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Pirates repeat as league champs

by MIKE RICHESON The Daily Inter Lake
| October 15, 2005 1:00 AM

p Down Whitefish 28-26 to stay perfect in Northwestern A

WHITEFISH - The Bulldogs and Pirates battled under the Friday night lights in a tense and exciting game. This Northwestern A matchup was huge as the winner would claim the division. In the end, Polson repeated as conference champs, winning 28-26.

After a huge loss to Libby last week, Whitefish will need to beat Columbia Falls next week to claim the No. 3 spot.

"We're not out of this," Whitefish coach Mike Ferda said. "You can't gauge a whole season on one game. We're going to get back to work on Monday. We don't do a lot of cryin' over spilled milk up here."

Polson coach Scott Wilson said the team set a goal this season to repeat as conference champions, and his players used that to get motivated for the Bulldogs.

"Whitefish is always a good game," he said. "We came ready to battle tonight. I'm really proud of the kids for what they did."

If the Pirates had lost, they might have finished tied with Libby for first.

"I didn't want that," Wilson said. "We wanted it outright."

The Pirates looked like they would walk away with an easy win. After receiving the first kickoff, Polson went 70 yards in 11 plays to score just five minutes into the game. Polson's Andy Nelson ran three consecutive plays on the opening drive, and the

Pirates pounded the ball past Whitefish's defense.

"The game felt really good," Nelson said. "This is a tough place to play, but we came with a lot of confidence. And our defense stepped it up."

Bulldogs linebacker Mike McCracken blocked the kick to hold Polson at six points.

Trouble followed Whitefish into the kickoff. Polson kicker Colton Woods hit Bjorn Peterson in the leg on a short kick, catching the Whitefish lineman off-guard. Peterson quickly fell on the ball to start the Bulldogs with good field position.

On the first snap, quarterback Zach Fennelly dropped the snap, but quickly recovered. Fennelly then got out of trouble on the second play and ran 25 yards. But a Whitefish holding penalty brought the ball back 10 yards.

Fortune decided to smile on the Bulldogs when Fennelly hit a sprinting Chris Hicks in the open field. Hicks blew past his defender, ran into Polson's secondary, spun and reached out to make the ball break the plane for the touchdown. Daniel Jones made the kick to put Whitefish up 7-0.

Both defenses clamped down after that and held their ground, creating a scoring drought for nine minutes.

Whitefish owned the second quarter, scoring on a 20-yard pass to Hicks and a 1-yard run by Tim Lehner. The Bulldogs were on fourth down, but just one yard from the goal line. The team went for it, and Lehner busted right through Polson's defense to score.

Whitefish took a 13-6 lead into halftime.

But Polson quieted the home crowd in the third quarter, putting 15 unanswered points on the board in nine minutes. The Pirates took the lead 21-20, but missed two two-point conversions.

Whitefish's Cody Idol returned most of the kickoffs for big returns, but the Bulldogs offense couldn't get into the end zone.

With two minutes left in the third, Polson blocked Fennelly's pass and recovered the ball.

The visiting team drove the dagger the rest of the way in on the first play of the fourth quarter. Polson's defense put Fennelly on the run, and he threw an errant pass. Bryce Picard, a linebacker for the Pirates, intercepted Fennelly's pass and ran it back for a touchdown.

Whitefish sent everyone's heart racing by scoring on a 55-yard pass from Bagnell to Kyle Becker with about 8 minutes left to play. The Bulldogs went for two, but the Pirates defense denied the conversion.

Aaron Jones, a defensive lineman for Polson, sealed the win by intercepting another Fennelly pass with just 1:27 left on the clock. Bagnell then took a knee three times to run out the clock, never giving Whitefish a chance to score again.

PIRATES 28, BULLDOGS 26

Polson 6 0 15 7 - 28

Whitefish 7 13 0 6 - 26

First Quarter

Polson - 6:37 Andy Nelson 2 run (kick blocked)

Whitefish - 4:41 Chris Hicks 21 pass from Zach Fennelly (Daniel Jones kick)

Second Quarter

Whitefish - 7:41 Hicks 20 pass from Fennelly (kick missed)

Whitefish - 1:18 Tim Lehner 1 run (Jones kick)

Third Quarter

Polson - 9:26 Nelson 7 pass from Craig Bagnell (conversion missed)

Polson - 2:43 Colton Woods 16 FG

Polson - 1:25 Nelson 1 run (conversion missed)

Fourth Quarter

Polson - 11:53 Picard 20 interception (Woods kick)

Whitefish - 8:00 Kyle Becker 55 pass from Bagnell (conversion missed)

First downs - Polson 13, Whitefish 8

Rushes-yards - Polson 32-224, Whitefish 34-206

Passing - Polson 17-107, Whitefish 8-104

Comp-Att-Int - Polson 13-17-2, Whitefish 4-8-3

Total Net Yards - Polson 331, Whitefish 310

Penalties-yards - Polson 8-55, Whitefish 6-45

Individual

Rushing - Polson, Bryce Picard 16-99, Andy Nelson 14-44; Whitefish, Cody Idol 15-63 Tim Lehner 14-45

Receiving - Polson Colton Woods 7-45; Whitefish Kyle Becker 1-55, Chris Hicks 3-49

Passing - Polson Craig Bagnell 107; Whitefish Zach Fennelley 104