The final numbers are in and the Thompson Falls football Blue Hawks are honoring several of their own with 2025 team awards.

Coach Jared Koskela said Mason Park was named the Golden Helmet award winner for the ’25 Hawks, Michael Koskela earned the coveted Head Hunter honor, Jesse Buchanan was named Best Lineman, Carson Kenney Thompson Falls Ironman, and Toby Susic the Most Improved Player.

Senior Jason Myers was recently honored as Western B 11-Man conference second team defensive back for the Hawks’ other big individual honors award of the campaign.

All-conference teams are often dominated by the teams that win the most, and little consideration is given to the other perhaps deserving players in the league on teams that don’t happen to make the playoffs.

“It’s hard to stand out and compete with the bigger schools in our conference,” Koskela said. The numbers game the Thompson Falls program is forced to play at the 11-Man level has put the Hawks at a disadvantage. It truly does seem like an uphill battle.

Part of the problem is the so-called program schools around Thompson Falls. Though the students from these programs that attend Falls schools count towards total enrollment numbers, only a small percentage of these students actually participate in or contribute to athletic programs. A fact Koskela is painfully aware of.

Operating a football program with actual available numbers more appropriately suited for the Montana 8-Man game, where they were competitive for several years before being realigned into Class B 11-Man in 2022, the Hawks continue to soldier on but also continue to struggle.

What’s more, Thompson Falls has totally lost its natural gridiron rivalries with Plains, Mission and Troy which are similar in enrollment numbers and Class B in every other sport but are playing 8-Man football.

In any event, the Hawks of 2025 deserve a little respect.

Leading Thompson Falls football this fall, Michael Koskela paced the Hawk defense with a team-high 81 tackles including 33 unassisted stops, Park pulled down 67 total tackles, Kenney 53, Buchanan 47, Brylon VanElswyk 44, Hank Stone 39 and Riley Reum 23.

VanElswyk piled up 431 yards passing with five touchdowns and Tristan Kelly threw for 102 yards and another touchdown.

Park led the Hawks in rushing with 367 yards and four touchdowns, VanElswyk added 144 yards and a touchdown, Michael Koskela 128 yards and Stone 87 yards and four TDs.

Koskela caught 22 passes for 164 yards, Myers 16 for 181 yards and three touchdowns, Stone snagged four passes for 92 yards and a TD, and Park four for 70 yards and another touchdown.

The Hawks completed 2025 season play with a 2-6 record.