Bulldog gridders finally taste victory

By DAVID ERICKSON

Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish football squad got a much-needed win on Friday, blowing out Bigfork 26-3 and ruining homecoming for the struggling and under-manned Vikings. It was the first Northwestern A Conference game of the season for both teams.

Senior receiver Byron Whitcomb had a huge game for Whitefish, with an interception, a punt returned 55 yards for a TD and two kickoff returns for 110 yards. Because of Whitcomb’s game, the Bulldogs now lead the conference in both punt return yards per attempt and kickoff return yards per attempt.

“Byron just had an incredible all-around game,” said head coach Patrick Dryden.

On Whitcomb’s punt return, a Bigfork defender touched the ball, then it bounced into Whitcomb’s hands. He then evaded at least five tacklers before flying into the endzone near the opposing sideline.

“[Whitcomb] is more slippery than fast,” Dryden said.

Running back Matt Starr rushed for two touchdowns and 116 yards on 10 carries.

“We executed flawlessy on the first series, moving the ball and just dominated the line of scrimmage,” Dryden said. “But we had 23 penalties on the night, which is unbelievable. Some of those are aggressive penalties, but we have to fix that.”

Defensive tackle Dylan Dryden had a fumble recovery and two sacks, and the Bulldog defense held Bigfork to one field goal and just 97 yards of total offense, which was padded by one Viking 33-yard run.

“Defensively, we completely dominated,” Dryden said. “I have to give credit to our D-line, Brian Flickinger, Jake Smith, Skylar Gobel, Dylan Dryden and Colin Fuller. We were a lot more physical than Bigfork, we out-hit them.”

Gobel led the defense with 12.5 tackles, followed by Strunk with 11 and Dryden with 9.

The Bulldog’s offense racked up 280 yards on the ground on 33 attempts. Quarterback Alex Elespuru completed eight-of-18 passes for 74 yards, and Flickinger had two receptions for 33 yards.

The win gives momentum to the Bulldogs after going winless during a tough nonconference pre-season. Whitefish (1-0 in conference) takes on Ronan (0-1 in conference) this Friday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field for Homecoming. Dryden said he expects an offensive attack from Ronan.

“They’re bigger than Bigfork, and they have a good quarterback and fullback that we have to watch out for,” Dryden said. “Being a conference game and homecoming, both teams are going to be fired up.”

Whitefish 7 13 6 0 — 26

Bigfork 0 0 0 3 — 3

Whitefish - Matt Starr 6 run (Brad Nielsen kick)

Whitefish - Starr 3 run (kick failed)

Whitefish - Byron Whitcomb 55 punt return (Nielsen kick)

Whitefish - Aaron Tkachyk 21 run (run failed)

Bigfork - Roland Benedict 29 FG