Dogs to play for state title

There were no knockout punches in this

heavyweight match.

Whitefish used a relentless offensive

attack at Frenchtown to rack up five goals, and managed to outlast

the Broncs potent front line 5-4 on Saturday in the Class A state

semifinal boys soccer match. The victory puts the Bulldogs in the

championship game this Saturday when they host Northern A foe

Polson.

It’s the fifth time in nine seasons the

Dogs have made the finals. Their last trip was in 2009.

The game at No. 2 seed Frenchtown was

back and forth from the first whistle.

“Frenchtown was a roller coaster, a lot

of up and down,” Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd said.

Whitefish junior midfielder Sean Janni

noted the close game afterward.

“Frenchtown was tough and they gave us

a run for it,” he said. “We haven’t won a title game in a few

years. We’re going to try our best to get one this year.”

Whitefish sophomore Jon Dittman hit the

net first with a goal off a corner kick in the fourth minute.

“We started gangbusters,” Byrd said.

“We have been working on this corner kick play all year and it

finally paid off. It couldn’t have been a better start.”

Frenchtown’s top scorer, Manuel

Terrazas, hit back in the 11th minute to tie it up.

“We struggled to contain that guy,”

Byrd said.

At the 20th minute, Elior Rossi put a

shot on frame that slipped through the hands of the Broncs’ keeper

in rainy conditions. Sam Donaldson cleaned up the loose ball in

front of the net for his first goal.

Donaldson cleaned up another shot

attempt in the 31st minute.

The play of the game came when

Whitefish keeper Thomas Clark stuffed Terrazas’ penalty kick chance

to keep Whitefish’s 3-1 edge going into the half.

“That save was big,” Byrd said. “That

could have been the game changer.”

The Broncs responded quickly out of the

break when Terrazas scored again on a fastbreak chance. Byrd then

made a roster rotation to keep Terrazas in check. He moved Rossi to

midfield and put Curran Edland up front.

“Elior was magic,” Byrd said, “and we

got to use Curran’s skill and vision up front. That shift was key

to eking out the win.”

Donaldson capped his hat trick on a

penalty kick in the 71st minute.

Three minutes later, Terrazas sneaked

in another goal when he lobbed a shot over the Bulldogs’

defense.

With the score 4-3, Janni sealed the

victory when he blasted a free kick from the left half of the pitch

and 25 yards out. The kick that was meant to be a cross sailed over

the keeper’s reach and into the corner of the net.

“Coach was telling me to bend it in,

and I bent it in on accident,” Janni said.

“You need a little bit of luck in a

game like that,” Byrd said.

Frenchtown added another goal in the

80th minute, but time ran out before there was a chance to even the

score.

“At the end we were totally overjoyed,”

Byrd said. “It was more of a feeling of survival. I’m proud of the

boys, they got it done.”

Whitefish 3 2 - 5

Frenchtown 1 3 - 4

W - Jon Dittman (assist Matty McCrone),

4:00

F - Manuel Terrazas, Igor Chinikaylo,

11:00

W - Sam Donaldson, Curran Edland,

20:00

W - Donaldson, Elior Rossi, 31:00

F - Terrazas, 49:00

W - Donaldson, Rossi, 71:00

F - Terrazas, Tristan Baker, 74:00

W - Sean Janni, Nathan Boone, 78:00

F - Rodrigo Gama, Michael Rebarchik,

80:00

Shots - Whitefish 16, Frenchtown 6.

Saves - Whitefish 7 (Thomas Clark), Frenchtown 14 (Blake Warnall).

Corner kicks - Whitefish 9, Frenchtown 6. Total fouls - Whitefish

12, Frenchtown 8. Yellow cards - Frenchtown 2. Red cards -

none.