Whitefish shocks Polson; clinches playoff berth
WHITEFISH - Shock waves rumbled through Northwestern A football Friday night.
Underdog Whitefish upset Polson, 28-6, on Senior Night at Memorial Field.
With the victory, the smaller Bulldogs improved to 3-1 in conference and clinched a playoff berth with all four touchdowns coming on plays of 35 yards or more. Polson, which was picked to compete with Libby for the league title, was eliminated from postseason play with a 1-3 league ledger.
"This is wonderful," Whitefish senior Brad Nielsen said after starting the season 0-4.
In next week's regular-season finale, the Bulldogs will play at Columbia Falls for the right to host a first-round playoff game. C-Falls beat Bigfork Friday to also improve to 3-1.
"We're in. … How about that?," Whitefish coach Patrick Dryden said of his team's prospects with a 3-5 overall record and first victory over Polson in four years. "We've been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team and have been kind of kicked around all year long. But we're finally really healthy and I thought we were ready last week against Libby, but obviously Libby is an extremely talented team."
The Bulldogs came out against Polson like a shot out of a cannon.
On the fourth play of the game, junior quarterback Alex Elespuru took a boot leg to his left and found Nielsen, from the tight end position, wide open on a deep corner route.
"It was a boot leg pass and I saw it coming," Nielsen said. "I was wide-open, I caught it and ran like heck."
Nielson caught it at about the 15-yard line and sprinted into the end zone untouched.
"We've been preaching that we just needed to get off to a good start - that was the key," Dryden said. "We scripted plays and the first four just went boom-boom-boom and then we were in the end zone."
Two drives later, senior Byron Whitcomb lined up at quarterback from the shotgun for the first time this season and took a quarterback draw 52 yards to paydirt. He went off tackle to the left, cut back against the grain about 5 yards upfield and sprinted to the south end zone untouched.
"Yup, this was the first time I lined up at quarterback," Whitcomb said. "They just wanted to try something new against Polson. We've got a great line. It was just a sweep. I just read it and cut back inside."
It gave the Bulldogs a 13-0 lead and swung the momentum in their favor big time with the aid of their defense registering three straight sacks on Polson's Craig Bagnell just before the drive that Whitcomb capped.
Two plays after Whitcomb's touchdown, the Bulldogs recovered a fumble caused by a first-quarter rain shower that muddied up the players for the rest of the game.
Junior Jesse Strunk recovered the fumble and two plays later, the first play of the second quarter, the fullback took a handoff up the middle untouched before cutting outside at about the 10-yard line en route to a 45-yard touchdown run.
Nielsen's extra-point kick put the game at 20-0, which the Bulldogs took into halftime.
But while Whitefish busted through Polson's run blitzes out of a 30-front for 154 yards in the first half, the Pirates shored up their defense in the second half. The Bulldogs had just 42 rushing yards and three first downs in the second half.
The game looked like it was going to turn around after the Pirates marched 68 yards in 11 plays to open the second half with a touchdown. But their second possession of the half ended with a long snap 30 yards behind punter John Rausch and into the end zone. Defensive end Jake Smith tackled Rausch for a safety. Then on the Bulldogs' ensuing possession, junior tight end Matt Whitehead took a screen pass untouched for a 35-yard touchdown on a third-and-9 play that Polson linebacker Tim Rausch nearly intercepted for a pick six.
All the big plays overshadowed the amazing defensive effort the Bulldogs' line did on Bagnell, an all-state QB.
Defensive tackles Kevin McDowell (a senior) and Dylan Dryden (a junior), along with Nielsen and Smith at defensive end harassed Bagnell all game long. They combined for four sacks, totaling 30 yards and held him to no yards rushing and a 46 percent completion rate. Whitcomb even got an interception on the first play of the fourth quarter.
"We just needed to keep contain and keep Bagnell in the pocket and make some plays," Nielsen said.
Dryden said his defense finally came together.
"We've got great defensive ends and we just got some pressure for the first time all year," he said. "Smith and Nielsen put a lot of pressure on (Bagnell) all game long. Then we tackled a lot better than we have all year long.
"They (the Pirates) are so talented in the skill positions that all week long we were preaching that we had to win the battle of the trenches. We definitely won the battle in the trenches.
"It was just the intensity. I wish there was some magic potion (with technique or strategy), but we just believed and came with intensity."
Whitefish out-gained Polson (3-4) just 294 yard to 221. The Pirates had 14 first downs compared to Whitefish's eight.
Polson 0 0 6 0 - 6
Whitefish 13 7 8 0 - 28
First Quarter
W-Brad Nielson 43 pass from Alex Elespuru (Nielson kick), 10:48.
W-Byron Whitcomb 52 run (kick failed), :46.
Second Quarter
W-Jesse Strunk 45 run (Nielson kick), 11:52.
Third Quarter
P-Tim Rausch 1 run (kick failed), 8:52.
W-Safety, Jake Smith tackled John Rausch in end zone, 2:48.
W-Matt Whitehead 35 pass from Elespuru (run failed), :12.
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Pol. Wf.
First Downs 14 8
Total Yards 221 294
Rushes-yards 48-86 31-196
Passing 135 98
Punt Returns 1-4 1-14
Kickoff Returns 4-63 3-67
Int. Returns 0-0 1-0
Comp-Att-Int 12-26-1 6-14-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 4-30 2-10
Punts 3-35.7 7-34.3
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 3-15 10-65
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING - Pol, Tim Rausch 18-67, Cody Doyle 17-52, Craig Bagnell 11-0, team 2-(-33). Wf, Jesse Strunk 4-78, Byron Whitcomb 4-60, Matt Starr 12-48, Aaron Tkachyk 6-16, Jake Smith 2-8, team 1-(-3), Alex Elespuru 2-(-11).
PASSING - Pol, Bagnell 12-26-1-135. Wf, Elespuru 6-13-0-98, Whitcomb 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING - Pol, John Rausch 4-80, Ryan Kelley 4-27, Doyle 2-16, Chris Alfiero 1-12, T. Rausch 1-(-2). Wf, Matt Whitehead 2-43, Brad Nielson 1-43, Seth Wiley 1-6, Starr 1-3, Tyler Mason 1-3.
MISSED FIELD GOALS - none.