On a rainy night and a muddy field in Missoula, the Hawks played well through the first half but eventually fell 41-14 to the Loyola Rams in Western conference 11-Man football action Friday.

Now 2-5 on the season, coach Jared Koskela and his Blue Hawks will complete season play at Eureka Friday with junior varsity and varsity games that night in Lincoln County.

“This is the first and last time we will play two games in one day like this,” Koskela said. “We like getting the JV game, we haven’t had very many this year, but it will limit us a bit in who and how much we can play each kid for both games.”

The Hawks acquitted themselves well in the game with Loyola, but the Rams were able to finally pull away after a tight first half. Koskela said it rained throughout the game, very hard at times, creating some challenging playing conditions. “Kids would try to make a cut and fall down, their cleats were caked with grass and mud… yeah it was kind of a mess out there,” he said. “It was the kind of game that makes you change your mindset, makes you figure out how to survive it.”

Loyola led only 14-6 at halftime of the mud-fest. The Hawks’ touchdown came on a pretty 39 yard pass from Brylon VanElswyk to Hank Stone. Unfortunately for Thompson Falls, VanElswyk was later injured and was taken out of the game for the second half.

In VanElswyk’s stead, Koskela put freshman Tristan Kelly in against Loyola, and tried some other different looks at the position. He indicated he plans some more of the same this week at Eureka.

“I’m getting kind of weird at quarterback, going to try some different things this week too,” Koskela said. "We have lots of playmakers, it’s up to us as coaches to figure out ways to get those playmakers the ball.”

Clearly the Hawks’ most effective playmaker in Missoula Friday, Stone scored the Hawks’ other touchdown in the second half on a 39-yard run. Michael Koskela caught a

two-point conversion pass from Tristan Kelly following Stone’s second TD for the Hawks’ other points in the game.

On the other side of things, Loyola took advantage of some big plays – a long kick return and a pick-six among them - to take control and finally pull away for the win.

Stone finished the game with 158 all-purpose yards and the two touchdowns to lead the Hawks offensively. VanElswyk completed four of seven passes for 60 yards and gained 10 yards rushing before being forced to the sidelines, Mason Park packed the pigskin 19 times for a team-high 88 yards rushing, and Michael Koskela caught four passes for 22 yards.

Freshmen Alex Newman and Kelly also played important minutes in Missoula, with Newman picking up 18 yards on three rushing attempts and catching a pass for 13 more yards, and Kelly completing two of five passes for 13 yards, and the conversion pass to Michael Koskela.

Defensively, Koskela was again the Hawks’ main man, leading Thompson Falls with 13 total tackles, including five unassisted with one of those for a loss.

Jason Myers added 10 tackles with three solo stops, Carson Kenney had seven tackles with two solo, Park seven more with one unassisted, Jesse Buchanan six with one solo, and Riley Reum five with two unassisted.

Reum and Owen Franck registered one tackle for loss apiece.

Coach Koskela said the Hawks will be playing for pride in Eureka. “This game doesn’t mean anything as far as the playoffs go,” he said. “This is all about pride points, about playing your best and representing well. It would be a sweet one to get if we could pull it off, we’ll go up there, play hard and see what happens.”