ve been one block short, and it just seemed like the second half on Saturday we were getting everyone of those blocks that we’d missed all season.”

In their season finale St. Regis will square off against Alberton, a team that blew them out 46-0 earlier this season.

“They beat us pretty good the first game of the season, but we’ve really improved as a team, and as coaches too,” Noonan said.

In order for the Tigers to have a chance Noonan says they will have to cut down on turnovers and mental mistakes, like penalties and blown assignments.

St. Regis will face travel to Alberton on Friday.