Boys beat Libby in nail-biter to claim state title and unprecedented 30th straight win

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

"Unexplainable. Unreal. I'm speechless … I'll never forget this."

Those were the words of breathless Whitefish senior forward Shane Widdifield on a beautiful sunny day at Smith Fields on Saturday, surrounded by throngs of cheering friends, family and photographers. If it sounds dramatic, it's because it was.

The Whitefish Bulldogs, in a thrilling, pressure-packed state final soccer match on their home field, in front of hundreds of screaming fans, scraped by the tenacious Libby Loggers, 3-1, to claim their second consecutive state championship, their 30th straight win, and a place in Montana sports history.

Never before has a Montana Class A soccer team gone undefeated in back-to-back years, and the 2007 Whitefish boys soccer team can now add that to their long list of accomplishments.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect season, and for senior captain Alex Konopatzke, a dream-ending to a brilliant high school career.

"Unbelievable. I have a super-great group of teammates, and it's just a great feeling," he said, still grinning moments after hoisting the championship plaque with his team in front of the rowdy hometown crowd to thunderous applause.

"This year, I saw a team take soccer where it's never been before," head coach O'Brien Byrd said. "This is the best team, in my opinion, in the history of Montana soccer, and I've been around a while. This is something that's never been done, and first and foremost, that we could do it at home, that was special. There was more passion, more commotion in that game than I've ever seen. (Going undefeated for two years) is just a surreal ride. There's nothing like it."

The game itself was a thriller, and the huge contingent of Libby and Bulldog faithful got their money's worth. It was a back-and-forth physical battle, and the Whitefish boys, who outscored their conference opponents 69-9 this year, missed on several golden opportunities, with two shots hitting the crossbar.

"Nothing would go in," Byrd said. "In any other game of the season, we would have been ahead 5-0. But there was a lot more pressure in this game, and we were having trouble keeping our mental focus a little bit, I think. It's a mental attitude. It's not just about soccer at that point."

In the 38th minute, the Loggers, playing in their first-ever title match, did what no team could do all season — they took the lead on the Bulldogs.

Logger forward Riley Hoyer sent in a beautiful free kick past diving Bulldog goalkeeper Joe Galbraith, and the Whitefish sideline fell silent as the scoreboard showed an unthinkable 1-0 lead for the visiting underdogs.

The crowd erupted, and Hoyer ran a World-Cup-style victory sprint along the Libby sideline to the sound of revving chainsaws, a tradition among Logger fans. The largely quiet Whitefish contingency seemed shell-shocked.

"With three minutes left in the first half, with no score, I leaned over to my assistant and said, 'The worst case scenario would be if Libby takes a lead going into halftime,'" Byrd recounted. "Not 50 seconds later, Libby scored, and we kind of looked at each other on the sideline thinking, 'Man, maybe it's not our day.' It gives me goose bumps to say this now, but Libby was winning the game."

The undefeated Whitefish boys, however, playing the most important match of their young lives, showed their resiliency and determination not to let the game slip away.

After winning a battle at midfield, Konopatzke marched the ball up the field, sending a through-ball to forward Jonas Magstadt. Magstadt beat three Logger defenders to get to the goalie box, but he still had two men to beat. He looked to his left and saw a streaking Preston Taylor.

"Jonas just sliced and diced the Libby defense and put up a no-angle lofter. Preston hit it with a running, diving header, a full-length stretch, and it was just a laser. It was an awesome goal, the biggest goal of the game," Byrd said.

The ball hit the back of the net before Libby goalkeeper Tad Downey realized what had happened, and just like that, the Bulldogs were back in it.

Byrd said he didn't even want to think about what would happen if Libby pulled the upset.

"That would have been an absolute sickening record, to go 29-1 and lose a championship game at home," he said. "We realized that Libby's not going to lay down for us, and if we had lost that game, we didn't deserve it, regardless of our record. Champions have to win the big games."

The second half was just as exciting as the first, as both teams came out looking to show that they were the best team in the state.

Whitefish again won the possession battle but failed to finish numerous times again as the Libby defense held up against the onslaught. Whitefish unleashed 18 shots on goal, and Libby spent most of the game on defense.

In the 75th minute, with fans beginning to prepare for overtime, the Bulldogs finally reverted to the team that dominated all season.

Widdifield fed Magstadt a pretty through-ball, as they have done countless times this season, and Magstadt drilled it in for the go-ahead score. The Whitefish players jumped on each other, fists pumping, finally taking the lead.

Four minutes later, Taylor iced the game with his second goal off an assist from Ian Hosek, and the Class A soccer season was history.

"For the last five minutes of the game, we finally began playing like we did all season," Byrd said.

After the trophy presentation in front of the appreciative hometown crowd, Widdifield, ending his varsity career without a single loss, along with seniors Taylor, Magstadt, midfielder Matt Grindrod, defender Renzo Caimi, Hosek, Konopatzke and defender Tyler Gardner, gave credit to their coach.

"He is the team," Widdifield said of Byrd. "He's my best bud, he's everybody's best bud, he's a huge part of this team."

Byrd, for his part, said he feels fortunate to have such a determined group of young men.

"I'm just really proud to be a part of the Whitefish soccer program. It's such a satisfying experience, just a wonderful game. We proved it to ourselves, we earned it," he said. "I have to thank my seniors. They led by example and helped the younger guys. They are dedicated. I'm going to miss them."

Byrd did not mince his words when he put the dominance of his 2007 squad in perspective.

"This team not only broke the mold, they shattered it," he said. "It's a coach's dream. There were no superstars, it was a total team effort. They took this season by the scruff of the neck, and decided they wanted to get 30 wins. To go undefeated for two years, it's not something you even dream about, and it just happened. This is something they will tell their kids about. They made history."