Cats stop Dawgs' streak

WHITEFISH — Coach O’Brien Byrd is glad the Whitefish Bulldogs were undefeated for such a long time, but only because he wanted his Columbia Falls Wildcats to be the ones who ended the run.

And they did that Thursday at Smith Fields, defeating the Bulldogs 2-1 and ending a 63-game winning streak that dates back to 2018.

“I’m just so relieved that Whitefish stayed unbeaten for us to have this opportunity,” Byrd said. “We didn’t want anyone else to stop the streak. We wanted that. Congrats to the Dogs on one of the longest streaks I’ve ever heard of. But all streaks come to an end.”

Columbia Falls has been close a couple times, most recently the State A final last fall, where Whitefish won its fourth consecutive championship.

But the Wildcats have been nipping at the heels of the Bulldogs for longer than that, and they are underdogs no more. The once young and bold team is now seasoned and experienced with two state final appearances under their belts.

“It's tough being the underdog and just getting beat your entire high school career no matter how hard you work,” Byrd said. “And here they are, this is the last season, you know, maybe it's a special one, and we'll see. But tonight sure feels good.”

Kai Golan, sidelined with a back injury earlier in the season, scored 10 minutes in for a 1-0 Wildcats lead.

But the Bulldogs didn’t fold. There seemed to be only a few minutes of deflation before they restarted their attack.

“They bounced right back and came after us and made it a heck of a game,” Byrd said.

Sam Dow, a junior and new addition to the Whitefish team, scored on a stellar free kick just before the half to knot the score at 1-1.

The Bulldogs lost 10 seniors from that undefeated four-time championship team, but few are better at reloading a roster than John Lacey, the longtime boys coach.

As far as he’s concerned, the end of the streak doesn’t affect anything. It’s not something that’s discussed at practice nor is there a focus on maintaining it.

“Nobody here is hanging our heads because of a streak that some other boys had a part of,” Lacey said. “We're gonna take this and we're gonna learn and be good for it.”

Play was evenly matched through the second half, though Byrd thought the Wildcats had the ball more.

“I think we dominated possession, but they maybe had more dangerous chances than we did,” Byrd said. “So that's something we gotta go back to work on.”

Golan, who Byrd says still isn’t 100 percent yet, scored the game-winning goal with four minutes remaining. He headed the ball past Whitefish keeper Ethan Schott after a frenzy in front of the net. Finley Sundberg picked up assists on both of Golan’s goals.

The Columbia Falls (6-0) cheering section erupted, and got even louder once the final whistles blew. Players embraced and rushed the field. It was a meaningful moment and had the feel of something much larger than a regular season game.

Whitefish (6-1) players met their opponents on the pitch and offered handshakes and congrats to the victors.

“​​It was two great soccer teams doing great stuff,” Lacey said. “It was really cool. Even if I were neutral, I would've enjoyed this game and the fact that I got to watch our boys play at a high level, good teams make good teams play better.”

Earlier in the afternoon, the Whitefish girls blanked the Wildkats 4-0 and remain unbeaten this fall. Columbia Falls is 3-3.

Olivia Genovese scored twice, and was backed up with goals from Maya Lacey and Brooke Roberts.

“Columbia Falls causes us problems,” Whitefish girls coach Roland Benedict said. “They cause a lot of people problems. They're hard to play against. They're big, fast and athletic. We allowed them to play through our midfield a little bit too easily, even though our midfielders are probably some of our best performers today.”

Genovese passed Laurel’s Mya Maack for the state goal-scoring lead. She now has 17 goals.

Columbia Falls 1 1 — 2

Whitefish 1 0 — 1

CF - Kai Golan (Finley Sundberg) 10:00

WF - Sam Dow 39:00

CF - Golan (Sundberg) 76:00

Shots — CF 12, WF 7; Saves — CF 8 (Bryce Dunham), WF 7 (Ethan Schott); Corners — CF 6, WF 3; Fouls CF 15, WF 17; Cards — CF 1 (yellow); WF 1 (yellow).

GIRLS

Columbia Falls 0 0 – 0

Whitefish 2 2 – 4

WF - Olivia Genovese 4:00

WF - Brooke Roberts (Belle Cosby) 30:00

WF - Genovese (Roberts) 41:00

WF - Maya Lacey 74:00

Shots – CF 25, WF 27; Fouls – CF 8, WF 5; Corner kicks – CF 3, WF 1; Goalie saves – CF 19,

WF 18.