Northwestern A football: C-Falls sacks Whitefish
COLUMBIA FALLS — Columbia Falls’ high-powered passing offense took a back seat in the Wildcats’ 21-0 homecoming win over rival Whitefish (3-2 overall, 0-1 Northwestern A) on Friday at Satterthwaite Field. Instead, it was the No. 2 Wildcats (5-0, 1-0) run game and defense that shut down a strong Bulldog side.
“We saw on film that we could come out and our line was a lot bigger and more physical than theirs,” Columbia Falls senior quarterback Jared Trinastich said. “We just wanted to come out and run the ball. We just wanted to dominate them up front.”
“That was the gameplan to run them into the ground, show them who’s boss,” Columbia Falls running back Zach Darling said. “Our line is doing a great job this year.”
Darling rushed for 107 yards on 25 carries, driving an offense that controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game.
The Wildcats showed their strength early, driving 85 yards in seven plays to score with less than two minutes elapsed in the contest. Junior wide receiver Ty Morgan capped the drive with a 34-yard score, pulling in a quick slant over the middle and breaking loose for the touchdown.
Whitefish had some promising drives in the first and second quarters in a bid to pull even, but couldn’t get out of its own way. An interception for a touchdown was called back on a pass interference before the bell in the first quarter. After forcing a punt a few plays later, the Bulldogs took the ball down to the Columbia Falls’ 29-yard line before a fumbled snap ended that drive.
“They did a great job,” Whitefish coach Chad Ross said. “I don’t know how many penalties we had (in the first half), but it seemed like every play we had over 15 yards got called back.
“It seemed like we shot ourselves (in the foot) and when we did get a big play, they shut it down.”
Columbia Falls got the biggest play of the evening three minutes before halftime, as running back Josiah Osbourne broke through a pair of tackles and scampered 42 yards for the second touchdown of the game. Osbourne would score again in the third quarter, hauling in a play-action pass from Trinastich to put the game out of reach.
Columbia Falls picked up a total of 185 yards on the ground and 84 in the air. Its defense held the powerful Bulldog offense to just 169 total yards — 94 rushing and 75 passing.
“We did exactly what we thought we could do,” Columbia Falls coach Jackson Schweikert said. “We wanted to work on our run game and our physicality. It worked out the way we thought.”
Columbia Falls, entering an off week, is in the driver seat in the Northwestern A conference with the win. Whitefish has a chance to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot with next week’s homecoming slate against Polson (1-0, 3-1).
“It’s never better than to beat your rival and to do it by running the ball down their throat,” Schweikert said.
Whitefish 0 0 0 0 — 0
Columbia Falls 7 7 7 0 — 21
CF- Ty Morgan 10 pass from Jared Trinastich (Alex Presnell kick)
CF- Josiah Osbourne 42 run (Presnell kick)
CF- Osbourne 6 pass from Trinastich (Presnell kick)