Gridiron victory comes with a high price

Righetti tears ACL; likely out for the season

By MIKE HODGES

For the Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish Bulldogs made another successful trip to the Bitterroot in as many weeks with a 38-22 win over the Corvallis Blue Devils last Friday night, but with victory came a cost.

Bulldog senior Jolly Righetti rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns and kicked a 33-yard field goal that put Whitefish ahead for good in the first quarter 10-7. Righetti's night and quite possibly the season came to a halt late in the third quarter as he was running the tail end of an off-tackle blast play with a fullback lead.

"It's a play Jolly runs so well because of his cut-back ability and that's what he did," said Ferda describing what happened. " He was cutting about the same time some Corvallis players were tackling him and when the pile cleared Jolly was still down on the field."

The initial assessment of Jolly's injury was done by his father, Dr. Michael Righetti of Whitefish. It was determined that it was an ACL tear in his right knee. As of early in the week the severity of the injury was unknown due to the amount of swelling.

"It is devastating to Jolly and it affects our team not only because he is a team captain and leader, but he has the ability to make everyone play at a higher level," said Ferda.

"We need to make this a rallying point for our team because Jolly would not want to see things falter because of an injury."

Righetti, at home for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, said the swelling had not subsided in over two days since Friday night's game.

"We'll be going to Missoula this week to find out more," he said.

Righetti, who has gained more than 3,000 yards over the past two seasons, came into the Corvallis game with a 254-yard effort to his credit and two touchdowns scored in the win over Hamilton.

"This will be a healing process both physically, mentally and spiritually for Jolly," said Ferda. "He's had a lot on his plate this year and the team, as well as community is behind him all the way."

Sophomore quarterback Zach Fennelly, starting in place of junior Taylor Ferda, who reaggravaated a back injury in the win over Hamilton the week before, threw for two first-half touchdowns as the Bulldogs defeated their second Southwestern A opponent to start the year.

Fennelly was 9 of 12 passing for 184 yards on the night. He threw a 42-yard touchdown to Casey Speer and a 40-yarder to Chris Hicks as Whitefish took a 24-14 lead into half-time.

"Zach has a lot of composure for a sophomore," said Bulldog coach Mike Ferda.

"Both in the Hamilton and Corvallis games our opponents defensive blitz packages confused our young offensive line and Zach took the brunt of that, getting sacked several times. He didn't get rattled, made some good decisions on the option and got us yards. He'll get better as the season progresses."

Brad Kuntz scored on a 2-yard run for the Bulldogs' final touchdown of the game.

Ferda says Whitefish is pretty deep at the running back position. Three guys (all juniors), each with their own style, will now be counted upon to fill that tailback slot that Righetti occupied.

"Kyle Becker is a slashing type back with good open field speed, but not exactly a power-type runner," said Ferda. "Luke Haberkern is a little smaller in stature and shifty. Probably the one with the athletic ability to step in (though he is new to the system) is Cody Idel (a transfer from Bigfork)."

It will be a new look for the Bulldogs coming into this weekend as they open their home schedule against top ranked Havre.

The Blue Ponies come into the game on the heels of a thrilling 20-19 win over second-ranked Billings Central last Friday night in Havre. Havre won their season opener, also at home, 21-6 over Glendive.

The first Class A prep power poll which came out a week ago Wednesday had Havre ranked number one.

The Ponies lost only five seniors from last year's team that made the post-season, although one was swift Paine Solomon, a receiver and defensive back. Offensive lineman Shane Howard also graduated.

But a lot of talent returns, including defensive back Marc Mariani. He intercepted a school record nine passes a year ago. Two of those picks he returned for touchdowns. Another key senior back for Havre head coach Troy Purcell is quarterback Gary Wagner (6-0, 165), a second-team All-Stater last fall who passed for 2,500 yards and 25 touchdowns. Coach Purcell has led teams to state playoffs 11 times in his 13 seasons as head coach is 30-13 in four seasons plus two games at Havre.

Havre handed Whitefish a 42-7 loss last September in Havre. It was the worst defeat during Mike Ferda's tenure as Bulldog head coach.

Previous games have been tightly contested however.

"All games between Whitefish and Havre in the recent past prior to last year were overtime games won by the visiting team" said Ferda.

"I would expect a lower scoring game Saturday, it's early in the season for both teams," Ferda added. "We are looking for improvement as we get ready for the conference opener against Bigfork later this month at home."

You can hear Saturday's game on 880 AM KJJR starting at 1:45.

with pregame coaches interview followed by kick-off at 2 p.m.