Mistakes cost dearly in Cats' 36-22 loss to Stevi

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

Two blocked punts, the loss of four fumbles and a long kickoff return was too much to overcome for Columbia Falls last Friday as the Wildcats were beaten by Stevensville 36-22 on the Cats' home field.

The loss dropped the Cats to 1-2 on the season. They open Northwestern A Conference play by hosting Ronan in their Homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

CFHS took a lead less than two minutes into the contest when Stephen Baumgartner raced 41 yards for a touchdown. After the Cats lost a fumble they got the ball back when Quenton Hegel made a spectacular diving interception of a Logan Connors pass. Two plays later, senior Mackey Nolan — starting at tailback instead of quarterback — broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run. Nolan converted the kick after both scores, and the Cats led 14-0.

But Jalen Pfau hauled in the kickoff and ran 97 yards for a Yellowjackets touchdown. When the Cats could not get a first down, Stevi blocked Nolan's punt and recovered at the CFHS 11-yard-line. On fourth and a foot, Ethan Pateman scored from the 2. His PAT tied the game at 14-14.

After the Cats lost another fumble, the Jackets came up empty due to a high snap on a field goal attempt. But again the Cats could not move the ball due to a holding penalty. Moments later, the Jackets blocked another Nolan punt. The Cats recovered in the end zone, but the safety gave Stevi a 16-14 lead with 44 seconds left in the first half.

"They were extremely costly," CFHS head coach John Thompson said of the blocked punts, "that and the turnovers. That's really uncharacteristic."

Protecting punter Mackey Nolan was a concern of Thompson and his coaching staff going into the game.

"We knew Stevensville would overload a side," he said. "The number-one focus on punt teams is to get the punt off. Players got out of position."

In the early minutes of the second half, Kyle Howell recovered a Stevi fumble near midfield and the Cats capitalized, the drive capped by a 10-yard keeper by quarterback Mitchell Wassam — breaking tackles into the end zone. Wassam scored on a two-point conversion for a 22-16 CFHS lead near the midpoint of the third period.

A 36-yard pass play set up another Stevi touchdown, on a five-yard run by Pfau. The conversion failed due to a bad snap, and the score was knotted at 22-22 at intermission.

DURING THAT first half, the Cats amassed 257 yards rushing, most of them by Nolan, who finished with 143 for the game. John Woody added another 70 yards.

After a nice pass break-up by Howell, Stevi punted the ball. Sophomore Kaleb Johnson fielded the ball near midfield, found a lane down the left sideline and returned to the Jackets 1-yard-line. But an illegal block penalty nullified the play.

The teams exchanged punts, and when the Cats punted again Stevi brought more pressure. The resulting short punt gave the Jackets possession at the CFHS 35-yard-line. On the next play, the elusive Pfau zigzagged his way to the end zone, and Pateman's kick gave Stevi a 29-22 lead with 3:28 remaining in the contest.

On a fourth-and-1 play, Baumgartner took a hard hit and fumbled. Pateman scooped up the ball and brought it back 34 yards for a touchdown with two minutes to go.

Shane Hoff intercepted a Wassam pass that was tipped, and Stevi ran out the clock.

Thompson was pleased with the defensive effort as the Cats held Stevi to 156 yards of total offense.

"It was the turnovers that killed us on offense," Thompson said.

The Cats had 280 yards rushing, but only 39 passing.

"We still haven't got that untracked," Thompson said of the aerial game.

"We're not happy with our level of play," the coach said. "Our goal is to get better [each game] and we need to focus on that goal. We have to learn from our mistakes."

In other games last week, Whitefish was blanked by Hamilton, 38-0; Bigfork lost to Browning, 21-6; Frenchtown edged Polson, 21-19; and Corvallis outscored Libby, 41-29.

CFHS FACES a dangerous Ronan squad that rallied for a 29-28 victory over Anaconda last week, improving the Indians' record to 2-1. Ronan lost to Corvallis, then edged Hamilton, 15-14.

"They have vastly improved over the last two years," Thompson said of Ronan. "They have a new coaching staff. They run the wing-T very well. Ronan does a very good job with misdirection. They throw the ball and run the ball very effectively."

Quarterback Mike Fisher leads the Indians, and his running backs include Cory Hardy.

"It's a big game," Thompson said. "The next five games will determine whether we get to the postseason or not."

Stevensville 0 16 6 14 — 36

Columbia Falls 7 7 8 0 — 22

CF — Baumgartner 41 run (Nolan kick)

CF — Nolan 34 run (Nolan kick)

Stevi — Pfau 97 kickoff return (Pateman kick)

Stevi — Pateman 2 run (Pateman kick)

Stevi — Safety, blocked punt recovered by CF in end zone

CF — Wassam 10 run (Wassam run)

Stevi — Pfau 5 run (run failed)

Stevi — Pfau 35 run (Pateman kick)

Stevi — Pateman 34 fumble return (Pateman kick)

Golfers sixth at Libby meet

Stiff competition and a challenging course greeted the Columbia Falls High School golf teams at the Libby Golf Invitational last Saturday at the par-72 Cabinet View Country Club.

For the Wildkats, junior Kelsey DeWit shot 114 to finish just out of the top 10, while Courtney Tamburelli finished at 127 followed by Olivia Williams at 137 and Devon Goe at 143. Polson's Julia DiGiallonardo and Whitefish's Kiley McConnell shared top individual honors with solid 86s. Whitefish claimed the team title with a 362.

On the boys side of the tournament, Wildcat Tanner Lineberry fired a 40 on the front nine but added nine strokes to the back nine, finishing at 89. Glacier High School's Trey Griffith shot 74 for first place while the Whitefish boys took the team title with a score of 315. The Wildcats finished sixth in the 10-team field with a score of 392. Rounding out the scoring for the Wildcats were Nolan Emerson 96, Mike Cotton 101, Ian Gordon 106 and Jordan Mueller 107.

"This wasn't our best day on the course," coach Gene Marcille said. "The new layout in Libby is really nice, but it challenges golfers to be a little more creative than usual. With our divisional tournament coming up soon, we're going to have to find a way to bring down our team scores a little to be in the hunt."

The next competition for the CFHS team is today (Thursday) at the Polson Invitational starting at 9:30 a.m.