It’s going to be a little different this time around, if the determined Blue Hawks have anything to say about it.

After going 2-6 in 2025 and with most of the players from that team returning, the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks open Montana Class B 11-Man season football play with a non-conference game at Cut Bank Friday.

Last season’s home opener at Previs Field, a tough loss to these same Cut Bank Wolves, was a prime example of a game the Hawks came away from last fall thinking they should have won. Maybe games don’t have to end that way, maybe the Hawks can better control their own destiny in situations like that is the thinking.

“That’s what it comes down to,” coach Jared Koskela said. “Are we going to accept it and lose to teams we feel we are better than, or are we going to answer the challenge and step up to it? This team seems to have a desire to prove something this season.”

“These guys are locked in, had a good summer, we’re ready to roll,” he said. “Last year we had a few other games like Cut Bank, games we felt like we could have also won. We want to win those types of games this year.”

Koskela has good reason to be optimistic. He said he had 22 to 24 players showing up for off season passing games on Monday nights this summer, that many of them attended a team camp in Butte, and that a total of 34 have signed up for Blue Hawk football. Along with assistant coaches Jay Deal, Jake Helvey and Kade VanElswyk, Koskela led a spirited team scrimmage with the Hawks in full uniform Saturday on a sunny Previs Field.

After Friday’s game in Cut Bank, the Hawks will open their home schedule hosting Whitehall in another non-conference game Sept. 4. Thompson Falls will then play the toughest part of its schedule, featuring three long road trips to Bozeman Sept. 11 where the Hawks will face Colstrip, to Anaconda Sept. 18 and to Florence Sept. 25.

The games with the Copperheads and Falcons will be conference counting affairs, and the bottom line is, for the Hawks to get on a roll early this season, they will have to do it largely on the road. Koskela thinks the Hawks are up to the challenge.

“These first few games should tell us a lot,” he said. "For us, the non-conference games are just as important as the conference ones. We are eager to get out there and play, to see what we can do.”

Seniors Brylon VanElswyk, Dean Williams, Michael Koskela, Landin Baird, Gage Spangler, Wyatt Brotherton, Riley Reum, Jesse Buchanan, Jacobe Wood, Justin Myers and Chase Helvey, juniors Owen Franck, Carson Kenney, Evan Lofthus, Jack Everett, James Lacy and Aiden Shaw, sophomores Tristan Kelly, Kaden Davis, Easton Deal, Ethan Traver, Alex Newman, Allen McGann, Gage Park, Easton Helvey, Rhiley Sanders and Toby Susic, and freshmen Jeremiah Amdt, Chase Giegling, Kaleb Susic, Langdon Kenney, Hunter Ames, Brayden Reum and Adam Hutchings comprise the roster for the 2026 football Blue Hawks.

Brylon VanElswyk, Michael Koskela, Jesse Buchanan and Carson Kenney are the team captains.

    MAKING HIS MOVE – Hawk senior Justin Myers prepares to make an evasive maneuver as Dean Williams reacts in Thompson Falls Saturday. Hawks open football season with a non-conference game at Cut Bank Friday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    BOMBS AWAY! Quarterback Hunter Ames gets off a pass attempt as Dean Williams defends during the Hawks’ scrimmage at Previs Field in Thompson Falls Saturday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    UP FOR GRABS – Blue Hawk receiver Alex Newman (24) attempts to catch a pass as Jeremiah Amdt (2) and Evan Lofthus (40) defend on the play during Thompson Falls scrimmage action at Previs Field Saturday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)