Bulldogs three-peat as state champs

WHITEFISH - Brandon Mendoza called it a high school career in style Saturday, scoring a sneaky goal that gave the Whitefish Bulldogs a 2-0 cushion in the State A boys’ soccer championship.

Not much later Gabe Menicke scored the clinching goal, his second of the game, in the Bulldogs’ 3-0 win over Columbia Falls at Smith Fields. It is Whitefish’s third straight title, and the program has now gone 44 matches with a loss – a dizzying height few teams and players have achieved.

“I’ve been in the state championship every year of high school,” Mendoza, who led Whitefish with 21 goals this season, said. “Freshman year, we were missing two of our starters or else I think we might have had a really good chance that year, too (the Bulldogs lost to Belgrade in the finals).

“I’m glad we set that up for the juniors this year. They might get after it next year, and set records.”

No boys’ soccer team has won four straight Montana state titles, and the Bulldogs boasted nine juniors, including Menicke and keeper Will Peppmeier, along with seven seniors. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

A perfect morning saw Whitefish (13-0-1) finish the 2020 playoffs without allowing a goal, keeping the pressure on the Wildcats and the streak alive.

“It’s a mature team,” Bulldogs’ coach John Lacey said. “They’ve been in this situation before. Our game – it doesn’t matter what part of the season it’s at – is about possession, and keeping the ball and trying to be hard to play against. It looked like us; I’m glad they stepped up and held that line.”

Columbia Falls ended up 11-2-1, including a record of 0-2-1 against Whitefish. The Wildcats were making their first championship appearance since its 2005 title, and threw a starting lineup that had seven sophomores – but not captain Walton Nichols – and a freshman at Whitefish.

Wildcats’ coach O’Brien Byrd missed Nichols, a sophomore defender.

“And then our center-back (Nico Lang) got injured after 20 minutes,” Byrd added. “We needed everybody, and we also needed... a perfect game. And we needed Whitefish to maybe make a couple mistakes.

“None of that happened.”

“That gave us a little more time on the ball,” Lacey said of Nichols’ absence. “But our guys played well, they stepped up to the moment. I loved the fact that all our goals looked like the goals we scored all August, September and October.”

In the 26th minute a foul deep on the Columbia Falls’ sideline gave Chase Sabin a free kick. He placed it perfectly for a header by Menicke.

“That was a super good assist,” Menicke said. “It was pretty perfect, just on a platter. And I’m glad I got it in.”

The score stayed 1-0 through the first 40 minutes, though Columbia Falls did push the tempo in the last 10. At 33:00 Johnny Carl hit a boomer that Peppmeier leapt and deflected before it bounced on top of the cross bar.

In the 46th minute Whitefish appeared to grab a 2-0 lead when Mendoza knocked home a rebound of a blast by teammate Niath Edland. An offsides call, one of six against the Bulldogs, erased it.

“I knew I’d try to go for the rebound, because my teammate Niath had shot it – a really hard shot,” Mendoza said. “I was expecting the bounce off, but I didn’t pay attention to how the line stepped up behind me and was caught offsides.”

Three minutes later Mendoza did score, off a feed from Menicke. It was a delayed call, after keeper Bryce Dunham appeared to kick the ball free.

“That one just rolled across, super close – he saved it but it was just a little too late,” Mendoza said. “I’m really proud of my teammates. Props to our defenders, too. They hit all their headers. No scary chances back there.”

“It’s our aim to go score all 80 minutes. It’s just how we play,” Lacey said. “And when our defense steps forward and puts up clean sheets, like we did all playoffs… Will Peppmeier got tested that one time and did a fantastic job, made a great save. Our center backs, everybody played a great game.”

Whitefish outshot Columbia Falls 14-6 and had a half-dozen more corner kicks. That effort was offset a little by 17 fouls whistled on the Bulldogs.

The loss kept Byrd from matching his brother Brenden’s state title in AA with the Glacier girls.

“It is cool to have a team this young as the second-best team in the state,” Byrd ventured. “We can’t hang our heads too low. When you get to this point you want to win, but you’ve got to keep it in perspective. We have a very young team. We’ll be back next year.”

So will the Bulldogs, like Menicke, who tallied again in the 65th minute – again off a pass from Sabin.

”I just hit it, one-touch,” he said. “We know anything can set this game off – after that (offsides call) we just had to push harder and not let them get the upper hand, and keep our confidence up. And it worked - we got another one straight after.

“So we’re looking forward to next year, getting a four-peat. We’ll see.”

Columbia Falls 0 0 - 0

Whitefish 1 2 - 3

W - Gabe Menicke (Chase Sabin), 26:00

W - Brandon Mendoza (Menicke), 49:00

W - Menicke (Sabin), 65:00

Shots on goal - Columbia Falls 6, Whitefish 14. Goalie saves - Columbia Falls (Braeden Fairchild) 8, Whitefish (Will Peppmeier) 4. Corner kicks - Columbia Falls 1, Whitefish 7. Fouls - Columbia Falls 5, Whitefish 17. Cards - Whitefish 1 yellow, Columbia Falls 1 yellow.