Bulldogs get playoff momentum

The ‘Dogs tallied one more for the road.

Whitefish wrapped up their regular season Saturday with an impressive 5-4 victory at Stillwater Christian. The win gives the boys soccer team a needed boost going into the state playoffs, as they’ll travel to Livingston this weekend for a single-elimination match.

“It’s nice to end with a win,” Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd said. “It’s good for our confidence. Especially going into a really tough match with Livingston.”

Whitefish maintained the game’s tempo at Stillwater and was led with three goals from Marcelo Theodoro. Yet they struggled to contain the Cougars star forward Josh Bray. Bray tallied a hat trick in the game.

“We had trouble with Bray,” Byrd noted. “In the second half, we adjusted. It was a learning experience for us.”

The coach was impressed with the Whitefish’s resilience in the match.

 “We had to come from behind four times to win,” he said. “We’re coming off a couple of games that required a lot of heart. It’s good to see we know how to fight back with our backs against the wall.”

As a No. 3 seed, Whitefish’ backs will be against the wall for their entire playoff run. They will play on the road in every game and be the underdog. They start with a strong Livingston team that played the ‘Dogs tooth and nail in last year’s playoffs. Whitefish escaped with a 2-1 win in that match.

“They’re a big and physical team,” Byrd said. “They don’t score a lot, but they don’t give up a lot of points either.”

To beat a physical team like Park High, Byrd say his club will have to pass around them.

“That’s our strength, too,” he said.

Whitefish will look to their seniors for leadership but won’t go far without the underclassmen stepping up, Byrd noted.

“The younger guys need to prove how good they are, and they need step up and be held accountable,” Byrd said. “I know they can. It’s that time of season again where if we lose, we don’t have practice on Monday. If we win, we get one more week. I think our guys are willing to fight for that.”

In a few team notes, Jack Steele finished the regular season with the most points in the state. Steele tallied 27 points with 10 goals and seven assists.

Senior Taylor Thompson broke his foot in the Sept. 25 match at Libby. Byrd said the squad misses Thompson’s leadership and skills on the pitch, but that he’s still needed on the sideline.

“He’s a captain, and we need him at these games,” Byrd said.

There are no other injuries on the team to report.