THOMPSON FALLS – The Thompson Falls football team learned something about itself Friday night at Previs Field.

When all else fails, fight Hawks, fight. That’s the ticket, what they need to do, at all times, no matter what the score is.

Taking the fight to the visiting Whitehall Trojans at Previs Field, the Blue Hawks improved to 2-0 with a 30-27 comeback win, rallying from an early 14-0 deficit behind the effective running of Carson Kenney, a few timely big plays and an all-around hard-hitting, opportunistic team effort on both sides of the ball.

Now 2-0 in non-conference play, the Hawks head to Bozeman this week for their final non-conference test against Colstrip, with the rare opportunity to step out and play on the hallowed turf of Bobcat Stadium, the home of the national champion MSU Bobcats.

“It will be fun, a cool thing for the kids to get to play there,” coach Jared Koskela said. "We had the chance to practice on that field in the snow a few years back during a playoff trip, some of our older guys have been there before, but it will be a great thing for everyone to experience, to play a game on that field.”

On their own field, the Hawks gained some valuable experience and perhaps some well-earned confidence in their performance against Whitehall Friday night under the Previs Field lights.

The Trojans appeared intent on running the Hawks off their own field in the early going. Wasting no time after taking the opening kickoff, Whitehall marched right down the field and scored on a pass play from Trent Larsen to Cale Hoover.

Later in the first quarter after an exchange of possessions, Owen Franck recovered a fumble for the Hawks and Whitehall then recovered a fumble by the Hawks, the Trojans scored again and again successfully added the extra point kick to take a 14-0 lead with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

And that’s when, spurred on by the gritty running of Kenney, the Hawks first fought back Friday night.

On plays mostly straight up the gut, Kenney started ripping off big gains from his running back position. Twelve yards on the first one, 13 on the next, then a nine-yard burst down to the Whitehall 11-yard line. After an offside penalty on the suddenly threatened Trojan defense, Kenney then barreled into the end zone from five yards out for the Hawks’ first touchdown of the game, and added the two-point run to make the score 14-8 Whitehall with 11:12 left in the second quarter.

At that point, Alex Newman stepped up for the Hawk defense with two interceptions in the space of less than two minutes of game time, the second of which led to a first down at Whitehall’s 25 and eventually a one-yard touchdown by Brylon VanElswyk. The score remained tied at 14-14 after the Hawks’ two-point conversion attempt failed.

On Whitehall’s next possession, a high snap on a punt attempt led the Hawks to gaining control of the ball at Whitehall’s 10-yard line.

A few plays later, with only 1:00 remaining in the half, Kenney took it to the house on a six-yard scoring run to give the Hawks the lead at 20-14. VanElswyk ran in for the two points after and the Hawks suddenly led 22-14.

What followed, right before the half, in that short sixty seconds of game time, was one of the wildest one minute’s worth of football action in Previs Field football history. The Trojans started it with an improbable quick drive upfield and then a 65-yard bomb of a pass down the right sideline for a touchdown. Missing the two point conversion attempt, the Trojans closed the score to 22-20 with only 18 seconds remaining in the first half.

After contemplating taking a knee and running out the half after that, Koskela decided to take a risk instead, dialing up a long pass over the middle.

Delighting the Hawk faithful, the play worked as VanElswyk threw a beautiful arcing pass some 50 yards in the air to a streaking Michael Koskela who caught the ball in full stride and jetted into the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown play, stunning the visitors with only :02 left in the half.

With Kenney again powering into the end zone for the following two-point conversion, the Hawks took a 30-20 lead into the locker room, scoring all 30 of those points in that wild second quarter.

The Hawks did not score in the third quarter but they did manage to dominate the ball, keeping it out of Whitehall’s hands with long time-consuming drives, converting two

key fourth downs to maintain possession before a questionable non-call on an apparent offsides violation finally helped stall out the long Thompson Falls drive.

Whitehall finally broke through for a touchdown (on an eight yard pass from Larsen to Hoover) early in the fourth quarter and converted the extra point kick to draw with three at 30-27 but would get no closer.

The Trojans got the ball back twice more but the determined Hawk defense prevented them from scoring again to hold on for the wild comeback win.

Coach Koskela was understandably proud of his charges. “There were haymakers thrown before the half by both sides but I am happy with how we responded,” he said. “It was a fun game, a good test and good confidence booster moving forward.”

    GOING DOWN! Hawk defensive players Jesse Buchanan and Owen Franck work to wrestle down and tackle Joey Beebout of Whitehall. Hawks won Friday’s game with the Trojans 30-27 at Previs Field. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    UNGOWA! The celebrating Blue Hawks gave a heartfelt shoutout to former junior high coach Michael T. Allen during the team’s traditional ringing of the victory bell following Thompson Falls’ 30-27 victory over Whitehall Friday in Thompson Falls. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)