Wildcats stun Bulldogs in a thriller
<p>Wildcat Keenan Jessat reacts as his pass goes untouched against Judah Presteguard, of Whitefish. Jessat had a hat trick in the match.</p>
It was one of the best boys soccer games in Columbia Falls in years.
On Sept. 19 the Wildcats played heavily favored Whitefish to a 5-5 draw at Flip Darling Field. Junior Keenan Jessat had a hat trick, and sophomore Quentin Foust scored two goals.
The Cats opened the game with a goal at the 20-minute mark by Foust, and then seven minutes later stunned the Bulldogs with a goal by Jessat on a feed from Foust to go up 2-0.
The Bulldogs answered with a Jon Dittman strike on an assist from Nathan Boone to make it 2-1 at the break.
But then in the second half, Bulldog winger Jared Johnson scored two minutes into the second half to tie the game.
Boone then scored to make it 4-2 Bulldogs, and it looked like Whitefish would cruise to their 32nd straight victory.
But Columbia Falls answered with two more goals by Jessat to tie it up with eight minutes to play. Foust then hit a shot with just four minutes left to make 5-4 Cats.
Whitefish, however, kept up the pressure, and a penalty kick was called outside the box as time was winding down. Jackson Yates scored in the melee to tie the game. About a minute later, time expired.
The victory was a marked turnaround for the boys, who were blanked 3-0 by Bigfork a couple of days earlier at home.
“We had a heart-to-heart after Bigfork,” coach Peter Browne said. “Hopefully we can build on this game.”
Browne was impressed with his defense against Whitefish. Defender Austin Kimmet had to leave the game late in the first half with a knee bruise, and his teammates stepped up huge in the second half.
Keeper Mason Gedlaman made some clutch saves, and Jessat and Foust, along with stellar ball handling by forward Caleb Baumann, kept the pressure on.
The Cats took also advantage of penalty kicks of their own outside the box.
“It was fun,” Browne said. “I’m pretty proud of them. It’s been a long time since we played that well.”
The boys face Polson at home Thursday at 3:30 p.m. as they look to get their first conference win.
The Cats are 3-3-1 overall and 0-1-1 in league play.