Football roundup: Whitefish rolls again, clinches conference title; Columbia Falls edges Polson
WHITEFISH — Running back Chris Park scored three touchdowns, Brian FauntLeRoy returned a punt 68 yards for a score and senior quarterback Luke May ran for two touchdowns at Whitefish flattened Frenchtown 45-0 in Northwestern A football play Friday night at Memorial Field.
Park had touchdown runs of 8 and 18 returns. He also returned a fumble 27 yards for a score.
May’s touchdown runs covered 22 and 15 yards.
Haley Nicholson was perfect on all her PAT kicks and added a 22-yard field goal.
Whitefish had 317 yards in total offense. Frenchtown was held to 87 yards passing and 5 rushing.
Whitefish led 14-0 after the first quarter and 38-0 at intermission.
“Great game by him (Park) and another great game by our front seven, which keeps another team under 25 yards rushing for the fourth time this season,” Whitefish coach Chad Ross said.
“A lot to credit to Brett Bollweg, our defensive coordinator. He’s done a fabulous job.”
May was 2 of 8 passing for 38 yards.
He had nine carries for 120 more yards.
Park rushed for 92 yards on nine attempts.
The victory gave Whitefish (7-1 overall, 3-0 league) its second straight conference championship. Ross said that’s the first time that has happened — back-to-back titles — in at least a decade.
Whitefish wraps up regular-season action next Friday at home with a nonconference contest versus Hamilton.
Frenchtown (3-5, 0-2) hosts Columbia Falls next Friday.
Postseason action begins on Oct. 31.
Frenchtown 0 0 0 0 — 0
Whitefish 14 24 7 0 — 45
W — Chris Park 8 run (Haley Nicholson kick)
W — Park 27 fumble return (Nicholson kick)
W — Brian FauntLeRoy 68 punt return (Nicholson kick)
W — Luke May 22 run (Nicholson kick)
W — Nicholson 22 field goal
W — Park 18 run (Nicholson kick)
W — May 15 run (Nicholson kick)
Columbia Falls 35,
Polson 26
COLUMBIA FALLS — Columbia Falls scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to beat Polson in a Northwestern A matchup.
Polson (3-4, 1-2) held a 14-6 lead at the half and led 20-6 heading into the final quarter.
Stephen Lindsey had touchdown runs of 4 and 32 yards in the fourth quarter and Dakota Bridwell ran 1 yard for another score for the Wildcats (3-3, 1-1).
Tanner Wilson had a pair of rushing touchdowns and passed for another for Polson.
Polson had 416 yards in total offense to 405 for Columbia Falls.
Wyatt Green rolled up 156 yards rushing for the victors on 18 attempts. He also had two receptions for 92 yards and finished with 278 all-purpose yards.
Wilson had a big game with 138 yards rushing on 21 carries. He was 14 of 26 passing for 206 yards.
Bridwell was 11 of 17 passing for 186 yards.
Polson’s Matt Rensvold had four receptions for 152 yards and a touchdown.
Colton Cote had the other score for the Pirates on a 6-yard run.
Columbia Falls plays at Frenchtown next Friday while Polson hosts Havre in a nonconference affair.
Polson 0 14 6 6 — 26
Columbia Falls 6 0 7 22 — 35
CF — Trevor Hoerner 9 run (Brandon Karberg kick blocked)
P — Colton Cote 6 run (Cameron Brown kick)
P — Matt Rensvold 10 pass from Tanner Wilson (Brown kick)
P — Wilson 1 run (kick blocked)
CF — Dakota Bridwell 1 run (Karberg kick)
CF — Stephen Lindsey 4 run (kick failed)
P — Wilson 22 run (run failed)
CF — Bridwell 1 run (Lindsey pass from Bridwell)
CF — Lindsey 32 run (Bridwell run)