Cats claw Dogs
Columbia Falls downs Whitefish to earn first playoff berth since 1992
WHITEFISH - The Columbia Falls Wildcats erased 12 years of frustration Friday night, casting aside the twin hurdles of defeating arch-rival Whitefish and making the Class A state playoffs.
Craig Olson ran for three touchdowns and threw a fourth and Kyle Rosenbaum slogged through a muddy Memorial Field for 147 yards as the Wildcats won this winner-goes-to-the-playoffs 27-6.
It marks the first victory over the Bulldogs and first trip to state since 1992. Columbia Falls (5-4 overall, 3-2 conference) is the Northwestern Conference's No. 3 seed, and will play at Stevensville next Friday.
"I'm just proud of our kids," Wildcats coach John Thompson said. "These kids in this program have faced a lot of adversity.
"This is a good group of young men. They represent themselves well and they're a good group to work with."
Whitefish knows a little something about adversity, too. The Bulldogs lost starting quarterback Taylor Ferda and all-state running back Jolly Righetti to injury in the season's first two weeks. Then Whitefish was forced to forfeit a win against Hamilton after using an ineligible player.
Throughout the season, injuries and youth conspired to make life difficult. That the Bulldogs (4-5. 2-3) still were in a position to make the postseason with a win was an accomplishment in itself.
"All those things that we fought through this year, everything kind of caught up to us a little bit tonight, and the weather didn't help," Whitefish coach Mike Ferda said.
While the weather during the game was merely cold, rain during the day and a season's worth of use and abuse had Memorial Field looking like a mud bog, with footing to match.
The field conditions limited what the teams could do -
mostly running plays between the tackles - but it was unlikely big plays for the Wildcats that proved to be the difference.
On the opening drive, Olson was wrapped up for a big sack on third-and-six, so much so that it appeared as though he gave up on the play, concentrating on holding onto the ball.
Two Bulldog defenders had him, but then all of a sudden Olson spun free and ran for 32 yards and a first down, keeping the drive alive.
Columbia Falls later scored a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
"The early scramble by Craig, that I'm sure they thought they had him bottled up, he did a great job of getting away from that," Thompson said. "That was a huge play."
Said Ferda: "I thought the first drive, when we had the quarterback in the backfield, even though that was the first drive, that kind of set the tempo for the whole game.
"We were just a little bit short on a lot of different plays."
On its first possession, the Bulldogs drove down to the Columbia Falls 33 before turning the ball over on downs.
On the next play, Olson found Drew Perry down the left sideline for a 68-yard touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 13-0 lead that would prove to be insurmountable.
"Usually the ball bounces in favor of the team that gets the breaks, wants it a little more, finishes every play to the whistle, that type of thing," Ferda said.
"This is a young team. I feel bad for the seniors that have to walk off here because this is their last game on the field."
The traditional senior walk showcased the youth of Whitefish. Just six players took that last tour of the field.
"We'll regroup," Ferda said. "We're always going to have more football games around here.
"There's a good lesson to learn from this, but tonight isn't the night to really think about that too much.
"Good to Columbia Falls," he said. "They're in the playoffs after a long absence, and they'll represent our conference well, and I'm proud of the way they played."
Now for the first time in 12 years, Wildcat coaches, fans and players have a game to worry about after the Whitefish scrap.
It will be a rematch of a Sept. 10 game, one that Stevi dominated in a 41-14 win.
"That was kind of a bitter game," Thompson said. "We thought we didn't play very well. Travis Brown is an exceptional running back and he did a great job that night and hurt us big time.
"That loss got at us."
But the Yellowjackets will have to contend with a much-improved Wildcats team, one that has dominated its last two games.
"The improvement is evident on both sides of the ball," Thompson said. "We've got kids now that are believing in one another, and that's a
team thing.
"Once you have it and kids start to buy into it, then it's huge. It helps teams get better faster.
"We'll be ready."
WILDCATS 27, BULLDOGS 6
Columbia Falls 13 6 0 8 - 27
Whitefish 0 0 6 0 - 6
First Quarter
CF-Craig Olson 3 run (Kevin Boyer kick), 5:04.
CF-Drew Perry 68 pass from Olson (kick blocked), 2:13.
Second Quarter
CF-Olson 1 run (pass failed), 5:03.
Third Quarter
WF-Chris Hicks 53 run (pass failed), 4:59.
Fourth Quarter
CF-Olson 5 run (Jace Ladenburg pass from Olson), 5:23.
CF WF
First Downs 16 12
Rushes-yards 39-229 44-225
Passing yards 116 22
Com-Att-Int 5-7-0 2-8-1
Penalties-yards 4-36 5-35
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Columbia Falls, Kyle Rosenbaum 20-147, Olson 9-48, Josh Peterson 3-11, Calvin Williams 3-6, Nik Caron 3-5, Boyer 1-(minus-1). Whitefish, Brad Kuntz 10-72, Tim Lehner 13-56, Hicks 1-53, Kyle Becker 3-23, Luke Haberkern 5-21, Olson 11-4, Team 1-(minus-12).
PASSING-Columbia Falls, Olson 5-7-0-116. Whitefish, Zach Fennelly 2-8-1-22.
RECEIVING-Columbia Falls, Perry 2-83, Boyer 1-16, Ladenburg 1-13, J.D. Fields 1-4. Whitefish, Kenny Overcast 1-13, Byron Whitcomb 1-9.
MISSED FIELD GOALS-None.