Winning isn’t everything in the Keg Bowl, but it does make for a mighty fun chaser at game’s end, and means bragging rights for at least another year.

Playing the 45th edition of the locally famous Keg Bowl with little snow on the ground on a sunny but raw, cold and windy day just east of Thompson Falls, the Young Guns played their ways past the Silver Bullets 51-33.

Played almost exclusively by ex-Thompson Falls Blue Hawks or Blue Hawk coaches, and officiated by current Hawk football coach Jared Koskela (himself a former Keg Bowl and TFHS player), the game was entertaining to the players and fans alike. The crowd of players and fans at Saturday’s game easily numbered well over 100 by all estimates.

The long-time organizer and promoter of this game, Sanders County’s only known official football bowl game ever, Doug Willhite as usual, took care of most of the arrangements for the latest, greatest playing of the Keg Bowl.

“It was a great turnout of players, and a really good crowd,” Willhite said. "We look forward to continuing the tradition of the game as long as people want to play and folks continue to come out and support it like they did Saturday.”

Proceeds raised from donations and numbers boards from this year’s Keg Bowl were to be donated to the Thompson Falls Junior High football program, Willhite said. Various other local organizations and deserving individuals have benefitted from the Keg Bowl similarly in the past.

Back on the Keg Bowl field of play, which was a vacant lot with spray painted sidelines and end zone boundaries with only an inch or so of snow for the big game, Young Guns Tristan Subatch and Kade Pardee were named the offensive and defensive most valuable players of the game by vote of the players after the final gun.

Pardee ended up scoring three touchdowns and Subatch two for the Young Guns and Avery Bonnes and Eli Ratliff added a touchdown apiece. Roman Sparks added a one-point conversion for the Guns, who were quarterbacked capably by Kade VanVanElswyk throughout the game.

The gunslinger at quarterback for the Silver Bullets, Trey Fisher threw three touchdown passes to Dom Holt and two more to Brandon Zimmerman.

Although not a player anymore, Keg Bowl legend Roger Willhite was on hand to consult both teams for strategy during timeouts and other breaks. Having played in every game (up until only a few years ago), Roger is the acknowledged GOAT of the Keg Bowl, holding most of the career records in games played, total passes thrown, touchdown passes completed, passes intercepted and, of course, keg beer consumed over the years.

Roger was the team captain for the Silver Bullet side for decades, and the Blue Hawk legend from Thompson Falls’ first State football championship team in 1974 still casts a long shadow on Keg Bowl day. Along with Bob Brown, who was also on hand Saturday to tell the young players how it should really be done, and brother Doug, Roger and friends helped create the Keg Bowl concept, which lives on to this day, way back in 1981, most likely during a kegger.

The roster for Saturday’s game for the Silver Bullets included Jordan Fisher, Luke Andersen, Nate Wilhite, Trey Fisher, Max Hannum, Ray Buchanan, Trevor Harris, Holt and Zimmerman.

Starring for the Young Guns were Derek Andersen, Willie McPherson, Pardee, VanElswyk, Ratliff, Bonnes, Sparks and Subatch.

    THE 2025 KEG BOWL PLAYERS – Front, kneeling: Trevor Harris; Dom Holt; and Jordan Fisher; and standing: Doug Willhite; Lucas Andersen; Ray Buchanan; Brandon Zimmerman; Roman Sparks; Avery Bonnes; Derek Andersen; Kade VanElswyk; Kade Pardee; Jared Koskela; Eli Ratliff; Roger Willhite; Trey Fisher; Tristan Subatch; Will McPherson: and Max Hannum. (courtesy photo)
  

    HAPPY TO TACKLE – Smiling Silver Bullet players Brandon Zimmerman, Max Hannum and Dom Holt await Young Gun ballcarrier Kade Pardee in Keg Bowl action east of Thompson Falls Saturday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER – Derek Andersen packs the pigskin for the Young Guns as his brother Lucas Andersen of the Silver Bullets tries to stop him in the Keg Bowl Saturday. A western Montana tradition by now, the Keg Bowl has been played every year in Thompson Falls since 1981. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)