One of the best sports adages of all time is always part of emails from St. Regis-Mullan coach Jesse Allan.

It was uttered by a pondering John Wooden, legendary basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins and winner of multiple national college hoops championships.

“The best competition I have is against myself to become better,” Wooden said.

Coach Allan takes that to heart.

So a week after his team dropped their opener to historic rival Superior 50-32 in St. Regis, his co-op squad bounced back to upend Clark Fork, Idaho, 60-42 in the Idaho conference 8-man football opener last Saturday. St. Regis is part of a co-op with Mullan, Idaho and as such plays almost all of its games in Idaho against Gem State opponents.

After losing to Superior in a hard-fought contest, you would expect an 18-point win would be just what the doctor ordered.

Not for most football coaches, including Allan.

“There are things we need to correct,” he said when asked about the win. “We had way too many turnovers including on the opening kickoff.”

And when the comment was made that his quarterback, senior Caleb Ball may be one of the best around, he mused “he is but he sometimes turns the ball over too many times.”

St. Regis-Mullan would find itself with an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and 42-22 at half. Still, there are ways to improve, he said.

No doubt every coach who cares about the game and has the drive it takes to be good, has had these same thoughts.

The score was 50-36 at the end of three and 60-42 when the final whistle blew. And key players on his team (Allan shares coaching duties with Mullan High’s Stetson Spooner) had racked up some eye-popping stats during the victory.

Ball had an outstanding game, throwing four touchdown passes, running for another, intercepting two passes on defense and winding up with 250 yards passing and 115 yard running the ball.

Mullan student Alex Trogden had two rushing touchdowns and 120 total yards on the ground. John Pruitt had a receiving touchdown and a running TD, as did Blake Layton.

But for Allan and so many other coaches, he was already laser focused on the next game, on finding ways to be better.

The win squared the Tigers’ season mark at 1-1.

Next up for the co-op team is another “home” game this Friday afternoon on the field in Mullan.