As a student of the sports he coaches, St. Regis head football coach Jesse Allan has a saying indicative of his approach at the bottom of emails he sends. 

“The best competition I have is against myself to become better.” It is a quote made by legendary UCLA championship basketball coach John Wooden. 

That quote is evident in Allen response to the St. Regis-Mullan, Idaho Tigers season opening, 34-8 home loss to Mission High this past Friday night in St. Regis. 

The loaded Bulldogs, who are expected to be one of the top teams in this year’s version of the Montana Western Conference 8-player football group, showed they are a team with which to be reckoned when they scored 14 first quarter points to take a 14-0 lead at the end of the opening stanza. 

Mission added to that lead with a touchdown and two-point conversion in the second quarter to make it 22-0 at the half. 

St. Regis fought back, scoring on a touchdown pass from standout sophomore quarterback Conner Lulis to wide out Kaden Sanders in the third quarter.  They converted a two-point point after touchdown (PAT) try to make the score 22-8. 

But the high-powered Bulldog offense was able to add two second half touchdowns (both PATs were no good) to pull away to the final margin of victory. 

Along the way, Lulis had a 40-yard TD scamper negated by a holding call in the third quarter. 

Full speed ahead for Allan and the co-op Tigers. 

“I’m proud of our guys’ effort, they battled to the end,” coach Allan said. “We are excited to get back to work and clean some things up”. 

Lulis had another fine game in his second year as starting QB for the Tigers, running for 103 yards on 15 carries and passing for another 197 yards on 17 completions out of 30 passes. 

Three St. Regis-Mullan receivers had more than 50 yards receiving during the game, paced by Sanders’ 66 yards on five catches.  Hunter Stolla also had 66 receiving yards on five grabs for the Tigers, and Barrett Bessette hauled in five catches for 54 yards. 

Bessette also had a great day on defense, leading the team with 13 tackles and recovering a fumble.  Nathan Bohn had 11 tackles for the Tigers, while Stolla, a multi-sport standout for the Tigers, had eight tackles. 

St. Regis also picked off two Mission passes during the game, with Lulis and Denver Thomas each recording a pick. 

“We started a little flat and had six turnovers at critical times,” Allan said. “We stalled some big drives and a chance to possibly flip momentum”. 

He also had high praise for Mission. 

“They are certainly a good team,” he said. “They are physical up front with some really talented athletes.  They are well-coached, and their kids play with high energy and effort”.