Bulldogs bite Chiefs at Homecoming

By DAVID ERICKSON Whitefish Pilot

The crowd got soaked and certain members of Whitefish's homecoming court didn't look happy about their dresses getting ruined, but the Bulldog football team had a great time Friday night.

Under intermittent downpours at Memorial Field, Whitefish claimed a 31-14 victory over Ronan to cap the Bulldog's Homecoming week. The 31 points were a season-high for Whitefish.

"It went really well. The players love games like that," head coach Patrick Dryden said. "Except for the quarterbacks, they love it. We use those conditions to our advantage."

The storyline of the night goes to Tyler Mason, a senior receiver for the Bulldogs. After getting the first touchdown of his career off a 12-yard pass in the first quarter, he was crowned Homecoming King.

Byron Whitcomb also had a big game for the Bulldogs, scoring on a 12-yard run and getting another TD off a 62-yard punt return, his second of the season.

Matt Starr rushed for 114 of Whitefish's 291 yards on the ground, to go along with two interceptions.

"We executed really well," Dryden said. "We had a clean first half. We cut down on our penalties, which is something we were looking to do after the past few weeks."

The Bulldogs were fired up by the boisterous Homecoming crowd, scoring on four of their first six possessions.

The Chiefs had several golden moments on offense, including a 62-yard TD run by Jamie Courville. They also had several wide-open receivers, but Bulldog defensive backs did a nice job of recovering.

Aaron Tkachyk, who had a 78-yard TD run himself, had a beautiful leaping pass deflection that broke up a sure touchdown in the second quarter. He had three pass deflections on the night.

"He also plays basketball," Dryden said of his young defender.

Tkachyk leads the conference in rushing yards per carry.

Dryden said he is seeing improvement from his squad ever week.

"Our special teams looked really good," he said.

The Bulldogs now lead the Northwestern Class A conference in rushing yards per game, average punt-return yards, and average kickoff-return yards.

Brian Flickinger returned the opening kickoff to the Chiefs 38-yard line, which sparked the crowd immediately.

"Our Homecoming crowd has always been huge, and this year was no different," Dryden said.

The Bulldogs move to 2-0 in Northwestern A and 2-4 overall. They travel to Libby on Friday for the Logger's Homecoming game.

Ronan 0 8 0 6 — 14

Whitefish 13 12 0 6 — 31

Whitefish - Tyler Mason 12 pass from Alex Elespuru (Brad Nielsen kick)

Whitefish - Byron Whitcomb 12 run (kick failed)

Whitefish - Matt Starr 5 run (kick failed)

Whitefish - Aaron Tkachyk 78 run (pass failed)

Ronan - Jamie Courville 62 run (Mike Fisher run)

Whitefish - Whitcomb 62 punt return (pass failed)

Ronan - Fisher 1 run (pass failed)

Whitefish stats

Rushes/yards 31-291

Passing yards 96

Att-com-int 7-16-1

Fumbles/lost 4-1

Penalties 5-40