Streak comes to an end for Bulldogs

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

All good things must end eventually. For the Whitefish boys soccer team, it ended on Saturday in Billings.

The two-time defending state champions fell to Billings Central 2-3 in the Class A soccer semifinal match, ending their unbelievable three-season undefeated run. It was the first loss for Whitefish in 44 games.

The tough part for the Bulldogs is that, by most accounts — and statistically — they outplayed Billings. Whitefish had 28 shots on goal, and 16 were on frame as opposed to just six on-frame shots for Billings.

"The guys knew they gave it their all on Saturday," head coach O'Brien Byrd said. "They were bitterly disappointed, because if it wasn't for a little bit of luck, they would have won the game. They know they can hold their heads high. Basically, we made one more defensive mistake than they did."

Billings Central got a goal on a header just seven minutes into the game, taking a 1-0 lead into the break. Marc Hotzfield dished the ball to Travis Adams 10 minutes into the second half for a tying goal, but Billings answered back a minute later. They added one more goal six minutes after that, and Adams was able to only get one more goal before time expired.

"I was preaching to them all season about losing a game," Byrd said. "We have this stretch of undefeated games, and if we lost one, I wanted it to be a game where we gave our all. Not just a crappy game where we didn't play with heart. In the second half of that game with Billings, everybody gave it an all-out effort. They played with every thread of heart and desire they had. We threw so many numbers forward, we at times didn't have anybody in the backfield. We played with every ounce of effort, that's how bad we wanted to get the victory. They have nothing to feel bad about. We didn't lose for lack of heart or effort."

Byrd said he's especially proud of his senior captains for their professionalism throughout the season: Patrick Jones, Marc Hotzfield and Jake Danczyk.

"You don't have to look any further than those guys to see a great example of how soccer players should carry themselves," Byrd said.

O'Brien said he wasn't extremely depressed to see his team's amazing undefeated streak come to an end.

"I walked off the field with a smile on my face," he said. "It was a sad smile, but you can't win it every year. In sports, things like that happen. Sometimes the better team loses. That's why we watch sports. The kids realized they accomplished some great things. They did what has never been done before."

Whitefish 0 2 - 2

Billings Central 1 2 - 3

Whitefish - Travis Adams (Marc Hotzfield), 50:00; Adams, 69:00

Billings Central (12-1-1) - Kevin Klee (Steven Sheehy), 7:00; Klee (Cody Dutton), 51:00; Sheehy (Mikey Wall), 57:00

Shots on goal - Whitefish 12, Billings Central 4

Corner kicks - Whitefish 10, Billings Central 0

Goalie saves - Whitefish 3 (Joe Galbraith), Billings Central 10 (Cody Linde)

Fouls - Whitefish 3, Billings Central 1

Cards - None