Jared Winslow had a busy night in the Libby Loggers’ football team 14-6 opening win against Bonners Ferry.

The junior quarterback threw for 109 yards, two touchdowns and rushed for another 37 yards. Perhaps, his biggest play came when the clock reached zeroes.

The hurry-up offense of the Badgers was clicking and the tired Loggers defense, which had spent the majority of the game on the field, was allowing first down after first down.    

Badgers junior quarterback Christian Trocke rolled right and threw across his body to a streaking receiver across the middle. The receiver burnt several defenders up the sideline and looked like he might put Bonners a two-point conversion away from tying the game.

That’s when the fleet-footed Winslow, who doubles as defensive back, caught up with the receiver and knocked him out-of-bounds just shy of the 2-yard line.

“We knew we had to win, so we went out there and played,” Trocke said of his team’s increased offensive production in the final two-minutes. “But we made a lot of mental mistakes tonight.”

Mental mistakes and early-season kinks were almost the story of the game. Libby seemed determined to sink its new offense before it could even take off. It began early when junior defensive lineman Tarasik Krisanov bumped the punter, a 15-yard boon for the Badgers.

“We need to work on our punt-blocking,” said Loggers Head Coach Neil Fuller. “He was maybe too aggressive on that, and that’s not his fault.”

Libby had other costly penalties, including an encroachment on fourth down that put Bonners Ferry at first and goal and allowed them their only score of the night.

“We need to clean up a lot,” said Badgers first-year Head Coach Casey McLaughlin of his team’s malaise in the red zone. “We’re struggling to be successful on offense. Mistakes cascade in football.”

Bonners Ferry’s kicking team missed out on the extra point and would later miss a 30-yard field goal, perhaps costing the team valuable momentum.

Even with the Badgers misfiring, Libby suspensions kept the split-backs out of the game until the second quarter, making the team run out of shotgun formation and not the new veer offense Offensive Coordinator Kyle Hannah had planned.

Predictably, the offense sputtered, Winslow spent more time on his back than he’d have liked, and the Badgers took their 6-0 lead into the half.

The ferocity and ability of the Loggers began to show through in the second half, and the solution was seemingly simple for the beleaguered Logger quarterback.

“The key was our line,” Winslow said. “Giving me more time to throw was huge.”

In a 7-yard dart to Lane Luscher, Winslow put the Loggers on the board with 3:18 in the third quarter, and followed up with a 34-yard throw to Will Reichel to put the Loggers up by the final margin.

Luscher, who had an interception to go with his touchdown, thought the struggles lay in large part with the defense, for which he doubles as a back.

“Our pass protection was really shaky,” Luscher said. “Team pursuit is something we need to work on.”

The Loggers travel to Browning this week. The game is 7 p.m., Friday.