Boys shock No. 1 Polson on their road to state meet

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

The Whitefish Bulldogs entered the 2008 Class A Northwest divisional tournament as the No. 4 seed with a 10-8 regular season record, but came out in second place with a state playoff berth.

In their first game on Feb. 21, the Bulldogs had a meeting with No. 5 Libby. It was an epic, deadlocked battle, and Whitefish needed OT to beat the Loggers 57-50. The Loggers couldn't figure out how to take down Whitefish all season, but they gave them quite a scare, as Libby sparked a fourth-quarter rally that almost knocked the Bulldogs out of playoff contention. The Bulldogs held on to win with clutch free-throws in OT.

On Friday, Whitefish had to face No. 1 seed Polson, a team that beat the Bulldogs by one basket in both regular season meetings. It was Whitefish's best performance of the year, however, as the Bulldogs stunned the Pirates 44-37 in a defensive slugfest.

The Bulldogs went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minutes to pull off the biggest upset of the weekend.

In the championship game against Ronan, the Bulldogs lost 53-60 in a game where they were down by as much as 11 points several times in the contest.

Ronan goes to state as the No. 1 seed, while Whitefish defeated Columbia Falls in the challenge game to earn the No. 2 spot.