Bulldogs lose late lead to Blue Ponies

Whitefish football team looks to be very competitive in conference

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

Fans who showed up Saturday to watch the high school football season kick off got their money’s worth. The Whitefish boys gave Havre a big scare on Saturday in the nonconference season opener, giving up a late lead and losing 19-22 in a back-and-forth offensive show.

It was all a pigskin fanatic could ask for — trick plays, big plays, interceptions, controversial calls and lead changes. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out the way Whitefish hoped, but there were a lot of positive signs.

Last year, the Bulldogs got beat up 7-21 by the Blue Ponies. This weekend was much different. If it weren’t for a couple missed assignments on a fake reverse, Whitefish might have held on for an upset victory. Those kinds of mistakes are not surprising early in the season,

It was a huge day for senior wide receiver Aaron Tkachyk. Also a basketball standout for Whitefish, Tkachyk had two touchdowns of 25 and 38 yards from quarterback Alex Elespuru and returned a kickoff 81 yards for a third score.

The kickoff return came in the third quarter after Havre had just tied the score at 7-all. Tkachyk got some good blocks from his fellow Bulldogs along the left side of the field, and he raced down the home sideline with three Blue Ponies chasing after him while the crowd went crazy.

At that point, it was clear the 2008 Bulldogs have much more speed — not just from playmakers like Tkachyk, but also from his blockers.

Tkachyk’s return gave Whitefish a 13-7 lead because the Bulldogs missed the extra point.

On the next possession, however, Havre answered with a 66-yard drive that took only eight plays. The Blue Ponies were able to exploit the Bulldog’s zone defense with their short-passing attack.

Havre quarterback Beau Briese connected with Kent Pattison for a nifty little 10-yard strike that was just in front of the coverage by Bulldog Daniel Simmons.

The Blue Ponies led 14-13, but the Bulldogs came right back. Elespuru led a nice five-play drive from the 44-yard line, along with some solid running by Simmons.

The touchdown pass to Tkachyk came on a slant pattern over the middle. Tkachyk had to reach over his head to grab the ball, but he came down with it in time to make a move on a Havre defender. That gave the Bulldogs a 19-14 lead with 9:53 remaining after they missed the two-point conversion.

On the ensuing drive, Havre’s Adam Briese went 67 yards on the fake reverse to give his team the final 22-19 lead.

Defensively, the Bulldogs’ only weak spot appeared to be mental errors. They gave up the big reverse, and they gave up a screen pass, even though head coach Patrick Dryden had yelled at them to watch for it. Other than that however, they were solid.

The Havre running game never got started in the first half, although they were able to get a few yards in the second half. The Bulldogs had two big interceptions by Jesse Strunk and Simmons to change the momentum of the game, including one by Strunk with about 30 seconds left on the clock.

They were unable to capitalize in the last minute, however, as Elespuru heaved a desperation pass out of bounds.

Havre 0 0 14 8 — 22

Whitefish 0 7 6 6 — 19

Whitefish — Aaron Tkachyk 25 pass from Alex Elespuru (Elespuru kick)

Havre — Ethan Hinebach 1 run (John Perrodin kick)

Whitefish — Tkachyk 81 kickoff return (kick failed)

Havre — Beau Briese 10 pass to Kent Pattison (Perrodin kick)

Whitefish — Tkachyk 38 pass from Elespuru (pass failed)

Havre — Adam Briese 67 run (Beau Briese pass to Pattison)

Havre Wf

First downs NA 12

Rushes-yards 19-160 28-107

Passing 16-25-2 16-30-0

Passing yards 170 171

Whitefish Individual

Rushing — Daniel Simmons 12-56, Jesse Strunk 9-36, Tanner Benedict 45-11, Alex Elespuru 3-4.

Passing — Elespuru 16-30-2-171.

Receiving — Aaron Tkachyk 8-112, Matt Whitehead 3-23, Derek Crittenden 3-25, David FauntLeRoy 1-9, Benedict 1-2