Dogs stun top-ranked Cats
WHITEFISH — Anything can happen in a rivalry game — like the No. 1 team in the state dropping its first game of the season to an opponent on a two-game losing streak.
That’s exactly what happened Friday night at Memorial Field in Whitefish, as the Bulldogs bottled up the Columbia Falls offense for a 20-15 Northwestern A conference football victory on homecoming.
“It feels great to work so hard all week and come out and get the win. We played so clean. It was a great win for us,” Whitefish wideout Jack Streibich said.
Streibich’s 19-yard touchdown reception gave the Bulldogs an 11-point lead with 6:13 remaining in the game, and it proved to be the winner as the Wildcats scored just once more in the contest.
“It was a fade ball, but I saw the safety playing in,” Streibich said. “So I found an out and Luke (May) knew exactly what I was going to do.”
Streibich finished with 102 receiving yards where the Bulldogs managed 394 yards of offense.
May guided the Bulldogs’ offense to three scoring drives, passing for 223 yards while shutting down the high-powered Columbia Falls offense from his cornerback position.
“It’s the greatest experience I’ve had in high school football yet,” May said.
“For (Columbia Falls) to put up nearly 400 yards a game, I couldn’t ask for anything more from our defensive backs, our linebackers and our rush. It was, flat out, a great game.”
The Bulldogs held a 6-0 lead at halftime and extended it to 13-0 on their first offensive possession of the second half.
The Whitefish defense forced a Wildcat three-and-out and May took over. He hit junior Jed Nagler for a 26-yard reception before Streibich caught a 15-yard slant route. May scrambled for 16-yards to the Wildcat 5-yard line, and Chris Park’s 2-yard touchdown plunge kept the momentum in the Bulldogs favor.
After another Columbia Falls three-and-out, the Wildcats caught a break when they recovered a muffed punt at the Bulldogs’ 45-yard line.
The Wildcats kept the ball on the ground until quarterback Dakota Bridwell rifled a 6-yard touchdown to Sean Hoerner.
With the offense back on track, Columbia Falls stuffed Whitefish’s fake punt attempt on the ensuing drive and took over at midfield. The drive stalled, however, and the Wildcats settled for a Trevor Hoerner 24-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 13-9.
“We didn’t have a very good first half,” Columbia Falls wideout Ty Morgan said.
“All the credit to Whitefish. May is a helluva quarterback and their defense shut us down.”
Morgan finished the night with 84 receiving yards on seven catches.
After the Streibich touchdown put the Bulldogs up 20-9, it took the Wildcats 1:10 to answer. Bridwell hit Tyler Murphy for a 26-yard touchdown reception, but the onside kick attempt failed and Whitefish used the legs of Park to seal the victory.
Park finished with 75 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, 11 of which came in the second half.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the offensive line,” Whitefish coach Chad Ross said.
“We got the ball back, they put a body in front of them and Chris found the hole. All props go out to our offensive line.
“Every game from here on out is going to be a battle. We’ve got to take one game at a time and Columbia Falls was first.”
Columbia Falls will have an extra week to prepare for Frenchtown as it heads into the bye week before hosting the Broncs for homecoming.
“We’ll stick to our process. If we lose, we hold our heads high. As long as we played hard and tried to do what we needed to do, if we lose we’re fine,” Wildcat coach Jaxson Schweikert said.
“We played hard, but we didn’t execute very well tonight, not to our standard.”
Whitefish will look to ride its newfound momentum into Friday’s road matchup against Polson at 7.
Columbia Falls 0 0 6 9 — 15
Whitefish 0 6 7 7 — 20
2nd Quarter
W — Jack Streibich 1 yard run (kick blocked) 11:58
3rd Quarter
W — Chris Park 2 yard run (Haley Nicholson kick) 7:01
C — Sean Hoerner 6 yard pass from Dakota Bridwell (kick blocked)
4th Quarter
C — Trevor Hoerner 24 yard field goal 10:05
W — Streibich 19 yard pass from Luke May (Nicholson kick) 6:13
C — Tyler Murphy 26 yards pass from Bridwell (2 pt. conversion failed) 4:52