Dressed in blue and gold, look who’s 3-0 and riding high after another win at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman – and it’s not the national champion MSU Bobcats.

Defending the manicured artificial turf at Bobcat Stadium like it was their very own high school sod and grass place of business, Previs Field back in Thompson Falls, the Blue Hawks dominated the Colstrip Colts, shutting them out 33-0 in Bozeman Friday night.

Now 3-0 in non-conference action, the Hawks begin Western B 11-Man conference play against surprising Anaconda in Anaconda this Friday. The Copperheads threw a wrench into the Western B works with an unexpectedly easy 38-6 win over Loyola in Missoula last week.

All of which produces a big game scenario in Anaconda at this relatively early stage of the season. Enjoying the best start to a season since the unbeaten, State 8-Man 2021 championship campaign, the Hawks can be excused for savoring the big game scenario a little bit. All remaining games will now mean a little (or a lot) more as a result.

“I think this is the best start we’ve had in 11-Man since I have been coaching here,” Koskela said. “Anaconda will present some problems, they are good on defense, good with their angles on how they come at you. We will have to attack them a little differently.”

The Hawks had no problems in the neutral field win over Colstrip in Bozeman, although Koskela did say the game ended up having a strange feel to it. “The aura of the stadium, of playing on a real big-time college field like that, was cool but the game itself was kind of a weird one, some crazy stuff happened.”

Koskela said an inadvertent whistle play led to an injury to Colstrip’s starting quarterback on the very first play, and that the Colts were forced into using an inexperienced backup in the important position the rest of the way.

Smothering, sometimes offensive defense by the Hawks carried the day for Thompson Falls thereafter.

Owen Franck keyed that Hawk effort on defense with a monster game, pulling down a game-high 16 tackles, including seven unassisted stops, four of which were for a loss, in addition to intercepting a pass and returning it 29 yards to set up a Thompson Falls touchdown.

Additionally, Franck caused and recovered a fumble and had one and a-half quarterback sacks to top off his big day.

Fresh off his first 100-yard game last week against Whitehall, Carson Kenney rambled for 175 yards on 22 carries against Colstrip and scored three touchdowns, besides pulling down 10 tackles on defense, including four solo tackles and three tackles for loss.

Michael Koskela scored a rushing touchdown from his fullback position on offense and pulled down 12 tackles (with three solo, two quarterback sacks and four tackles for a loss) and intercepted a pass on defense.

Quarterback Brylon VanElswyk ran the ball six times for 64 yards and a touchdown and passed for 24 more yards, Alex Newman added 31 yards on five carries and Jason Myers 29 on two.

Backup QB Tristan Kelly threw for 29 yards, Myers caught two passes for 34 yards, Koskela one for 10 yards and Dean Williams two for nine yards.

Williams piled up eight tackles with one of those for a loss, Jacobe Wood four tackles with three for a loss, including two quarterback sacks, Riley Reum four tackles with one and a-half sacks, Jesse Buchanan added three tackles with one for a loss, and Myers two tackles with one unassisted.

Coach Koskela said the Hawks were hampered by penalties in Bozeman, being called for an unusually high total of 12, two of which negated apparent Thompson Falls touchdowns.