Ponies buck Bulldogs

A 54-25 loss at Havre wasn’t the result

Whitefish was looking for in their season opener. Bulldog football

coach Chad Ross is never satisfied or happy about a loss.

Compared to last year’s outing with the

Blue Ponies, however, Ross is encouraged with what he saw on the

field.

“Last year they physically pounded us,”

Ross said. “This year, they were still the better team, but there

were a lot of things we can fix. We weren’t physically beat. I’m

never excited about a loss, but we have a much higher starting

point.”

Penalties, dropped balls and poor

kick-off and punt coverage buried the Bulldogs chances.

“Special teams killed us,” Ross said.

“They scored 20 points in four minutes. But we can fix that with

some changes on personnel and schemes.”

The mental mistakes, like unnecessary

penalties and missed catches, didn’t help their chances as they

were fighting to stay close in the second quarter.

Havre’s explosive offense posted 47

points in the first half before rotating their starters out of the

game.

Whitefish started Chris Forrest at

quarterback and Connor Donahue later rotated in. Forrest tossed a

touchdown on 12-23 passing and Donahue threw two touchdowns on 7-13

passing.

“Our quarterbacks showed poise,” Ross

said.

Bryce Wehrli reeled in a 23 yard pass

from Donahue to get Whitefish on the scoreboard. Shane Marcial ran

in a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Logan Harwood caught a

14-yard touchdown pass from Donahue in the third and Gage Vasquez

pulled in a 42-yard touchdown reception in the fourth.

Marcial carried the load at running

back with Robby Neff coming in as fullback.

The Bulldogs were pushed on the front

line without two of their biggest linemen on the field. Jake May

and Wolf Zinke are both out with injuries.

May recently had knee surgery and is

expected to be back by the Sept. 23 game with Libby. Zinke is out

with a bruised leg. His return date is unknown.

“Missing two starters makes a big

difference on a Class A team,” Ross said.