The Clark Fork Mountain Cats kicked off the football season on Friday, August 26 in Darby —under hazy skies due to the Roaring Lion Fire near Hamilton.

This is the first season of the co-op agreement between Alberton and Superior with the team playing 8-man football. Though the team lost to Darby, 50 to 32, they made a strong showing.

Kaleb Ververis, a junior, started the show with an early game touchdown. Followed by six more made by senior, Nick Turnbull, with two called back because of errors. Isaac Warren, also a junior, played quarterback. Clark Fork Cats lead the Tigers in the first quarter with 12 to 0. But the Tigers came back in the second quarter, putting 20 points on the board, and held the lead for the remainder of the game. Including 24 points in the final quarter, to the Cats 14.

“We beat ourselves,” said head coach, Jeff Schultz, “we had 135 yards with 14 penalties and 7 turnovers. That definitely hurt us.”

He also said they have a talented team and they will clean up a few things and make some adjustments for next weeks game. Shultz said the defense is outstanding and the offense had 400 yards on Saturday. They will also get two of their starters back soon, Connor Voll and Max Faydo, who were both out with injuries this week.

“We will be unstoppable, we just needs to make a few tweaks,” Shultz said.

The Cats also have a big team this year, sporting 28 players. This gives them plenty for a JV team and will give them more field time and the opportunity to better hone their skills

The next home game will be September 9 against Seeley in Superior at 7 p.m. The junior varsity team will play on September 12 in Seeley at 4 p.m.

St. Regis will kick off their season against Mullan, ID on September 2 at home at 7 p.m.