Just two years ago, a Montana championship banner was awarded to Thompson Falls for winning the state B-8 football title.

Since then, Thompson Falls was elevated to 11-player football, due in large part to increases in student enrollment.

Last year, and the first part of this year, was a gradient scale, curve-bending learning experience under the 2021 Coach of the Year, Jared Koskela as the Hawks adapted to 11-man football..

Now the T Falls boys will be playing at a level they should be, were the whispers and comments heard those past two years.

This past Friday, those newly elevated Blue Hawks won a spot in the B-11 playoffs following a 21-12 win over Western B conference cellar dweller Whitehall that clinched a spot for the Blue Hawks in the 11-player postseason scramble.

Just saying.

Led by junior quarterback Bryson LeCoure’s 2 touchdown, 200-yard passing effort to go with a team high 84 yards rushing, LeCoure helped stamp Thompson Falls in the category of B-11 up-and-coming programs.

The win secures the Western B fourth seed for the Hawks, who will travel to Red Lodge this Saturday to take on the unbeaten Rams, 8-0 and first seed from the Eastern B-11 Conference.

Neither team scored in the first quarter, sending the scoreless game in quarter number two.

Thompson Falls got on the scoreboard first via a 41-yard touchdown pass from LeCoure to senior Nick Tessier for a second quarter lead. The point after touchdown (PAT) try was no good, but Thompson was ahead 6-0

Midway through the quarter, Whitehall scored on a 42-yard pass play, but a missed extra point try left the two teams tied at 6-6.

Before the first half ended, Tessier hauled in a 45-yard touchdown strike from LeCoure that, with a successful two-point PAT, gave the Blue Hawks a 14-6 lead at the intermission.

The Trojans came out in the second half and scored on a 65-yard pass play. The PAT try was no good and as the two teams moved into the fourth quarter, T Falls held a 14-12 advantage.

Blue Hawks junior running back Sam Burgess scored on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter to give Thompson Falls a 21-12 lead when senior Max Hannum kicked the extra point to close out game scoring and preserve the Hawks 21-12 victory.

Senior running back Braxton Dorscher had 78 yards rushing on five carries for the Blue Hawks, who had 226 yards rushing while holding the Trojans to -13 yards on the ground for the game.

The Blue Hawks out-gained Whitehall in total yards, 426-266. Both Tessier and LeCoure accounted for two touchdowns on the night as T Falls lifted its overall record to 3-6 and its conference record to 2-3.

T Falls will face Red Lodge at 1 p.m. Saturday in Red Lodge.