Will the third time be the charm for St. Regis/Mullan, the two-state co-op that has steadily climbed the Idaho football playoff ladder rung by rung the past two years?

Or will they run into another buzzsaw team from the Idaho flatlands?

One thing is for sure, the two-state Tigers are locked and loaded again this year as they ready for what they hope will be a championship run.

The Tigers, who breezed through their regular season schedule last year and won a pair of playoff games before being blanked 64-0 in the Idaho 8-man state championship game by Dietrich, lost only two players from last year’s squad.

While one of those players was an all-state defender, Riley Trodgen from Mullan, the co-op returns a solid group of players, including three who won post-season honors for their play in 2020.

The backfield is stronger than ever with the return of a pair of “next” level performers in Mullan senior running back Luke Trodgen and St. Regis senior running back Adam Ball.

Both seniors, who also excel on defense in a very strong Tigers linebacking group, have drawn the interest of several local college programs, including Montana State and Montana, along with a host of Frontier Conference schools.

All of that, as one might imagine, sits well with co-op co-coaches Jesse Allan of St. Regis and Stetson Spooner from Mullan.

“We’ve got a good core of guys back,” said Allan. “Not only are they talented, but most of these guys have been in our system for the past two or three years and have known each other longer than that in many cases”.

And if that wasn’t good enough to generate a tidal wave of optimism, there’s more.

For instance, a total of 30 players have turned out for practice this year, one of the largest numbers in quite some time. Of those 30, the top 20 will don the gear for games, giving the team a promising, if not young dose of depth.

In addition to those things, which Allan calls “a good problem to have”, the Tigers welcome back junior quarterback Caleb Ball, who flirted with a plethora of passing records in 2020 as a sophomore. A summer of quarterback camps has helped refine the skills of an already talented field general in Ball, the younger brother of Adam.

They also have a young star in the making in St. Regis sophomore John Pruitt, who will get playing time at center as he continues to grow. The sharpshooting basketball guard who first lit up the nets as an eighth grader is also a devastating runner, giving the Tigers true depth in the running game.

“We should be pretty good this year,” Pruitt said. “We’ve got a lot of guys back.

St. Regis/Mullan will face a strong test early on when they play one of two Montana “home” games against always tough Thompson Falls, Friday, September 3 at 7 p.m., in St. Regis.

That game will be the season opener for the two-state crew, as they have a rare bye to open the 2021 year.

A key question mark for the Tigers will be the performance of both offensive and defensive lines, which are young but show a great deal of promise.

The Tigers list two sophomores who see playing time up front, including 350-plus pound Blake Knoll.

As they prepare for the upcoming season, which includes six “home” games at their “other” field in Mullan, Allan said an emphasis will be placed on tackling.

“Last year we had three or four guys who were good tacklers,” Allan said. “I think we have at least that many this year. Our defense needs some work but I think we will be okay”.

Allan said the need to contain speed running games by opposing teams was emphasized in the loss to Dietrich in the title match.

“I’ve never seen overall speed like they had,” he said. “They ran around us from the start”.

The players, like senior Luke Trogden, express a quiet confidence that things will be different this year.

“I really think we will be better this year,” he said. “We’ve got a good group here