The Northwest SharpShooters lacrosse club wasn’t intimidated by its older neighbors, dominating the first quarter to take a commanding lead in an 8-5 victory over cross Valley rivals Flathead Lacrosse on Thursday at Glacier High School.

Flathead, the elder team in the matchup featuring a roster of seniors and juniors, scored first, barely two minutes into the contest when attacker Lazlo Urbach recovered a turnover in front of the SharpShooters net and buried a point-blank shot behind the goalie.

If that was a statement, it didn’t register.

The SharpShooters, a first-year program based in Kalispell and made up mostly of sophomores and freshmen from last year’s Flathead 15U state championship squad, answered quickly.

Freshman midfielder Lincoln Jones got Northwest on the board with a shot from 15 feet out. A little more than two minutes later Jones was in an opportune place as a deflected shot bounced to him on the weak side of the offensive zone and he buried another point-blank goal to give the Sharpshooters their first lead and a growing sense of confidence.

Shortly after Darin Rashleigh dumped in a third goal for the SharpShooters and Logan Hill another after that. With a minute left in the quarter, Collin Kazmier added a fifth-straight goal for Northwest to give his squad a commanding lead.

Riding their speed in the midfield, the SharpShooters looked to have another goal early in the second quarter but it was waived off after a penalty was called on the goalscorer for an illegal stick.

The infraction halted momentum for the Kalispell team as it played with a man down.Flathead took advantage, scoring a goal 26 seconds later on a pass from Urbach behind the net to a wide open Marcus Jackson, whose quick shot cut the score to 5-2.

Jackson added another right before half, taking a pass from Mason Nicholson as he slashed into the slot and quickly flipping it on net to put Flathead down two goals at the break.

Flathead kept its momentum rolling after half, with Jackson completing his hat trick less than a minute into the third quarter firing a rope through traffic to cut the Sharpshooters lead to 5-4.

Flathead would continue the push, until the end of the frame, firing three chances on goal in the final minute of the third only for each to go awry.

As the overcast and blustery weather turned to drizzling rain in the fourth quarter, the SharpShooters began to find their range again.

With nine seconds remaining in a man advantage, Caleb Jones, the lone senior for Northwest, found the net, scoring the SharpShooters’ first goal in more than 26 minutes to push the lead back to 6-4. After a few more chances went wide, including a point-blank shot from Northwest that hit both the post and the crossbar, Drew Engellant scored again for the SharpShooters, burying a goal from outside that bounced in the net off a near stop from the Flathead goalkeeper. Northwest’s Garrett Frost added another with 1:42 to play to help the SharpShooters run away with the game.

“It’s been a long time getting to this point,” senior Caleb Jones said. “These guys beat us (in the) preseason in a scrimmage and we wanted them back. We got it done tonight.

“Especially the first time, it’s a big deal for a first-year program against a team that’s been around for a little while. They’ve had some success in the state tournament, it’s pretty cool to have a group of young guys and be able to beat a team like this.”

Flathead’s Nicholson cut into the lead just 19 seconds later to keep the game within a chance, but the Whitefish team couldn’t get anymore tries on net.

“(We played) very poorly, didn’t come ready to play, as shows in the first quarter,” Flathead coach Matthew Rizzolo said.

“It was a one-goal game at one point, we just weren’t able to execute.”

With the win, the Sharpshooters (7-2) have won their last five games and enter the meat of the schedule with only one loss to an in-state team, a 9-8 game to undefeated West Billings in the season opener.

“I can’t even speak right now,” SharpShooters coach Thomas Roehl said.

“It feels like we won state, but I know we haven’t. There’s still a long way to go. I’m just proud of my team right now.

“There’s still plenty of games to be played. We still have (first-place) Hellgate, we still have a lot of good teams. But, this was a huge accomplishment for us.”

Flathead (6-4) is still in the top half of the Western conference with the loss, with a big matchup against East leaders West Billings (7-0) on Saturday in Missoula.

Northwest will be in Butte this weekend for a pair of contests before hosting Missoula Hellgate (7-0) and the Helena Huskies (7-2) next week.

The state tournament will be held on May 20-22 at the University of Montana fields in Missoula.

Flathead 1 2 1 1 — 5

Northwest 5 0 0 3 — 8

First Quarter — 1, Flathead, Lazlo Urbach, 10:27. 1, Northwest, Lincoln Jones, 8:23. 2, Northwest, L. Jones, 6:18. 3, Northwest, Darin Rashleigh, 5:00. 4, Northwest, Logan Hill, 3:46. 5, Northwest, Collin Kazmier, 1:01.

Second Quarter — 2, Flathead, Marcus Jackson (Urbach), 9:00. 3, Flathead, Jackson (Mason Nicholson), 21.2.

Third Quarter — 4, Flathead, Jackson (Nicholson), 11:27.

Fourth Quarter — 6, Northwest, Caleb Jones, 8:28. 7, Northwest, Drew Engellant, 5:06. 8, Northwest, Garrett Frost, 1:42. 5, Flathead, Nicholson, 1:23.