Bulldogs earn state soccer title

The Whitefish soccer machine was at

full throttle Saturday. Nothing was going to stop these Bulldogs

from reaching their aspirations of a state title — not even the

pesky Pirates that have long been a thorn in their side.

A season’s worth of sweat, drills, and

tough lessons learned culminated when the 2011 Whitefish boys

soccer team hoisted above their heads the Class A state

championship trophy. In front of a crowd at Smith Fields edging

over 800, Whitefish shut out Polson 3-0 to earn the school’s fourth

state title. The Bulldogs now own the most Class A boys soccer

championships of any school in the state.

By all accounts, Whitefish earned their

hardware. After a 1-2 record to start the season the boys markedly

improved from game to game by utilizing what Whitefish coach

O’Brien Byrd calls the “highest level formation every employed by a

Whitefish soccer team.”

Showing their soccer smarts, they

mastered the complex 4-4-2 formation and each player knew their

role in the system. They rattled off 12 consecutive wins dating

back to Sept. 3, including a perfect record in the Northern A

conference.

Whitefish was led from the back by

senior captains Mark Stormes, Matty McCrone and Joe Perry, while a

fleet of sharp shooters up front poured in the goals. Junior Sam

Donaldson finished the season with 25 scores — the most in the

state by a long stretch — and Curran Edland was tops in

assists.

This team was a machine to be reckoned

with by season’s end and only Polson stood in the way. In their

final match, they played “perfect.”

“It was their best game of the year,”

Byrd said. “We controlled everything.”

Whitefish’s bench exploded after the

final whistle Saturday, while players on the pitch tore off their

jerseys and a raucous student crowd flooded around the newly

crowned state champions and hosed them with silly string.

“The thing that makes me smile the most

is that these kids worked their tails off to get to that moment and

lift that trophy,” Byrd said. “I’m so proud of them. I knew they

could do it from the first day of the season. They did it, and they

did it with class.”